On Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 5:11 AM, cymenvig@gmail.com [harryproa] <harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:
I think the harryproa is awesome. I want to build my own vessel for long term sailing with a family to remote locales. I am attracted to the proa because of the simplicity in sailing and to the harryproa because of how the rigging is simplified.
My questions are:* Can the advanced/persistent home builder make carbon fiber spars? I've read a bit about the newer techniques used in other industries for carbon fiber composites without autoclaves and wondered if that might mean the same techniques could be used at home.
I have been selling plans for home built carbon spars for several years. If you can build the rest of the boat, you can build the mast. It is certainly easier and cheaper. However, amateur (or professional) built masts using these techniques will be heavier than round masts built using filament winding or wing masts built in a mould and infused in one piece.
* What is the very rough cost or range in cost for non-homemade carbon fiber spars for say a Cruiser 50?
About $AUS13,000 each for the bare tube, including sail track. It will be in short lengths with step joins to make shipping cheaper. The joins are aligned and glued together. The laminate is tapered so that there are no hard spots or reduction in strength.
* What happens if the spars fail in remote locations? I am pondering the scenario where the spars can't be home built so they are professional made and then a lightning strike in a remote locale damages the spars. With more traditional spar materials, it seems like one might have a better chance of recovering from spar failure (at least enough to limp home).
There are a lot of opinions from a lot of experts about carbon masts and lightning. Few of them agree.
The three lightning damaged masts that I have seen had very small areas of burnt resin and dry fibres. These were at the tops and bottoms of the masts (presumably entry and exit points), which had no lightning protection. Their repair was simple. All 3 boats lost all their electrics.
Repairing a carbon mast would require the addition of uni carbon to the damaged area. A 'get me home' repair would have wet out layers of uni carbon laid along the mast and wrapped with peel ply, cling film, brown packaging tape or similar to compact the cloth. If power was available, heat shrink would be good.
I ask these questions because I am truly interested. No matter what the answers are, the concept is amazing and the generated images are wonderful.
Thanks.
I'm reading Composite Basics by Marshall to learn more about composite construction techniques.
Once you have finished it, I suggest you get an infusion kit from your local resin supplier (let me know if he doesn't sell them) and have a play. Infusion is the biggest step forward in boat building since epoxy and polyester.
Building boats with little or no mess, grinding, cutting, filling, fairing or wet laminating is a much nicer (and quicker, cheaper, stronger, lighter) experience than doing so with these features.
Building boats with little or no mess, grinding, cutting, filling, fairing or wet laminating is a much nicer (and quicker, cheaper, stronger, lighter) experience than doing so with these features.
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Posted by: Rob Denney <harryproa@gmail.com>
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