Getting Fancy

New Bow pole articulation track installed!

So during thanksgiving holiday Ben came up to visit and brought along new parts for my boat!  Its a piece of Condensed Foam wrapped in carbon and vacuum bagged.  Then he built a track and car using Delrin. 

Here is a shot when it first got to the shop.  I sent him a template so he could get the correct radius and hull shape. 

Working on getting it fit in. 

Fitted up and waiting for glue. 

Installed! 

Mounted the track.

The track and car are basically a dovetail joint i am extremely impressed on how well it slides. 

We were going to used curved harken track and a special radius car but that would of cost about $500 and the car is like 5 inches long and i would of lost some throw from side to side and that would not allow me to articulate as far. 

I need to build two 3 inch sleeves one for the car and one for the bow.

So what are the advantages on this setup vs the other Three? (My opinion) 

http://i550na.org/eric/blog/articulating-sprit-construction

This is my favorite setup besides my own.  The only thing i don't like about is that you are creating high stress points at the bow exit point and at the car.  There is no sleeve and all the pressure is concentrated on two points and makes it easier to break the pole.  Also i have my car mounted at 27 inches from the bow no 18 so this should take some stress off the car as well.   The good part is that its simple and easy to build.  Also simple to jibe.  You can move the pole at any time to any place. 

This is a standard above deck articulating pole.  This is simple to build and you can articulate the pole as far as you want and are not restricted by your hull. The disadvantage is its more difficult to jibe and control.  I also like the look of a thru hull pole. 

Then there is a standard straight pole which is super simple and easy to sail with but you dont get the advantage of articulation.   

So i tried to combine the best of all the options.  I don't think being able to articulate any further than the hull allows will really be that detrimental and i think being able to control the articulation from the back of the pole vs the front with make it much easier to control and jibe.  I used the track so i was able to use sleeves vs rings to add strength and have hopefully a very reliable system.