Sails in the bag

Mike and I made another trip to Joseph Huberman's shop to work out the kinks on the sails for the final time we hope. We removed the sailcloth sleeve in exchange for some stretchy bias cut bright yellow heavy weight nylon fabric. This worked perfectly and allows for complete downhaul control. We also added a thick webbing cup on the top of the sail similar to a windsurfer mast that captures the top of the mast and keeps the load off of the sleeve. Sails today, seats and foot pedals tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.

Still working, working working working

Well, once again we decided that getting more details done on the boats made more sense than getting wet. It was verrrry cold today and verrrry windy and gusty especially this afternoon. Here is the rudder system after today we got the up and down haul installed and the auto releasing cleat working. Still have to add the control lines and foot pedals.



The Mast sections came in yesterday and we were able to try them out with a sail up. We found that the luff sleeve is a little tight and makes down haul almost impossible. We think we are going to have to re-sew it onto the luff, stretching it as we go. We also need to strengthen the top of the sail and remove some of the layers of sailcloth at the head to thin the sail a little so that it will furl smoother.

We also got all the hinges installed on the hatches and installed the plastic eyes for the bungee on the decks. With only a week and change before we head down to Florida, there is much to do including installing the seat finger boards, fixing the sails, mounting the leeboards and installing the foot pedals. So much to do and so little time. Sailing this week (fingers crossed). More pics to come.

Cockpits and Hatches and Masts Oh My

Mike and Matt and I worked on the cockpits, masts and hatches tonight. We got all of the cockpit rims glued in which was no small feat. We also acquired a sprayskirt to ensure that the mods we made to the cockpit rims would not affect the fit of the skirt. Matt got one hatch hinged with the hinges we got from Duckworks and also added some thickening wraps of fiberglass tape to the bottoms of the masts in preparation for the aluminum mast extension that came in the mail today back in Chapel Hill.

Tomorrow Mike and Matt and I will be on a flight test with the Aerial Robotics Club but will be back at it on Saturday night in preparation for Sunday. We still need to nail down the rudders and seats and do some last minute touches on the leeboards so that we can determine proper placement on Sunday.

Here is the Mast with the wraps of fiberglass tape to bring the diameter up to about 2.25 inches. Cockpit rims all finished. Maybe one more layer of filleting but other than that...done.

"Cockpits" or just "the pits"

Its not all bad, we have one cockpit installed and are working on the others. Hurricane Kayaks gave us a deal on four of their sized 1.7 plastic cockpit rims which we think are going to work quite well. The plastic is easily moulded to the curve of the deck with a heat gun but it is somewhat of a long process. We are holding the rim to the gunwales with screws and then building up a fillet on the outside of the plastic rim on the deck to hold the rim secure. More details and pics to come. Also check our Team RAF in the news again featured on Sailing Anarchy getting the word out about the Everglades Challenge.

We Think We Can, We think We Can...We Know We Can

Yesterday Alan's Mom and Dad came over from Chapel Hill to drop off some goodies for the boat and general race preparation. The list includes:

Dry bags
Spray top
A great assortment of sailing hardware from Duckworks
Head lamps
A PFD knife
General saftey items
Wa'apa seat Mk. II, with action retracting support bars
A deck bag
& 4 cockpit coamings from Hurricane Kayaks

Alan and I headed back to school to work on some homework (Orbital Mechanics) and to pick up the heat gun and trusty jigsaw. After we were both finished with the homework we returned to the storage unit for some cockpit prepping.

When we cut out the experimental cockpit holes we made them too big, so we needed to glue in some plywood sections so that the combings will have a strong lip to rest on. But before work began on the plywood additions we started playing with the combings and the heat gun. Just like Bittu, from Great Outdoor Provision Co., said we were able to heat the combings with the heat guns, let it cool for several seconds and then it held it's shape.

Alan worked on molding the combing to the curvature of the deck while I cut out the plywood inserts. After it was all said and done we were very happy with the results, and it was late (or early), so we came back to campus to catch a few precious z's.

