flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

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mary orielly
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flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

Post by mary orielly »

i wish to fit a 550 square foot asymmetric spinnaker to my carbon fibre mast,this would entail fixing a block on the aluminum mast top plate.Has anyone ever done this or have any comments, we sail on Lake Ontario and wind is hard to come by.

Dave Corcoran

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Alain
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Re: flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

Post by Alain »

Hello Dave,
Here are a two pictures of the mastheads on my original masts (main and forward, F39 schooner). You can see that stainless "U-bolts" are (how strange!) bolted though the masthead aluminum plates, on which a single, 360° swivel block was attached.
The spinnaker halyards were running internally, coming out at the upper end of the masts around 1 meter below the block, through a 10-15 cm slot, thus minimizing friction of cable on mast. The spare "mainsail" halyards are external to the masts.
U-Bolts for spin halyard (front), spare main sail halyard on port side and courtesy flag on starboard (not visible here)
U-Bolts for spin halyard (front), spare main sail halyard on port side and courtesy flag on starboard (not visible here)
Masthead main.jpg (83.92 KiB) Viewed 6912 times
Do not trow away your mast(s)
Do not trow away your mast(s)
Masthead_2.jpg (75.01 KiB) Viewed 6912 times
Finally, the bound between the metal masthead and the actual carbon tube (1983) is unbreakable, although, hélas! I can't say the same about the carbon sticks themselves! (See below, thanks to hurricane Jeanne). New masts were built in 2005 to original dimensions, but 35% lighter, in one section, as opposed to the original 2-sections masts made by TPI for this F39 (can't say for the others).
Cheers
Alain
Masthead_3.jpg
Masthead_3.jpg (49.12 KiB) Viewed 6912 times
Alain
Naïade, F39PH '83, Montréal

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THATBOATGUY
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Re: flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

Post by THATBOATGUY »

Wow. Without the word picture to accompany those shots I thought you had invented some kind of cantilever mast system for ducking bridges.

George
George and Kerri Huffman S/V Marquesa Freedom 40 CC CK Sail MarquesaImage

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GeoffSchultz
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Re: flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

Post by GeoffSchultz »

So what happened during hurricane Jean to break the masts?

-- Geoff
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1997 Freedom 40/40
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Alain
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Re: flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

Post by Alain »

A picture is worth thousand words:
hurricane jeanne 00039.jpg
hurricane jeanne 00039.jpg (55.86 KiB) Viewed 6876 times
The only boat to fall off its stands in the yard, Indian Town, Florida (+/- 300 sailboats) was Naïade.
I suspect that the masts entered in resonance given the strong winds and that the vibrations got the legs slipping away. No witness. I had no topping lift or halyard tightened on either mast to prevent vibration/amplification, bad bad thing with a self standing rig. The boat on the right was a steel trawler, on which the masts snapped.
hurricane jeanne 00042.jpg
hurricane jeanne 00042.jpg (76.72 KiB) Viewed 6879 times
The two masts were the only casualties in the assault. NOTHING else was damaged inside or outside the boat, not a scratch, nothing... This is a sturdy hull, no doubts.
As for the replacement masts, splendid job by Ted Van Dusen at Composite engineering in Boston (http://www.vandusenracingboats.com/). He used to make the masts of the latest generation of Nonsuch, and cooked Bruce Schwab's Ocean Planet carbon fiber mast for the Vendée Globe in 2005 (almost a self standing rig!) (http://www.bruceschwab.com/). Looks like a giant fishing rod to me!
Ted Van Dusen on the left. See the big fishing rod in the back!
Ted Van Dusen on the left. See the big fishing rod in the back!
CE_1.jpg (54.12 KiB) Viewed 6877 times
Alain
Naïade, F39PH '83, Montréal

mary orielly
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:13 pm

Re: flying a Spinnaker on my 36'Freedom Hull# TSP35052F687

Post by mary orielly »

Alain wrote:Hello Dave,
Here are a two pictures of the mastheads on my original masts (main and forward, F39 schooner). You can see that stainless "U-bolts" are (how strange!) bolted though the masthead aluminum plates, on which a single, 360° swivel block was attached.
The spinnaker halyards were running internally, coming out at the upper end of the masts around 1 meter below the block, through a 10-15 cm slot, thus minimizing friction of cable on mast. The spare "mainsail" halyards are external to the masts.
Masthead main.jpg
Masthead_2.jpg
Finally, the bound between the metal masthead and the actual carbon tube (1983) is unbreakable, although, hélas! I can't say the same about the carbon sticks themselves! (See below, thanks to hurricane Jeanne). New masts were built in 2005 to original dimensions, but 35% lighter, in one section, as opposed to the original 2-sections masts made by TPI for this F39 (can't say for the others).
Cheers
Alain
Masthead_3.jpg

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