Sunday, May 31, 2009

Pre-nationals float

I got out yesterday for about 4 hours:

Launched at about 1200 off of ASC; it was an offshore breeze with about 10 knots on shore and 5-15 on the water. I have kept the kick up rudder but substituted the bolt for a S/S pin as the hinge and have also made a better lock down system which worked fine – useful since I’ve nearly had IC’s get away from me while mucking around with rudders on the downwind leg. I ran out of the bay and got myself sorted out in the boat then beat back into shore, my impressions were:
  • I was sitting too far aft, so I moved the carriage to just over the aft edge of the c/b
  • I had forgotten my gloves
  • My mainsheet didn’t seemed to run freely on starboard tack, and the plank didn’t slide all the way on this tack either.
  • The Main seems very full in the head
I chucked in a few tacks then decided to come in and address some issues and get my gloves. I went over my mainsheet and found I’d fastened the pulley on backwards (meaning it had to twist a long way to get to stbd tack), I also fed all my control lines to a piece of elastic on my seat (so I could pull them all to me while on the end of the plank). I laid the boat over and tightened the top two battens as there were some creases running up-down over those areas.
After doing this and getting my gloves on I launched again but the wind had dropped off to under 5 knots, the boat sailed along nicely but I was having major issues getting the battens to pop across (needed a massive amount of Cunningham and a bit of vang to do it). All the control lines to the seat looked messy but actually worked quite well (we’ll see if it does when racing); I also let off the leeward stay downwind for the first time since completing Flatpack and the boat seemed to respond positively.
Unfortunately with no other boats on the water I still have no real idea of how fast the boat is, but she is slipping through the water nicely and feels good. I am concerned about how full the main looks, and may run it up the mast tonight to see what other adjustments can be made- worst case scenario is that I will have the old AUS018 main if it looks like being a super windy series. I think I have goofed with the plank/carriage, with one end being wider than the other – I will sand again tonight, but I think I need to have a good look at this (unfortunately after the Nationals) to see what I might have done wrong and how I fix it. So, tonight is a quick rig and check, then a wash and pack up of the trailer ready for Pete to drive over Wednesday.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

The 11th Hour


4 days from packing the boats into the trailer and AUS32 emerges from the shed. She's had a few modifications made: Gnav has been substituted for a regular vang, she'' be racing the nationals with Kinder sails and not new Irwins (until we get the mast bends fully sorted), and she may still have her centreboard moved.
Boats get packed on the trailer Wednesday, and Pete hopes to have her ready for a test sail by tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, I'm off to ASC for my last float before the Nationals.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Broken Vang


The fitting pictured above is the universal joint between the GNAV strut and the mast - it seems the proctor plastic isn't up to the task. Pete is going to knock up some alloy ones tomorrow while I finish putting his carriage together. 1.5 weeks to nationals and the primer is still drying on AUS32.

Monday, May 25, 2009

More Mast work


Did some more mast bend work on the mast last night as it seems the original data we took my have been incorrect (bugger).
A=5710mm
B=1840mm
% 40kg 50kg
25 100mm 110mm
50 133mm 146mm
75 96mm 110mm
87.5 61mm 70mm

The rain got too heavy to do Petes on the boat, so I used the CST method:
M Point zero load 25kg load
1000 0mm 21mm
2000 0mm 35mm
3000 0mm 42mm
3710(LP) 0mm 40mm
4000 0mm 37mm
5000 0mm 33mm

Saturday, May 23, 2009

AUS31 Prebend


Top Pic has rig tension but no cunningham or vang, bottom pic has rig tension cunningham and vang - the difference in sail shape is amazing (and I'm amazed that in all my years of sailing I've never done these sort of comparisons - I've just played around with the settings someone else has suggested). The GNAV changes the sail shape so much in the 'push' it puts on the mast. I've also switched around the way my rig tension feeds at deck level to get a smoother line from the hounds-spreaders-deck. I'll send these pics to Lindsay and Geoff and see what they think.
Meantime it is zero knots here still so it looks like sailing is a wipeout, will be out next Sunday at ASC (OK dinghies are having a measuring day aswell so should atleast get a speed indication from the beast before the Nationals the following weekend).

Tarted Up



AUS32 has had undercoat applied, just in time too as it started raining last night and it is expected to last all week.
AUS31 can be seen out in the rain as I try to chase some more pre-bend; when Lindsay Irwin rings me on a Saturday and says my mast needs work, I listen. Speaking with Geoff last night, he reckons that I need to play around with the whole picture of GNAV, rig tension and spreaders - so it looks like a long day in the rain today.

Friday, May 15, 2009

More test sailing



Got AUS31 out on the water for a couple of hours today - and I am much happier with the way she went (though looking at the pictures i still don't think I have enough mast rake so I'll need a new forestay). One of the things I'm about to ring Geoff about is converting the kick up rudder back to cassette style - the kick up simply requires too many moving parts (well, 2 moving parts - the rudder down and the tiller locking in).
I'm still not convinced I have it right by having the vang cleat on the boom, but I'll use tomorrow on the water to get a better feel for that. I also have to look at a better mainsheet cleat or no cleat - as I cannot get the system I have to work.
The boat itself sailed very nicely - it went upwind with good feel and very light helm, tasking went smoothly (though I did have to heave on the cunningham to get the batterns to flick). The self tacker seemed to work well and I was easily able to reach the jib sheet and cunningham. She is much more stable to sail than I remember Josie feeling, and she can sail with more control on her ear (not that you want to do this - but it does mean you can get her back under control if you do get smashed by a gust, or in my case are unable to uncleat the main).

I really need to sail against another IC to see if the boat has pace in it, so I guess we'll see at the Nationals

Thursday, May 14, 2009

AUS32's Carriage



Pete is halfway through assembling his carriage, the whole boat is really coming along quickly now - but with 3 weeks to go will he make it?

And check out that rudder, blade is the same as min on AUS31 but Geoff has upped the level of finish on the stock (now we know it works on my boat it has elevated from a Beta). It just keeps getting better and better!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

AUS31 Weighs in



Hull + carriage + boom + fittings 35kg

Hull + carriage + boom + fittings + centreboard + rudder + tiller extension + seat + mast = 48kg

I'm very happy, though the official weigh in will be when Hayden throws the tape over at Toukley next month

AUS31's new sails




AUS 31 'Flatpack' has received her new Irwin sails, I just quickly put them up today and they look good. I will have them out on the water all day next Saturday (it is annoying to not have a drivers license until July).
Main differences to the sails I had on AUS26 are more luff round in the main (a fair bit more given how hard the things were to pull up) and the jib cut (not as high aspect as my usual jibs but the geometry of the flatpack didn't lend itself to that).

(you can also see the yard has been neglected in place of boat work)

AUS32 has her filler coat on the hull and the seat is carboned on the bull noses and Apex. Rails will be made today and fairing of the hull will start.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Flat out on AUS32




We're both flat out on AUS32, and with only 3.5 weeks to go we're going to struggle to get her ready for the Nationals.
Seat (mark 2 as the first 1 had some issues from not following the designers advice) went together last night and looks good. 
AUS31 is back in the shed at the moment getting the prettying up that she missed out on in an effort to make the abandoned Adelaide nationals. Her new sails have finally arrived so I'll get them up on the weekend.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

AUS32 More Progress



The carriage rails are going on AUS32 - and using WRC as level supports is a much simpler way that the way I did AUS31 (evolution people). To help Pete get to the Nationals with his new boat, it looks like I will give him my seat and carriage and I will build a new set for my boat. So a little croweater teamwork to ensure both boats are ready for the June Long Weekend.