I almost for got to mention that earlier in the day we returned to Joseph Huberman's house to put the finishing touches on each sail. We added two 30" vertical baton sleeves on the leach of each sail. We also got to talking about Mr. Huberman's very large and very cool boat, Prestissimo, which he built a couple years back. He has been great help for our sail making adventure.

As you might have noticed there is a dearth of pictures for this post, but I promise you will see some lovely pictures of our work in the next 24hrs. In the mean time here is a picture of one member of Team RAF which made the school newspaper.

GOPC Blog'n

Team RAF has been granted access to the Great Outdoor Provision Co. Blog site for posting updates. Team RAF is being sponsored by GOPC by way of discounted gear from their local shop in Raleigh and support through manufacturer contacts who can also help us get to the start line.

GOPC has a wealth of great deals on paddling, fishing, camping and general outdoor equipment for the modern day outdoors person. Be sure to check out their website and visit one of their 9 locations in North Carolina. Team RAF gives GOPC a big thumbs UP.

Back on Life Support

Hahaha, we did not realize that our blog was keeping so many followers alive. I will try to keep posting daily albeit may be short. Sunday we worked on the rudder casting and figured out how the up and down haul will work. The Seats are almost ready for installation but we are going to install the cockpits first so that we are sure to get the correct spacing right maximum comfort. The rudder control foot pedals are in the mail and will get here later next week so we will rig up an "on deck" rudder control for now which we may keep as a backup system. The cockpits are on their way (shipped today) from Hurricane Kayaks. They charged us for shipping but it will be worth it in the end not having to make the coming ourselves.

Mike and I got the second sail sewn to spec on Mon. and we will be going back for the last round of sewing as we install 2 30inch vertical batten pockets in the leech of each sail to remedy our bad case of floppy leech. This will keep the sail up but still let us roll the sail around the mast. Then yesterday I got the boom to mast couplers installed and epoxy coated. The boom couplers give it that old timey look.

In other news, PVC pipe is not an acceptable material for making masts out of so just hold the "I told you so's" please. We are awaiting the arrival of our shiny new 5 foot sections of 2.5 inch O.D. 1/8 inch wall thickness 6061 aluminum tubes. We got a pretty good deal on them.

Thats all for now really. Mike, Matt and I really need to get our Aero 2 lab reports done so that we can go out and play Thursday night...Friday morning....ouch. (Unlike last week). But lastly we have the weekly Team RAF quiz question....(ready?) Which member of Team RAF ate this extremely mushy banana??? If you think you know, send your answer rolled up inside of a clear 4 cubic foot dry bag and send it our way.

Work before Play

We took today (Sunday) to get more work done on the boats instead of sailing them. We added a mast deck plate doubler to the deck and also started work on the uphaul and downhaul lines for the rudders. More detail on this system later but it looks like it is going to work very well. In other news, we got one sail done the other day and will be going back to finish the second one tomorrow.


The booms are done and the masts are almost there. We still need to finish up the cockpits and mount the seats into the boat.

We have a lot of stuff on the way as far as hardware goes from Duckworks. Eyes, buckles, hinges, you name it. So that will all go on this week hopefully. Rudder controls will also be done soon with hopes of completion of everything by this weekend. Knock on wood. Short post for now, need sleep. We all could use more sleep for that matter but we know it will be worth the hardship in the end.

Sailing Away

Here is seat number one that my Dad delivered to us yesterday. Its all work for him while we just take a seat (laughing). Thanks Dad!!! Mike, Matt and Chris were all tied up with tests today so last night I did some work solo at the shop. Here is another picture of the seat tube supports. The one in front will work just like a kruger seat with the solid bar. The rear tube however boasts spring loaded tube extensions that will plug into a "holes board" in the rear of the cockpit. The front tube will be supported by a sideways "U" shaped cutout in the board. This allows easy removal and repositioning of the seat in the limited width of the cockpit.

