Yard sling ideas?

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  • 10 May 2016 20:49
    Reply # 4012418 on 4011366
    Deleted user
    Annie Hill wrote:
    Bryan Tuffnell wrote:I meant to ask Annie why she suggested adding graphite to the epoxy?
    It protects the epoxy from the UV; it also makes it quite slippery, which is good if your line moves at all.
    I happened to have some on board too.

    It looks to me (and this is the voice of ignorance and inexperience talking) that Fantail's yard requirements are different to those on a flat sail for several reasons - different relationship between c of g and yard centre, greater loading of the ends of the yard. The techniques in PJR focus more on controlling the sail; the yard is along for the ride. Fantail needs control of the yard first in order to reduce the stresses of setting the sail. It occurs to me that slinging the yard gives the opportunity to experiment with shifting the YHP aft to where it can assist in peaking the yard.

    A further thought is to divide the sling in two, with a stopper knot holding the lower section, and a block terminating its upper end. The upper section could run through the block. Adjustment would be as easy as changing the position of the stopper knot.

    Last modified: 11 May 2016 03:02 | Deleted user
  • 10 May 2016 10:45
    Reply # 4011366 on 4009499
    Bryan Tuffnell wrote:I meant to ask Annie why she suggested adding graphite to the epoxy?
    It protects the epoxy from the UV; it also makes it quite slippery, which is good if your line moves at all.
  • 09 May 2016 11:33
    Reply # 4009624 on 4009536
    Deleted user
    David Tyler wrote:

    For its lubricity. Conversely, it would be better not to use silica, as it's abrasive.

    Yes, that makes perfect sense. Thanks to everyone.
  • 09 May 2016 10:32
    Reply # 4009536 on 4003031

    For its lubricity. Conversely, it would be better not to use silica, as it's abrasive.

  • 09 May 2016 09:58
    Reply # 4009499 on 4003031
    Deleted user
    All done bar the splicing. My temporary setup was the same as yours, David. My motivation for changing it was just to get a more favourable load on the yard (compulsive ex-engineer). When I was fiddling with the yard yesterday I found that it was already sheathed, so I did as Annie suggested and made epoxy plugs in oversize holes. My wrinkle is to roll up a fine paper tube of slightly less diameter than the line and set this into the thickened epoxy. This acts as a pilot hole and is drilled out when drilling the hole for the spectra line.

    I meant to ask Annie why she suggested adding graphite to the epoxy?

  • 09 May 2016 06:27
    Reply # 4009307 on 4003031
    Deleted user

    Another option Bryan is to use the method I have used on Footprints. That is a sling from the original halyard attachment point on the yard, and then taken up to the top end of the yard. This gives you the ability to attach the halyard anywhere along the length of the sling. This was a temporary measure on Footprints almost 4 years ago and is still there. It seems to work so well that there seems no point now in changing the way I attach the halyard to the yard. The sling is a single piece of 8mm Spectra braided line. 

    Last modified: 09 May 2016 06:27 | Deleted user
  • 08 May 2016 21:32
    Reply # 4008925 on 4003031
    Rather than scrape the paint off, add fibreglass, coat it, sand it fair, re-coat it and the surrounding wood and then repaint, why not simply drill oversize holes, lay the yard down with the holes vertical, put masking tape across the lower part, fill with thickened epoxy (preferably mixed with graphite powder), let it harden and then drill out to correct thickness.  Alternatively a greased stick of some sort - pencil? - slightly larger than the intended rope, could be stood up in the thickened epoxy until it has gone off.  A lot less work and probably even more effective against the grain splitting. 


    The yard on Fantail actually started out life as a yard on a square rigger, before becoming a mast on a 40+ ft yacht and finally ending up as a yard once more.  The wood must be pushing 100 years old and the grain is incredibly close together.  Makes the gorgeous stuff I've bought for SibLim's mast look pretty rough in comparison!
  • 08 May 2016 09:10
    Reply # 4008442 on 4003031

    Think of the original PJR sling plate, which relied on fastening horizontally into or through the yard with screws or bolts. The loadings are the same, with components perpendicular to and along the axis of the yard. However, I would be happier if some local glass reinforcement were added, to inhibit splitting along the grain.

  • 08 May 2016 08:29
    Reply # 4008432 on 4003031
    Deleted user
    Something I'm unsure of is the loading of a hole in a beam... I know that a small hole in the centre of a beam has a minimal effect on beam strength; does that still apply if a load is placed through the hole? The loads will not be equal on each leg of the span, and have a significant component along the axis of the yard.

    The boltrope groove is fabricated into the wood of the boom and I'm very reluctant to remove it. 

  • 07 May 2016 10:14
    Reply # 4007723 on 4003031

     You could always remove the bolt rope track, (I am assuming it is an aluminium extrusion screwed on to the yard?) and remount it on a 12 mm wood  spacer, leaving holes wherever you want for the span or a strop. All you need is 12 mm longer screws to attach the track through the spacer. If the bolt rope track is part of the wooden yard then you could replace it with an aluminium extrusion on a spacer to solve the problem.

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