Alternative to marvelous Buccaneer 24

Nick, you are right, a jamming bolt rope is not what you need, is a curse and can be dangerous. I once had to pull myself quarter of the way up Groucho's mast with a knife and screwdriver to cut and lever away a frayed and viciously jammed sailcloth and bolt rope mess, with wind increasing and the tri very unstable ... so after that education, you keep a careful eye on the condition and have good lubrication on the bolt rope.
It was my fault and like my Dad used to say, "You're too she'll be right, mate." I have to say in a weak attempt at defense, that sail was 20 years old though.
But bearing slides are easier, yes, but heavier, expensive and as said, produce a dopey gap in exactly the wrong place ... not aerodynamic.
But sensible people do have beautiful Harken gear there - and quit the worrying.
By the way, in my earlier attempt here at mast build explanation, I forgot to mention that the track (I use flange cut flush to the 6mm curtain rail alloy tube) glued to the trailing edge stringer, then epoxy glass taped overlap onto the tube and mast skin. Never had any problems with that setup.

 

You guys are good. Again, thanks

 

If you're bulding a wing mast, what's to stop you recessing the trailing edge enough to provide a fixing for the track that removes the unwanted slot created by bolting track to the external trailing edge of the mast?

In other words, the slots would still be there, but be inside the trailing edge of the wing mast.

I imagine the recess would need to be a bit wider than the track/sail combo to prevent chafing but, theoretically, wouldn't that solve the slot issue? Or simply create new issues?

Curious...

 

Thats a pretty good idea! The slot could be only thick enough to fit the sail through and it could have a strip of anti chafe material along the luff.

 

Yes, that is the sensible answer.
It has been around for sometime.
I think the first, or one of the earliest was shown on the plans of 44 foot Sea Bird designed by Hugo Myers back in the 1960s - and still a very modern design. He used a conventional mast (albeit a rotating one) with stiff fairing flaps. Which is similar to Buzzman's suggestion.
But on a wing mast with the track set internally and forward from the trailing edge, on a mast that rotates through 160-170 degrees, there will be some abrasion back from the luff on the windward side of the sail. There's always a problem.
I still think the bolt rope at trailing edge is the better solution.

 

Bare with me as I will try to do my usual poor job of coveying what I'm saying but! If one wanted to avoid usual complexity of a rotating mast, or wanted to adding turning ability to an existing mast, couldn't you somehow make a rotating fairing slash track on a mast? I kinda had this thought the other day, minus and fairing, when I was watching a video of steaming mast rings. It occurred to me that technically this would give a rotating sail wouldn't it? Granted I couldn't account for the rubbing it would do but, in concept ?? But making a track fairing with maybe delving rollers on one side and straps around mast with rollers on the other side maybe? Ok I'm setting the pipe down now! Haha

Barry

 

Yeah probably create as much drag by having a wider recess to help prevent chafing, although, to be fair, a kevlar reinforcing strip along the luff would answer that issue.

And isn't there some degree of chafing around the bolt rope itself in a bolt rope system?

 

WE had no problems with a bolt rope alloy track.
Any sailmaker worth his salt should be able to make a bolt rope luff on a mainsail to suit
the particular alloy track groove.

 

Gary and OldSailor: Returning to the "batt cars" and bolt rope discussion. I was just looking at a video that Corley posted of the Team Lalou Mod 50 for the Route du Rhum. It is post #166 but I will give the Youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTxZHA9UHm4#t=93

If you go to 1:30, you can see that the car attachment point has been recessed, and therefore the bolt rope cut at each car. So is the luff tension being created primarily in the cloth rather than on the bolt rope, a little like the switch from non rotating to Rotating Asymmetric Foil sails in windsurfing? Seems like a solution that allows you to have your cake and eat it.

 

Thanks for the youtube video HydroNick. Interesting boat. Hard to tell in the vid but the hulls look very flatish on the bottom.
Gary is there a thread detailing the mods done on Jacques Farrier trailertri? I would love to hear more of the wing mast that he is planning on installing.

 

It looks like the attachment point has been adequately reinforced, but the result is messy and doesn't look very aerodynamically clean with the large air hole behind the slide.

 

I agree with OS7, looks Michael Mouse.
Aerodynamics, imo, are/is very simple: don't have lumps and gaps and stuff sticking out into the airflow.
As Dick Newick said ... and you all know that.
However it is a philosophy that many have difficulty comprehending.

 

Off topic, sorry ... but have been working to finally, finally, finish editing and layout of the Jim Young book; he keeps coming back with little changes.
I'll never do this sort of thing again.
Anyway I redid the covers and be interested to hear your expert opinions.
I quite like them both but he has reservations. Slightly annoying because he is one of the most innovative yacht designers, very early into multihull designs and building, yet also has a wide streak of conservatism. But maybe I'm just being too arty farty sensitive.
ps: that's the famed Rocket 29, designed 25 odd years ago, still radical, still winning.

 

Sorry Gary, I don't like the spilt front cover one bit.
Looks like an interesting book hidden under a pile of drawings.

 

+1 on that.

Drop the line drawings from the fornt cover, and usew them as a backdrop on the back cover, but black on white, not yellow on black, and cut and paste the back cover text and whatever over the line drawings.

Keep the fornt cover the whole pick of the boat sailing.

Make the "Jim Young" much larger, but use vertical shift on the text, to stretch the letters vertically a bit.

Then place the other text underneath, and put your name as editor near the bottom of the cover: "As told to Gary Baignet"...or something like that.

But DEFINITELY the front cover needs to be just the pic of the Rocket sailing.

And I'm a graphic designer, so that should carry some weight

If you want a hand with Photoshop or Quark layout, PM me off air. Happy to help. No charge, of course.