Also, since the cockpits are so tall, there is a lot of room for seat positioning from up like a kayak to down low with just your head and shoulders exposed. The bolt sticking out is connected to the sliding tube and compresses the spring. With the two bolts connected by a piece of line and a fairlead under the seat, you will be able to release the seat with a handle under the front of the seat.



The rudders are installed now with standard hobie hardware and good old 5200 to seal the holes. The threaded rods are our "quick fix" for this weekend so that we can have some way to control the rudders under sail. We are still in the design process for how this should work. Tyring to utilize the existing lower casting but also employ some sort of control horn is challenging. Also the up-down control needs to be worked out. Perhaps a windlass attached to the side of the casting or a torque bar or some kind. For this weekend, we will just make do.

Here is the porthole in bulkhead #5 that will allow access to the rudder control lines when they enter the main hull and also allow for stuffing coke bottles in the far aft compartment.





The leeboards have one coat of color on them now. We wil lash them to the side of the boat for now until we determine proper placement under sail. Speaking of sails, we will be traveling to meet one of Mike's friends Mr. Huberman who is a unique designer of inflatable artwork in Raleigh who has offered his services with a sewing machine to help us modify the C-scow sails. Here is his website with some stuff he has done.

We hope to be on the water with our final sails on Sunday with rudder and leeboards working. Then we just have to finalize everything: Glue in the leeboard bracket, finish the cockpits, install the seats and install lots of hardware, lines. Stay tuned.

Sea Trials...Take one...Action!

We loaded up the boats on the trailer for our first sea trials today on Lake Wheeler to see how the boats paddled and try out some different configurations. See a short Video Here. It was VERY windy today (steady 15 with gusts to mid 20s in the morning and calming down some in the later afternoon). We got out to the lake and rigged up the boats on the beach. We still don't have the seats, lee boards, rudders, hatch hold downs, masts, sails or cockpits installed but we hope to fix all that soon. For today it was just a necessity to see them get wet.



The boats were rigged up pretty quickly and we proceeded with our official christening ceremony. (In case you were wondering, the speech can be found online with a quick search) The boats are now officially named "The Rise" (yellow) and "The Fall" (orange) in keeping with our team name.


I performed the ceremony with witnesses present (Cheng and Brian, some sailing friends). We hope for good fortune and safe sailing during the EC. Cheers everyone. After the christening, we suited up and shoved off. The first thing we noticed was that the boats like to tip from side to side a lot when completely unloaded and paddling was done at about a 10 degree bank to the water. Again without seats and real cockpits it was hard to get an idea of how it will be for real and we most definitely need to get those rudders on.


She paddles into the wind fairly easily but turning into the wind was another story. This was not a surprise, we have a lot of area on these high side panels. Here is Chris and Mike doing a pass by the shore. You can see the angle of the hull to the water. With loaded boats this will decrease to some extent. We may end up extending the ama pylons but we are going to do more experimentation with the sails and masts and amas like they are before making major design changes. We also joined the two hulls in catamaran configuration and found this to be much easier to turn in the high winds. This will be our most advantageous configuration for sailing. We left the amas on shore for the first test but there was plenty of room for them.


After our canoe trials we decided to take more advantage of the windy day and so we took out one of the NCSU sailing club's Flying Scots for a quick sail. See the video of us on the Scot here. It was very windy but with 6 guys in the boat we didn't have much trouble holding it down and we had some sweet downwind reaches completely up on plane in the high winds.

After sailing, we packed up our mountain of booties and spray suits. Chris was at war with his spraytop for quite some time so I thought I would snap off some pictures of him instead of give him a hand. I couldn't resist. He did eventually escape. We found that the amas could be transported above the hulls using the crossbeam supports since they are fairly convenient and leave space underneath for sails and masts in the future.

All in all a great day at the lake. We learned a lot about how the boats handle and are anxious to get everything else done so we can GO SAILING!



Thanks for reading! Thanks Brian and Cheng for taking pictures and helping us carry stuff down to the water.