Real life lithium users.  http://www.technomadia.com/2015/02/living-the-lithium-lifestyle-3-5-year-lithium-rv-battery-update/

John has set about it fairing his main hull to his 40′ tri.  Seems like a good choice many times to put in a little work to stave off ugly. Was just a few days ago he sent pics of it bare.  Beautiful.

I finally figured it out when I was looking at my Costco folding chair. It has the same pattern. Thats it. HH66 was built correctly and more robustly with e-glass and then they put the folding chair pattern over it. Fooled everybody.

It seems that catamarans have become the newest hot toys of the wealthy. Where they would once sport gold chains, they are now sporting carbon fiber.  I found the most amazing example of this recently.  A carbon fiber hull that is apparently to be kept “bright”, that is no paint.  It is a HH66.  The design goal apparently is to show everybody at any marina or mooring that they are the baddest alpha male sailor there is.  Forget UV degradation when you can be that cool.

I see several interesting engineering flaws in this peacocking.  In the tropics black surface temperatures of 160F (70 C) are not uncommon.  That surely rules out room temperature cure epoxy.  Typically high temperature epoxies have very little stretch to failure, like carbon fiber.  Combined, you have a very brittle laminate. 

Especially if foiling, light is cool.  The part that makes carbon so attractive is that it is so strong;  not much is needed.  Combine brittle laminate with very thin layups and you have a damage magnet. 

In the picture it looks like it is a balanced 0/90 layup.  As I have noted so many times, long slender hulls do not have such layups if being done efficiently.  From the pattern, it looks like it is woven.  If so, it looks far cooler than a knitted or uni stack, but is not as strong.  Clearly looking cool is more important than good engineering here.  Gold jewelry by any other name.  “I am bad, bitches, pay attention.”

Isn’t Alex supposed to take us all sailing sometime soon?

Dr. Rennie’s GoPro and drone caught this beautiful scenery.   My 64′ daycharter cat out of Kauai, at Niihau

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=73&v=L2CskxutA-Y

I have an armload of short observations.

First, the Bieker proa I saw under construction, and noted how odd it looked?  It was only the aft or forward half of the proa.  I see online it has its other reflected half added.  No idea why that was done, building a front and back half apart.  Global loads and all.

Still no word on Forespar forensics on the Sarabi mast.

People seem to think lifting foils are something new and cutting edge.   No.  Recall my picture here earlier of my friend Howard Apollonio on his foiler in the 60s.   What is different is the astonishing wealth spread has let many more multi sailors make carbon fiber boats.  Not every boat can get up on a foil.  Carbon makes a multi light enough to be a possible lifter.  Also, like politics, one snappy picture or scrap of video does not make it always that way.  Here in the Northwest there are kelp beds everywhere.  Tough to foil through those.

Prices on my USCG certified designs will probably have to go up considerably.  I used to rail about the USCG amnesia way back in the 90s.  It seems to be back.  I have certified some 50 cats to ABS ORY.  With the most recent submittal I was asked why I chose to use that Guide….  We could be going back to the days of a designers main job being running an unpaid Berlitz school for coasties.

Composite masts can be more difficult to determine how much laminate is needed.  In just the last couple of months recall the Gunboat mast giving way and the Sarabi mast mystery.  On an alloy mast you can be quite sure of both the modulus of the alloy and the section properties.  On your self-built composite mast both the actual section properties and the actual performance of your layups might not be easily quantifiable.  What to do?  Borrow an alloy mast.

Actually, borrow a successful alloy mast from the same size/weight of multi.  There are probably quite a few around, including your own earlier mast maybe.  Remove the diamonds and set it up on blocks at each end.  Put a certain weight exactly at the midpoint between the blocks.  Measure the deflection and record it.

When you have your composite mast, set it up the same way exactly.  If the new one is longer, let it run over the ends, just so the blocks are the same distance apart.  It will basically be a pin connection in both cases, so is close enough.  Add the exact same weight and measure the deflection.  If your deflection is greater, you can add more carbon until it matches or even exceeds the alloy data.  This way you don’t even need to know your exact carbon modulus.  I use 25 kg only as an example.  Use enough weight to give visible deflection.

John up on Vancouver Island showing his slightly modified wood strip 40 trimaran main hull.