Bedford

Thanks qwerty, I have had that in the back of my mind but I think you just brought it to the fore. I can see myself making bigger hoops.
 
The sails are going up and down but not always 100% evenly so improvement is needed but I am happy with the progress.
 

 

 

That's more like it.   
 

Another option on the hoops is two lines from the gaff jaws tied to each hoop to lift the front of the hoop and keep them level when raised.  I don’t remember the reference but I added it to the Spray.    SEE HERE
 
Bob

I was having a problem with the mast hoops binding on my Byzantium and upon advice from other members of this forum I made them slightly larger so they would fit looser around the mast and that fixed the binding problem.
 
 
Lextin.

Yes, sir!
 
John

Thanks qwerty, I have had that in the back of my mind but I think you just brought it to the fore. I can see myself making bigger hoops.
 
The sails are going up and down but not always 100% evenly so improvement is needed but I am happy with the progress.
 

 

 

Thanks qwerty, I have had that in the back of my mind but I think you just brought it to the fore. I can see myself making bigger hoops.
 
The sails are going up and down but not always 100% evenly so improvement is needed but I am happy with the progress.
 

 

 

Making RC sail boats work rigth usualy requires thinking outside the box.  Sounds like you have a winner.
 
Bob

Ahh so that's a clapper. I was thinking of lining the rubbing edge of the yolk with a brass wire to reduce friction but my son and I put some thought into it and came to the conclusion that the best way to reduce friction is to reduce the number of items causing friction so I removed half of the hoops so now there is one every 40mm instead of every 20mm and this has helped the sail itself go up and down the mast.
 

 
Then instead of running the lazy jack through loops every 20mm on the sail I reduced it to just three loops, this dramatically reduced friction there and while the sail is not as controlled as it is hauled down it is still managable. You will see that I also moved the point of attachment on the gaff forward to a point that equalises the down pull so it happens smoothly without the outboard end of the gaff heading down first which caused the yolk to jam on the mast.
 

 
The other step was to add a lanyard from the master block on the gaff halyard to the yolk on the gaff, this ensures the gaff pulls up at the correct angle, again, preventing it from jamming on the mast.
 

 
The result is a sail that can be raised ad lowered very easily.

Ahh so that's a clapper. I was thinking of lining the rubbing edge of the yolk with a brass wire to reduce friction but my son and I put some thought into it and came to the conclusion that the best way to reduce friction is to reduce the number of items causing friction so I removed half of the hoops so now there is one every 40mm instead of every 20mm and this has helped the sail itself go up and down the mast.
 

 
Then instead of running the lazy jack through loops every 20mm on the sail I reduced it to just three loops, this dramatically reduced friction there and while the sail is not as controlled as it is hauled down it is still managable. You will see that I also moved the point of attachment on the gaff forward to a point that equalises the down pull so it happens smoothly without the outboard end of the gaff heading down first which caused the yolk to jam on the mast.
 

 
The other step was to add a lanyard from the master block on the gaff halyard to the yolk on the gaff, this ensures the gaff pulls up at the correct angle, again, preventing it from jamming on the mast.
 

 
The result is a sail that can be raised ad lowered very easily.

Ahh so that's a clapper. I was thinking of lining the rubbing edge of the yolk with a brass wire to reduce friction but my son and I put some thought into it and came to the conclusion that the best way to reduce friction is to reduce the number of items causing friction so I removed half of the hoops so now there is one every 40mm instead of every 20mm and this has helped the sail itself go up and down the mast.
 

 
Then instead of running the lazy jack through loops every 20mm on the sail I reduced it to just three loops, this dramatically reduced friction there and while the sail is not as controlled as it is hauled down it is still managable. You will see that I also moved the point of attachment on the gaff forward to a point that equalises the down pull so it happens smoothly without the outboard end of the gaff heading down first which caused the yolk to jam on the mast.
 

 
The other step was to add a lanyard from the master block on the gaff halyard to the yolk on the gaff, this ensures the gaff pulls up at the correct angle, again, preventing it from jamming on the mast.
 

 
The result is a sail that can be raised ad lowered very easily.

Ahh so that's a clapper. I was thinking of lining the rubbing edge of the yolk with a brass wire to reduce friction but my son and I put some thought into it and came to the conclusion that the best way to reduce friction is to reduce the number of items causing friction so I removed half of the hoops so now there is one every 40mm instead of every 20mm and this has helped the sail itself go up and down the mast.
 

 
Then instead of running the lazy jack through loops every 20mm on the sail I reduced it to just three loops, this dramatically reduced friction there and while the sail is not as controlled as it is hauled down it is still managable. You will see that I also moved the point of attachment on the gaff forward to a point that equalises the down pull so it happens smoothly without the outboard end of the gaff heading down first which caused the yolk to jam on the mast.
 

 
The other step was to add a lanyard from the master block on the gaff halyard to the yolk on the gaff, this ensures the gaff pulls up at the correct angle, again, preventing it from jamming on the mast.
 

 
The result is a sail that can be raised ad lowered very easily.

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I have attached the first sail and tried raising and lowering it.
 
You can see the lazy jack, the line that hauls the gaf down and gathers the sail in the process. It passes through loops sewn into the sail at 20mm intervals.
 

 

 

 

 

 
It all looks good but the gaf won't travel evenly on the mast because there is too much friction so it goes up too steeply and binds and does the same coming down.
 
The other problem to arise is that the boom is nowhere near heavy enough to hold the sail down when it has wind in it so I will probably have to find a way to stay the boom to the mast to maintain the correct angle.
 
These pics are with the fan on.................wind in your sails! 
 

 

I was dreading the hand sewing that would be required to attach the bolt ropes to the sails so I thought about it and decided it was worth trying to do them on the machine with a zig zag stitch.
 
I tried and failed a few times on scrap sail fabric, the main problem was that the machine process seems to stretch the fabric a little while the rope does not stretch, result, puckering right along the edge of the sail.
 
After some thought I decided to try a wider zig zag stitch that would reach completely across the rope without stitching through it. This worked beautifully and because the zig zag just encases the bolt rope I can just draw it through the stitching until the sail pucker is gone. It worked a treat.
 

 
Unfortunately I have ran out of cotton with two tops'ls to go and I have yet to stitch the guides for the lazy jacks into the sails. I figure I will pin a cord to the sail where I want the guides to be and stitch it to the sail with a tighter zig zag stitch. Then I can just pull a small amount through and create a loop at intervals up the sails for the lazy jacks to go through. Again I need more cotton to do this so the sail maker has gone home for the day.
 
I have also made the mast hoops.
 

 
I used up all the 0.5mm brass wire I had and got 16 hoops per mast which should put one every 22mm. I need more wire for the tops'ls.
 
 
I made the hoops by wrapping untempered wire around a steel bar of the correct diameter and then using pliers I twisted the ends of the wire together through 180 degrees and then cut the tails about 1.5mm outside the twist to form two interlocking hooks.
 
 

The machine work on the sails is done. Next on to the hand sewing.
 

 

I have made the sail templates to make sure it all fits, next job is to make the sails and see if I can get them to work the way I want them to.
 
Even though the sails are just cardboard it looks magnificent, I think it is going to look brilliant under sail.
 

 

 

 
I am hoping this pic will give a good idea of it's presence in a room
 

 

I've been a little bit busy over the weekeknd.
 

 

 

 
I think the next step will be to make sails.

Shrouds are on, I don't think I need to do the top shrouds because the top masts are stable enough to mount the running rigging etc so they can wait til later. As a side note I calculate a bit over 1400 knots in the rat lines! Once I re-learn the technique they are pretty quick and easy.