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3.7 rig


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just a thought, could the spreaders for my 3.7 mast have a concave curve forward (instead of aft like the bigger boats do) to give the sail a nice shape while reaching?

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Why not? Just make the spreaders strong enough for the Bending Moment.

Some rigs out there have spreaders that can rotate relative to the mast. The idea being that the leeward shrouds aren't loaded so it doesn't matter if the spreader rotates forward

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You could do, Spreaders on a 3.7 are normally only flat plate Alloy or Carbon so pretty easily made. But the curve of the spreader probably wont have very much affect on the mainsail reaching as its normally the tip of the spreader which hits the deepest part of the mainsail anyhow not the full length of the spreader?

 

Could be worth a crack though and pretty easily done.

Spreaders.jpg

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But JH you are not really changing the rig geometry where it matters - the point where the stay pases through the spreader so what the advantage in regards to the main?

 

Effectively you need to move that point forward and you are heading towards an inline rig with backstays etc. which is not really where I suspect you want to head.

 

Irrespective of forward or reverse sweep if you don't change that point it makes no difference so why bother?

 

8.5 points for innovative thinking though or maybe I read this wrong.

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You are spot on there EE.

 

also the 3.7 rigs I built all over rotate so of course that rotates the leeward spreaders out of the way of the main anyway.

 

The main advantage of the TW 3.7 mini Wing rigs is definitely reaching. Flow onto the main is the major advantage but I suspect that keeping the spreaders away from the sail may be another advantage.

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I can back that up as my boat goes fantastic on a reach...

 

The C-tech rigs that most are using now don't have spreaders at all and they rotate with the boom.

Those masts are a tapered section with a plastic sail track on them, compared to my wing rig which is a tapered section with a carbon fairing going back from the mast onto the sail track. When you take into account that you are carrying the extra carbon and the diamond wires on top of what the c-tech rig has, the wing is quite a bit heavier. Then again, Andrew Brown won nationals in Wellington after taking the diamonds off his mast...

 

Which one is faster? Well I'm not an aerodynamisist, but the sailor seems to make more difference than the mast. When I'm sailing well, I am comparible in boatspeed upwind, and then will smoke past people downwind. I think it is harder to get the upwind speed out of the wing, but it is definitely better reaching. If I were building one, I would go for the C-Tech style mast for simplicity sake, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy with what I've got. :thumbup:

 

The reason JH is asking about spreaders is that, from what I've heard, he wants a fixed (no rotation) mast to carry a Genniker on. He said something about masthead, but I think thats going a bit far and wont help much on these boats.... He'll have to learn to sail without it first!

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Anyone that has sailed a 3.7 will know that the boats are fun enough without them and in anything over 8knots of wind can be pretty full on! So i reckon it will only take Jordan a few sails before he realises there isnt any point mongrelling another boat!

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yeah i took B.E's boat out on wednesday in about 10-12kts and that was great fun! but i still think there is room for improvement. and i only put one hole in it :thumbup:

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Yeah, he only put the trapeze hook through the deck on his first capsize, even after being told "watch what you do with the hook..."

 

I actually thought I would get a new mast out of this experiment, turns out the curse isn't specific to any particular part of the boat. But it's okay, I intend on having a nice new varnished deck put on over the winter as this one is getting kinda bad. After that, I will put grip foam over the sides that will protect from hook damage. :mrgreen:

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