On Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 5:11 AM, cymenvig@gmail.com [harryproa] <harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:* 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.This sounds good too. I definitely want some experience with carbon so I would have enough ability to do the get home work.
Carbon is used the same as glass, but it is harder to see if it is wet out. It is also harder to infuse as the fibers are thinner than glass, so pack roigether tighter. There are a number of ways round this. The beams, booms and rudders have significant amounts of carbon in them, so you will get plenty of experience. I have not costed the beams from Etamax, but this could be another way of speeding the build.
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.That sounds great and was exactly what I was thinking too. I am coming up with a few small projects to make to gain some experience. I definitely prefer learning by doing (after some reading).
Start with a flat panel on a sheet of glass so you can see what is happening underneath. Use the expensive materials to limit screw ups. There are 3 pages of infusion details on the plans, and we are adding more as we discover them. These and small items will ensure you are confident when you get to build the bigger parts.
Thank you!
My pleasure.
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Posted by: Rob Denney <harryproa@gmail.com>
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