DN yacht performance gears
Moore Bro. autoclave is not cooling down. Mid of summer is full focus on winter projects. First big batch of 2021 winning design full carbon masts by Moore Bro. and Jeff Kent is getting ready for shipment. Santa is coming early this year 😉
Situatiuon with lumber is very tight. I wanted to make sure that I am the first one to put my hands on fresh delivery.
Best runner planks start with best lumber. Therefore I always show up with my own scale. I weight every board and caclulate density. Te goal is to pick up the lightest wood. Lightest boards are used for planks for very light sailors. In other words low density wood allows more glass reinforcement. This is critical for all saliors below 75kg.
For my runner plank projects I use samba wood (AKA abachi). The lightest plank core I’ve ever made was 2,35kg and heaviest was almost 5kg! In average core before infusion weights 3,5-3,7kg. That’s quie a difference and careful selection makes a lot of sense.
In my practice sailing in Żnin I was testing two full carbon masts. One each day. Both seem to be on a soft end of the range. My feeling was that my plank has a lot to do with how the mast performs. When I studied my action cam recordings I felt I need to make dynamic load measurements of the plank. This measurement was done last time long time ago so I had to find all accessories hidden in the boxes covered by dust.
The setup is very simple. One important notice: apply tension/load with system built of non-stretchy materials. In my case steel cable connected to hunters’ digital scale and to dyneema wrapped around the plank.
I used headstay adjuster to precisely apply load. The laser range finder fixed to the tripod was delivering precise continuous reading of deflection. Reading of deflection was taken after every 10kg load added from 0 to 120kg.
Simple graph below shows interesting results:
Orage represents the plank that I was using for testing the masts. In some load range it is up to 10% stiffer than the other plank. I think I found the answer to my question. I should go with blue plank instead of orange.
We had made an important decision early this year to introduce new full carbon mast. The first attempts were already made four years ago. Now time to bring latest product to the ice. Very exciting sailing week ahead.
It is great feeling to have so much dedicated team behind with ideas, technology and open mind. Thanks Moore Brothers and Jeff Kentski!
Awaiting for new full carbon masts from Moore Bro. allowed some extra time for finetuning runner plank details. This little add-on in connection with new tang design will make plank ends look really cool.
To find out more go to Aerodynamic upgrades menu.
An upgrade to old and new masts producerd by CSI and Moore Bro.
FDM technology, flexible material.
Super easy installation.
See details in Aerodynamic upgrades.
I just released new Tech Talk no.11 about plank to hull fixing part 2 of 3.
As promised I explain in details process of installing 3-pad system.
If you are subscribed to my YouTube channel fell free to download laser jet cutting drawings for free. Go to Runner planks & fittings menu for details.
My runner planks’ core material is samba wood also known as abachi. When you google for most common applications you will not find iceboat’s runner plank. Strange.
It is very light wood and easy in processing however it covers everything in dust even if you have dust collection system.
The lightest wooden core ever was 2,54kg, the heavies 4,55kg. In average core weight oscilates between 3,4-3,6kg in most of the cases.
As always things start to accelerate as it comes to end of summer.
Before starting new batch of planks I decided to build a post curing box. In fact it will support both curing and post curing. Elevated temperature lowers viscosity and improves resin flow.
But the real benefit is that I no longer need to outsource post curing. Now all can be done inhouse.
The box can accomodate two planks 😉 and it will occupy big portion of my small shop floor ;(
If you haven’t seen my plank movie yet this is the right moment to do so.