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Mast head float


Gira Gira

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I would think shipping costs from B&B wouldn’t be unrealistic. Maybe check on that  first before just ruling it out. 
The kit includes a mounting apparatus.  It was made to fit snugly into the top of the masts; B&B knows what that inside dimension would be since mast pieces came from their shop.  Check your mast inner diameter if you procured your own mast materials.  (I’ve always received helpful answers and quick responses from B&B from questions I’ve sent them.) 
If deciding to make a float from scratch perhaps you could ask for float dimensions from B&B.  An challenge in this approach is to replicate three dimensional curves… and to build something for mounting the float. 
 

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Hi PadrePoint,

Thanks for your advice.

When I built the mast, I built and and installed a mounting system for a float (similar to the B&B mount)   just never got around to building  the float part.

It’s  not so much the cost of shipping as the time it will take to reach me.  

I’ve got a big coastal cruise coming up in a few weeks and wouldn’t mind having the float for that, as I will sailing in a area where I will have to self rescue .True to form I’ve left  it to the last minute to sort things out so will need to build the float myself.

I’ve shaped a few surfboards so I think I should be right shaping the float

I’ll check the dimensions with B&B.

cheers John

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Ah… makes sense.

My floats are made from four thicknesses of 2 inch (or so) styrofoam glued together (the kit pieces were CNC cut to fit together nicely.)  Cutting and shaping a 4-layer block to approximate dimensions might suffice… with epoxy and/or fiberglass for surface hardness. A piece of PVC through the float (glued in) near the middle provides a pivot point and serves as a bushing for the mounting “pin”.  This is how my B&B float kits turned out. ?

 

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Yep that’s me.

My mate Bruce is sailing beside me in his O’day daysailer Poke About, which is a rare boat in Australia. 
Bruce & I solo ocean raced against each other in complicated big boats years ago. We recently caught up again through the Sydney Raid group. We both agree we are having way more fun sailing small boats.

By the way your artwork is great on those floats.

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Gira Gira said:

Yep that’s me.

My mate Bruce is sailing beside me in his O’day daysailer Poke About, which is a rare boat in Australia. 
Bruce & I solo ocean raced against each other in complicated big boats years ago. We recently caught up again through the Sydney Raid group. We both agree we are having way more fun sailing small boats.

By the way your artwork is great on those floats.

 

 

 

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That was really fun to see your boat pop up in a video within an hour of commenting on this thread. 
You have done a great job on your CS17.

Did you design the wishbone sprits or had you found some kind of plans for them?  I’d considered that project but I’ll be quite happy with the straight ones I have. 
Also, I liked seeing your camping tarp. 
?

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26 minutes ago, PadrePoint said:

That was really fun to see your boat pop up in a video within an hour of commenting on this thread. 
You have done a great job on your CS17.

Did you design the wishbone sprits or had you found some kind of plans for them?  I’d considered that project but I’ll be quite happy with the straight ones I have. 
Also, I liked seeing your camping tarp. 
?

I think the straight sprits are fine, I think it makes very little difference to the performance having wishbone booms I like the look of the wishbone booms,  however they are more hassle.

The wishbones are old sailboard booms extended out to the same length as the sprit booms. They are meant to be prototypes…one day I’ll laminate some nice timber ones…

I looked at a few wishbone setups & cobbled those ones together.

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13 hours ago, Mark Rendelman said:

Who built your wishbone sprits and how do you like them over the stock straight spirits

Mark, the wishbone booms are old sailboard booms that I extended with aluminium tube.
Now I know the wishbones work, I intend to laminate some timber ones…some day…

I like the wishbones simply because they interfere less with the sail shape. 
I come from sailing high performance boats and having the sail drape over the sprit would have irritated me every time I looked at the sails, (I realise the performance gain is minimal). 

The wishbone booms are more hassle when raising & lowering the sails as the battens tend to get caught in the wishbones. The wishbones also take up more room in the boat when the sails are lowered and weigh more than straight  sprits.

 

 

 

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The listed negatives of the wishbone approach came to mind when I saw them on another boat, especially the space and awkward aspects. (I didn’t think about the battens getting hung up.)

 

I can appreciate a well-seasoned and skilled sailor being irritated by the affect to sail curves from straight sprits, even for just the aesthetic reasons.  (I understand that there is actually little impact to sail performance but I’d imagine the racing-attitude sees a bit of speed loss.)  Being a brand new sailing guy I don’t have the developed “eye” in which the straight sprit “offends” me. In fact, I suppose I’ll always remember the episode where it it took me a while to notice the quirky look in the sails after reefing for the first time (below), let alone wonder “what the…???”  So, I’ll post the photo for humor’s sake (I’m laughing even as I write this.)

?

 It was my first sail last spring. I only used my new boat a few times in the previous fall and hadn’t tried reefing. So I gave it a shot while on the water, just to see what the process is like.  For some reason I decided put the reef ties around the sprits.  Once I started heading downwind and looking up at the sails… “what the…???  That CAN’t be right.  What is going on?”

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Well, at least I noticed that the nice sail curve… just wasn’t there. ?

 

These goofy errors help the learning process, I guess. 
 

While typing this post, I wondered whether one could sail without the sprits, just the sheets.  Hmmm… something to try this year, likely unsuccessfully ?.

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24 minutes ago, PadrePoint said:

The listed negatives of the wishbone approach came to mind when I pondered them, especially the space and awkward aspects. (I didn’t think about the battens getting hung up.)

 

I can appreciate a well-seasoned and skilled sailor being irritated by the affected to sail curves from straight sprits, even for just the aesthetic reasons.  (I understand that there is actually little impact to sail performance but I’d imagine the racing-attitude sees a bit of speed loss.)  Being a brand new sailing guy I don’t have the developed “eye” in which the straight sprit “offends” me. In fact, I suppose I’ll always remember the episode where it it took me a while to notice the quirky look in the sails after reefing for the first time (below), let alone wonder “what the…???”  So, I’ll post the photo for humor’s sake (I’m laughing even as I write this. ?)
 

 It was my first sail last spring. I only used my new boat a few times in the previous fall and hadn’t tried reefing. So I gave it a shot while on the water, just to see what the process is like.  For some reason I decided put the reef ties around the sprits.  Once I started heading downwind and looking up at the sails… “what the…???  That CAN’t be right.  What is going on?”

97139336-B94D-4F0D-967D-9A1AD84ECD71.jpeg.a9571cd3ad94770287be122b04ac82aa.jpeg

 

Well, at least I noticed that the nice sail curve… just wasn’t there. ?

 

These goofy errors help the learning process, I guess. 

You might be onto something there, great visibility when reefed.

It reminds me of a time sailing in a state championship race, we got a great start, rounded the top mark first, then hoisted the spinnaker upside down…it happens to all of us…

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I own Steve's former boat--you can see some  of his "cat" handiwork here.

 

Steve, as you work on your float, let me know if you think it could be affixed to a Sea Pearl.  I think the main problem is that the sail sleeve of the Pearl extends over the top of the mast, if I recall correctly (my last sail seems so long ago!).

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