cep32

Sounds like a plan. I was going to set something up to measure the deflection but the dowel idea sounds good to me.

I like the idea of the simplicity of the boom sheeting and have tried on a couple of boats now. The last one I kept at it for a couple of months and just couldn't get comfortable. I think it is something to do with me being a fat bastard that relies on locking my arm on the mainsheet to help me hike. I'll try it again and see how I get on. As far as the traveller goes, me and a mate (combined weight 220kg) are going to site either side and hike hard to see if we can get the boat to flex without the traveller in.

Sorry, I should have mentioned. The mainsheet wil lget transferred to the transom on a bridle then dropped to the floor at the back of the cockpit then forward along the floor to a sensible position. At the moment half of the screws go through a 10mm stringer and 4mm ply and the other half just go through 4mm ply. The plan is to thrash the boat for the rest of my natural life (40 years or so) so it has to be strong. Back to the drawing board.

I've just got hold of my next Javelin and want to open the cockpit up by removing the traveller shown in the attached photo. As far as I can tell the lateral rig loads are carried by the aluminium frame at the front of the cockpit so the traveller structure only carries crew loads. On the other hand, the traveller structure is only attached to the side tanks with four very short screws so I'm not sure it's actually contributing anything anyway. Am I correct in thinking that that the box beam shape of the side tanks held together by the 25mm thick cedar/glass transom and the front bulkh

One thing you might want to consider is the fact that not a lot of sailing cord has the cover attached to the core. This can mean that a lot more of the load is carried by the cover. Climbing ropes on the otherhand tend to advertise 0% sheath slippage which I assume means the cover is attached to the core. Seems to be the case on my old climbing rope when I cut into it to have a look.

Cheers for that. The other option I have read about is using thin copper wire threaded through holes in the ply and twisted tight around the mould stringers. It was left in place until glassed over and then heated to melt the epoxy touching the copper so it could be slid free. Might be worth a try in the high stress areas.

Both ideas sound great. Thanks. It is for a Javelin hull so the side panels rotate through a fair old angle. The only question I have is how to separate the hull from the mould if I have left the staples in or glued it? The glue I can imagine would separate as long as I'm not to generous with it but the staples will be acting in shear when pulling the hull off the mould? I think I need to build a 1/10th model to check all this stuff out.

So for a plywood dinghy build over male mould, when do you remove the staples? I figure I will staple to just beyond 50mm from each join, fibreglass the joins with 100mm DB tape. The next bit has me worried. Can I then remove all of the staples from the bottom sections to the chine and glass that surface then once cured remove the staple from the sides and glass? Will the hull generally stay the right shape hugging the mould once the joins are done? Cheers, Chris