I been a while, I guess. My original thread has been closed to updates.

Frost finally hit the Midwest, and I had a chance to work on the buggy a bit.

One picture. I wrapped most of the spars, both for strength, and to protect me from explosive shattering of the bamboo in the event of an accident. I also shortened the spine, and finally got the front wheel mounted!

I am a little concerned about the twisting stress on the joint from the sail. Specifically, that it may cause the sleeve to slip around the spine.

I am looking at "woding" or "woading" techniques to strengthen the joint by wrapping it with static cord -- similar to how a knife blade is joined to the handle. I'd love to hear about any resources in that direction.

I'm no expert but I think you are going to need some bracing for the mast. If you look at what I did in my post in the "general" section you will see what I mean. I'm using bamboo also but only for the mast and boom. I am going to wrap them with strapping tape. That's the stuff with the strings in it. Super strong and if the mast is totally wrapped in it it should add a lot of strength without much weight. Hopefully I can use my drill to rotate the mast while taping

I guess we are going to learn about bamboo, for better or worse. Fun stuff huh? Good luck.

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Our builds are somewhat opposite in some regard -- my mast, boom, and gaff are all aluminum.

I'm using a minifish rig, which is designed to be freestanding, so hopefully I can get away without any stays. Though, I may end up adding in some diagonal rigid supports from the top of the mast socket out to the axel.

Looking forward to seeing how your rig progresses!

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minnesnowda said..
Hey, thanks for the reply.

Our builds are somewhat opposite in some regard -- my mast, boom, and gaff are all aluminum.

I'm using a minifish rig, which is designed to be freestanding, so hopefully I can get away without any stays. Though, I may end up adding in some diagonal rigid supports from the top of the mast socket out to the axel.

Looking forward to seeing how your rig progresses!

Likewise. And then of course we have to see which one will go faster .

I suspect mine will go fast just before something breaks. Where are you going to be sailing?

In case anyone else was looking for it, I found it!

www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f2/woolding-or-wrapping-spars-how-to-2052.html

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minnesnowda said...
In case anyone else was looking for it, I found it!

www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f2/woolding-or-wrapping-spars-how-to-2052.html

I'm hoping to sail on some frozen hay fields, if I can wrap this thing up before the snow flies.

I don't know if it will be fast, but 5.5 sq meters of sail makes me think I may be somewhat over powered. Which may translate into slow and destroyed. :-D

I will be wearing lots of padding (know what a downhill bike suit looks like?) Just in case.

Never mind allbthe fancy knots. Decided to follow some advice i got here a while ago. See below, but hopefully with bamboo.

Yep, those braces will be the way to go, takes the twisting effort off the mast step