Catching up....

Sorry that I let the G-32 blog slide. Things got a bit hectic before the R2AK. getting all the parts to work well enough to go sailing was a bit of a stretch...

I did make it to Ketchikan and the sailing was great! I did have to fix stuff the whole way however.

Following are some photos of rig details, etc.

The hounds fitting (that holds the mast up) and the running backstay fitting (also holds the mast up) were carefully considered.

These parts were cut out of 6061 T6 aluminum on the table saw from stock I had left over from the last hounds fitting I made that were a similar design. The last one now has about 35000 miles on it, so it must be good, right? The reason that these fittings are glossy is that they were coated with WEST SYSTEM G-Flex right after sanding them thoroughly This was to seal the aluminum and isolate them from the carbon mast.  

These fittings are installed from the end of the mast so that the tongue (the outside part) can poke through a slot in the mast. The fittings were installed with epoxy. The oversize holes were filled with epoxy and then fasteners were installed (with epoxy) that were tapped into the aluminum.

The masthead was incredibly complex. The sheave boxes had to be built around the socket for the axle for blimpie.

The sheave boxes were made over a male mold (a piece of wood run through the planer to the right thickness and covered with adhesive-backed teflon).

There are only two halyards (main and screecher/spinnaker) and a topping lift, but it took 4 sheaves to make it all work. Fortunately, one of my first real friends in Port Townsend is now a custom sheave maker. Zephyrwerks.com.

Lots of parts and carbon taping happened between the above and below photos.
The holes in the side of the mast are for installing sheave pins. The holes in the top are for routing halyards.
Barely visible inside the mast is a bulkhead that seals the top of the mast from water entry if the boat is capsized (for added flotation). The bulkhead has very light conduits glued into it that run about 6' down the mast to carry the halyards.





The mast tiller had to be shaped to fold upward for lowering the mast. The last one of these I had made out of stainless tubing and it was heavy and it bent, so this one had to be really strong, but also quick to build.




I made a mold from a solid piece of wood and added plywood flanges. These pieces were covered with plastic tape when separate and then stapled together.




Many layers of unidirectional carbon (cut to just the right width) were wet out on plastic and laid into the channel formed by the flanges and then forced down with two narrow squeegees.




The result was a rectangular section of the shape I wanted.





The section was made almost round on the router table.



Layers of tubular braided carbon were applied to the high load areas. After sanding a layer was applied over the whole part.



This photo shows the mast tiller and also shows the universal joint that the mast sits on. The mast must be able to fold forward for trailering, lean sideways for righting the boat when capsized, and rotate. There are thin teflon disks between the upper aluminum part and the mast and a pin that the mast rotates on.


This photo shows the pin that the mast rotates on. The aluminum parts were modeled with wooden parts made on the table saw and drill press until the geometry seemed to work, then a CAD file was made from measuring the wooden parts and the aluminum parts were CNC cut.
The pins are titanium, which sounds expensive, but it's not when bought in rod or plate stock.




New rudders were built over the winter. Actually a whole new steering system was made, but that's a topic for another blog post. I haven't tried them yet, but they look good.