During a conference call yesterday some momentous decisions were made regarding Dorade’s main mast and boom. Our engineering teams did a fantastic job of reviewing the current main mast and comparing it. Excerpts from the report are at the end of this posting.
After a lively and involved discussion, the decision was made to build a new mast for Dorade! The wood has already been sourced. There will likely be some modernization to bring it up to current safety and sailing standards. A review of the original hardware is in process to see what can be reused.
There is also discussion about returning the rig to it’s original 7/8 configuration. Rating changes will have a direct impact on this decision. There are concerns that our boat for boat races with Sonny will lose out on the downwind runs due to less sail carried.
Boom
As noted in the photo of the boom bending in a previous posting, the current boom has quite a bit of flex in it. After more lively discussion, the decision was made to replace it with a radically stiffer spar. Sheeting loads will also be discussed, with a focus on moving the loads to the aft end of the boom.
From the report – Introduction
The following is an analysis of the Dorade 1936 Main Mast.
The analysis focused on the Moments of Inertia of the Main Mast and benefited from the analysis of the Main Mast conducted in 2007 when the focus of that review was the Spreader geometry and standing rigging.
This analysis included a review of the Mast Design, the Actual Mast in present condition and the Requirements based on various calculation methods and tools. In addition to the Nelson/Marek Mast Moments analysis tools the Skene