Had not seen it. The F22 is an awesome set up. Not so much the boat, although that fills a quite large niche, but the building arrangements, which are typical Ian. I am impressed and envious of the product, although not of all the effort he puts into it to make it a success.
Difficult to comment on the mast without better pictures or descriptions. The method is different to ours. Probably because of the lack of joins, ours are 50-60% lighter (vs 33% for Ian's) than aluminium, and lighter again when composite fittings are used instead of stainless. We paint or clear finish them, but could easily gel coat them if required, although this strikes me as false economy for weight reasons. We build them in one piece, including the sheer web, if required. If sheer webs aren't required, then filament winding them over a mandrel may be a better option. Both systems make a sounder, lighter structure as there are no joins. Filament winding is very cost effective as the tow is half the price of uni cloth and a quarter the price of woven or knitted, which are the materials used in moulded products. It is also more automated.
Ian talks about the advantages of integral fittings, and then the advantages of secondary joins for the mast sections. Only one of these can be correct. I prefer no joins in the mast and to make the fittings from tow wrapped around the mast. The primary load is the tensile load on the tows, the bond to the mast is secondary. It also means there are no weird load paths in the mast skins as the load goes from fitting to spar which requires considerable local beefing up.
The interesting thing will be the price. I will be very surprised if Ian's masts are cheaper than ours, assuming we were building as many as he is. If you know the cost, dimensions and weight of his masts, I will get a quote for ours and we can compare them.
regards,
rob
On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Jerry Barth <shredderf16@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Rob,
I don’t know if you saw this yet. Is this the sort of thing you’re talking about when making a carbon mast from a female mold?
Thanks,
Jerry Barth
http://www.f-boat.com/pages/News4/FM-Factory2012.html
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