Composite builder Ted van Dusen is looking at doing some more unstayed Cat 2 Fold masts. As I understand it, this is the machine he uses. www.composite-eng.com

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers – How Fiber Lengths and Loading Define the Achievable Properties and Dictate the Manufacturing Techniques

Live Presentation – Wednesday, May 7, 2014 2:00 pm ET
The Webinar will look at the properties of thermoplastic composites. Focusing mainly on carbon-fiber filled composites, we will show how the geometry of the filler, as well as the amount of filler, affects the properties of the finished article. The filler properties also generally determine the available manufacturing techniques that can be used.

We will look at properties that can be obtained using carbon fillers ranging from nanoparticles to continuous fibers and will also discuss how some combinations of filler can provide useful properties. There is no ideal formulation for a carbon-fiber reinforced thermoplastic – the end-use application will dictate the best candidates.

https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1033608

Interesting story.

Last fall I visited System 3 Epoxy and Kern told me of the trouble he was having getting people to follow printed instructions on how to do 2 part caulk adhesive.
I mentioned my sense that my boat plans of the future will have Q-R codes on the plans, using YouTube to show how to do that part of the boat build. His eyes lit up. I got to see the result last Thursday. He has a whole new $20K video studio set up and is getting after it. At my suggestion he will soon have QR codes for “how to” on amost every product.  Glad to see someone listens to me.

Transom steps are all the rage now days. I have a theory that they first were found on mega-yachts like in Showboats magazine. In my theory, they were designed so that the septuagenerians who could afford mega-yachts could actually get to the water or the dock.  Marketing people learned offer that slice of mega-yacht to small boats also.  It reminds me of Dr. Seagrave explaining how in architecture, things that were added to cover up shoddy workmanship began to be demanded by the uninformed.  I assume now that he was thinking of cove and other millwork.

Most of us could get down to the water anyway, but we love the transom steps and the walk-through.  Like many things, they have a price.  Most people don’t realize that on cats under about 45′,  the luscious transom steps take away a stateroom, or two if two transom steps.  Above 50′ or so, transom steps and a stateroom can pretty well co-exist, but under 45′ its tough.

The safety of transom steps/walk-through also depends on where you are sailing.  Most of the production cats I see are intended to sail in tropical tradewinds.  Wind and waves are there, but not overwhelming. 

Here on the west coat of the US, and surely some other places, the harbor is on the other side of a bar or other crossing.  Giant waves breaking over the transom are a typical day in the office at these places.  Combined with the now common low sill or no sill into the main cabin, it has the potential for a disaster.

Long time cat sailor and my friend, Mark Michaelsen has a website that has weather forcasting for sailing racers among others. http://www.wriwx.com/yacht/home.php

From Lat 38.
“Dashew Offshore, Beowulf Publishing, and the FPB team have been blessed with the support of the cruising community for many years, and we’d like to return the favor in a small way,” they wrote on their blog, SetSail.com. “We are making these two books, Mariner’s Weather Handbook and Surviving the Storm, available for free as PDF files. We hope Mariner’s Weather Handbook helps you avoid the need for Surviving the Storm. If these books help a few of our fellow cruisers have a more enjoyable experience, and perhaps stay out of difficulty, we will have been amply repaid.”

Even if you have the hard copies of these books, the PDFs can be easily loaded onto your tablet or computer for quick and easy reference whenever the weather gods decide to get frisky. Click HERE to be taken to their site; the download links are at the end of a fascinating post on forecasting, storm tactics and successful cruising.”