TimB

Cep, The flying Dutchman worlds are in Nelson right now, so there is 40 odd FD's there right now.. Have a look at their set up. They run the jib on a separate wire to the forestay and adjust the tension lots during the race, ie tighten up for up wind and slacken it right off down wind. Most of the guys are pretty keen to talk about their boats.. cheers Tb

And vertical not angled out on a leaner???

Hi Randii, In the early days some mast extrusions (which is what your beams are) were made in two pieces because the Aluminium company didn't have the capacity for larger dies. So they made some sections in two pieces with a stepped edge so they could be sort of clipped together, then riveted. Later the masts were made in one piece. Some really big ones were still made that way until recently. They are almost all carbon fibre nowadays. Tb

Randii, the accepted method for making the sleeves is to buy the same section extrusion as the beam. The alloy beams on most tenant cats were typical mast sections of the appropriate size. You cut the bolt rope groove out. This allows you to compress it slightly and slide it into the beam. Usually riveted in place. some glue them as well. Also you need to round off the ends so they do not form a hard point where they finish. . Tb

Why is the font so small?

Try the RV shops for 12 and 24 V TVs.

Batteries. Cyclors is too reminiscant of the AC50's....... Tb

A catamaran will normally run pretty straight, however it gets hairy and scary quick if you let it get sideways. Boards up and a tiny bit of headsail sheeted centred helps to keep straight, then go warp and drogues.. Most cruising cats have lots of buoyancy forward, to provide room inside..... Tb

Seems no one else is concerned or noticed this Martin. However I do remember the likes of Split Enz and Afterburner have rigging leading to forward ends of their hulls to avoid the windward (rear) shroud pulling the windward stern way up twisting the whole structure, which leads to the rig leaning even more to leeward. Split Enz also had massive rubber things to take the slack out of the very loose leeward shroud. That's another problem of the GBE style open deck cats and flexible trimarans. I remember Malcolm Tennant taking about "tension structures", ie all the loads are spread aroun

Squealer, currently in Nelson, contact owner, Stu, at 0272462206, trade me https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1615542707.htm?rsqid=35980556fde348baa50cd2645ca57711 Tb

Lizaloni Are you in New Zealand?? Try and find some Eucalyptus, bluegums such as saligna or botrioides would do. Alternative is River red gum, or spotted gum. Can sometimes get this as decking timber at Bunnings, Mitre 10 etc Could also use tropical hardwood also sold as decking. just machine the grooved side flat and laminate with epoxy to get the required thickness. coat with epoxy for protection. Don't use Kauri, it is too soft. NZ timbers such as Matai or even heart Rimu would also do. Can sometimes be found in house recyclers yards. Tb

When did you move to the northern hemisphere BP?

SAF2205 is a Duplex Stainless Steel. there are lots of them. They were developed for the oil industry in the 60's to prevent Stress corrosion cracking in high temperature heat exchanger tubes on oil rigs in the North Sea. Using seawater on the cooling side so hot wet and lots of chlorides. Much stronger than 316 but must be careful welding not to let the (inter-pass) temperature get too hot or the structure changes and it is no longer duplex. Duplex means the molecular structure is both austenitic and ferritic. 304 and 316 are austenitic. An another interesting things is that its coef

Wheels, I thought series connection would be a problem (for a boat based set up) as if one panel is shaded it drops the output significantly, but it not so significant if they are in parallel and one panel is shaded. I have 2 x 150W panels in parallel on my caravan roof and the max current I have seen is about 10 amps, it blew a 10amp fuse so might have been higher once, now have 15amp fuse, didn't want to go any higher and it has been fine. I have a MPPT reg. Keeps the fridge cold nicely even on cloudy days. Cheers

I think he means it could be bigger, maybe with the clew back near the rear beam! This is NZ style sarcasm disguised as wit.

IT, what's a "sennit"? Rgds Tb

DR W. The foil is solid bar stock made from Bisalloy 80, a high strength carbon steel. The central piece goes full length with other pieces welded onto the side to give a rough foil shape. Stu got the "design" from someone in Auckland but it stopped at the plate attached to the hull (which was only 16mm thick I think).. I convinced Stu to extend the tongue up inside the boat. The floor design was basically intended to spread the loads from that tongue into the boat structure and avoiding any concentrations. I describe it this way ... compare holding on to the end of a broomstick by one finger

Thanks BP. I had a wee chuckle at the comment "slowing down to 7 knots", for most of us that is a target up wind...... Tb

Scottie said "sh*t - the more you look at her - the more you realise just how much work's been done" Yes and John is a perfectionist as well as having the skills of a master craftsman, actually,, I suppose you can't be a master craftsman without being a perfectionist........ Tb

John Ruskin wrote the below quote in the early 1800's, it is still just as valid today (perhaps more so). “It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will ha