Roobarb Canoe

 After cracking and repairing Monkeys daggerboard thought I had better make a new one. From the same 220mm cord mould I wet out 2 staggered plies of 400gsm cloth (T700 I think) and 1x 300ud laid this in the mould, added the pouring foam and clamped together. The front edge was trimmed to mould and the trailing left long Results are ok but there are a number of voids in the surface which is disappointing. These have been resin filled and the lot left to cure for a few days. I also used the same technique on a new rudder mould, with a similar but better result. I think the next trial  I might go back to curing the skins first. Assembly was the issue when I trailed this in the past but I think using a lightweight surface ply  and allowing this to go past the trim lines maybe the answer. Previously I had trimmed the skins before assembly and this caused issues with skins moving/ not fitting together well.

 Had new jib form HD sails. Measures 2.2 as requested, should really have gone for 2.4 which would have matched the main better …. Nice shape , quite full. Tried it first time in 20 ish knots… bit of a hard sail. Thought I might not get back at one point. Very difficult to tack, kept going aground. Mainly me out of practice…. Had compression failure on daggerboard. Which I repaired It failed where I ended the carbon ud. This was mainly a glass biaxial layup so it’s very flexible below the ud…. Thought I had better make a new one for the nationals in Loch Lomond.

  Relaunch of Monkey! Sunday 14 May Got the decals on (from Funky Monkey) and took her out in a nice gentle breeze. Didn't sink and generally all OK   Saturday 20 May Around 20 Knots of breeze, well mannered most of the time but some adjustments needed. Kept luffing up when wind dropped and after tacking. I think it must be unbalanced, jib only 2.1m2. I found in dragonfly with the same daggerboard that 100mm off the bottom worked well. Mast is very soft , perhaps that is also not helping? Chine digging in as well? Work to do: Mast track ate the luff rope so those mast repairs now more urgent (and new bolt rope) I adjusted the kicker but this needs further work Bottom rails of carriage need trimming Dagger board needs shortening Jib track i think needs a stopper as it runs too far out, new jib from HD coming so that will need setting up with that Toe straps are not the right webbing, they are like elastic! Need to source some new material