----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Councell To: Greg Ryan Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 8:55 PM RE: Few questions for you on other things: 1 2. what can we do about the Spin Halyard and launch throght? the line is really digging in making marks. Will the piece of Carbon reduce this or do we need something else Keith I guess I sailed for several years with the same throat arrangement on the 49er and I did see some burning through the gel coat but no real problem. Maybe polyester gelcoat is more slippery. Also I had vectran halyards not slippery dynema. So I'm a bit surprised that the halyards are eating into the throat. Roberts was a bad case at DeSoto. So first, make sure you are not pulling the sail down while standing on the other side of the halyard. Also that the head just comes into the throat. if its coming all the way back into the throat, that's too far. You might be able to fix that by tying a stopper knot in the halyard between the middle grommet and the top grommet of the sail. This spaces the sail out a bit and doesn't let a huge bunch end up in the sock. Then, of course, it's correspondingly easier to pull it out and less halyard tension during hoist too. When you are building the throat it is probably wise to put some extra layers of unidirectional over the front edge of the throat. Also to use epoxy with silica filler which is hard, not 410, and especially not 410 under a black paint. Once the fibers get cracked there, the damage will accelerate. I don't have finished pictures, but here is what I put in the front of mine after I saw what happened to Roberts in DeSoto. It is a piece of annealed aluminum 6061 tube, bent carefully to the shape of the throat. The lumen is filled with epoxy filler. The tube is faired in to the throat with epoxy flumed silica filler and the outside front edge wet sanded and polished but not painted. I'll silicon wax it and the inside of the throat when its ready to sail. If anyone wants to try this solution I have some annealed tubing (had to buy a roll) I have already used some inside my transom bar but I have enough for about 6 throats. Email me and Ill cut you a length and we can share the cost. Greg at nycskiffs.com
|
