Fulcrum Speedworks Rocket
- Thread starter Will S
- Start date
Champlain Sailor
Member
Great summary of a very tough spring, Dave. If I go back to teaching manufacturing management some day, I'll invite you up as a guest lecture to discuss 'Supply Chain Disruptions and how to Manage Them.' Its been a crazy year. The boats look great. Once you have dialed in your process, do you plan to apply your silicone 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' resin delivery system to the Rocket as well?
craigiri
Super Anarchist
The HEIC download instead of showing up in line for me (Mac) - maybe it's my settings. Here's one of the pics as a jpg to show up inline. Looks really cool.
No doubt people have to be shown the door to get real quality. That stove I mentioned above used 1" bolts to hold the legs on. I went on a road trip once and came back and the guy in charge was using 3/4" bolts - which were catching by about 1 thread or less - 400 lbs of hot fire filled stove held up by nothing.
"Kevin, why did you use those 3/4" bolts"
"The supplier was out of 1" bolts"
"Well, didn't you think of going to the hardware store across the street and picking up the right ones?".
There is literally nothing that can be done about "logic" like that.
No doubt people have to be shown the door to get real quality. That stove I mentioned above used 1" bolts to hold the legs on. I went on a road trip once and came back and the guy in charge was using 3/4" bolts - which were catching by about 1 thread or less - 400 lbs of hot fire filled stove held up by nothing.
"Kevin, why did you use those 3/4" bolts"
"The supplier was out of 1" bolts"
"Well, didn't you think of going to the hardware store across the street and picking up the right ones?".
There is literally nothing that can be done about "logic" like that.
Dave Clark
Anarchist
I'm happy to coach students any time. I'm grateful for all the guest lectures, good and bad, that I've ever received. The rocket hull and deck are locked in enough that it's a matter for free time before the bag is built. Lots of discusion has gone into it. Tony and I are proud of the longevity we've achieved with the UFO bag (still running) but convinced we made it far too complex. We have a plan in place to make the Rocket bag virtually featureless in comparison. The big step up with the rocket tooling is 1. temperature controlled tools (nearly done being built up the hill) done via parabeam water manifolding in the exterior for cold water and hot water. This massively improves the cycle rate. 2. spinning the hull tool onto the deck tool to bond hull and deck before the first mold release (same as above parenthetical). This amounts to pulling fully assembled hulls from the one master tool on a daily basis. The massive difference is the cycle rate per mold. The difference is thousands of square footage in required floor space for output. See 3 in the above post. Essential.
Thank you all for getting it. We are throwing our hearts and souls into it and it gives me solace to see my team leaning into it and the public at large equally understanding it.
DRC
Grestone
Member
Dave,
As a software and digital product Product Manager, it is inspiring to learn about hardware product and supply chain management from you. Thank you for all that you and your team share here.
Jackie Treehorn
New member
Thanks Dave! Boat arrived last weekend. It’s exactly as advertised - a complete gas that is simple, stable, and fast. Tons of fun. Kids and I love it - we’re going to put A LOT of hours on it this summer. Congrats to you and the team. Home run.
robalex117
Super Anarchist
Dave are there sail color choices?
craigiri
Super Anarchist
NO NO NO, That will not do.
We need a full report - like everything. Pics of you sitting in it with other people at dock and water - to know how it looks w/people. Reports of exactly how the CB works and all that stuff.
Remember, none of us get to see it. The Factory has no time to present it to us in "normal everyday use" fashion.
Tell us everything! What winds you are out in - does it seem easy to capsize? How comfy it is - where do people sit.
If not...well, we will wait for the next owner.
martin 'hoff
Super Anarchist
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Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
Or write a country song about it.
Either way, post to the Maritime Art thread, too, please
- DSK
craigiri
Super Anarchist
Hah , I'm a one GoPro guy. Or even a one Yi guy.
But often the real idea is to get someone else to take the photos. I've never been able to do that much.
Capsizes are funny on multiple cams tho - you don't know what's happening and then it's like you are underwater and Glub Club Glub (sounds).
robalex117
Super Anarchist
First sail. Lots of fun. Xmas present for my wife who has been wanting a sunfish but I was just was not excited about getting her a sunfish. Saw this last december and jumped on it. So far so good. Only negative for us is when we launch from the dock the stern goes under and scopes up a bunch of water. What you don't see in the last picture is the stern is sitting on a roller so it is super easy to just roll it in and out of the water.
Dave a nice accessory would be a cover that goes over the boat and sail as it sits on the dock. One to protect the sail from the sun and two to protect the boat from the shells the seaguls drop on the dock.
Also I would ditch the plastic clam cleats and put in aluminum. Does anybody use plastic anymore for those items? They are hard to see in the pictures since we have a massive bow line around the mast but they are for the main halyard and boom downhaul.
Dave a nice accessory would be a cover that goes over the boat and sail as it sits on the dock. One to protect the sail from the sun and two to protect the boat from the shells the seaguls drop on the dock.
Also I would ditch the plastic clam cleats and put in aluminum. Does anybody use plastic anymore for those items? They are hard to see in the pictures since we have a massive bow line around the mast but they are for the main halyard and boom downhaul.
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Dex Sawash
Demi Anarchrist
SLO Sails does a mast up cover for Phantom, have to check with Fulcrum if any of the changes to the deck might make it incompatible.
https://www.slosailandcanvas.com/phantom-mooring-cover-boat-mast-up-flat-top-cover/
robalex117
Super Anarchist
That little loop comes with the boat and is how you would attach the boat to the dolly. Dolly comes with the boat but we are not using it for storing on the dock.
robalex117
Super Anarchist
Nice tip. Hull is the same. Deck is just cutout. Only possible problem is if the mast is in slightly different position which I doubt.
Dave do you see any issues with this cover?
Dave Clark
Anarchist
I'm quite certain it'll do fine, as will any Phantom cover. Below the hull deck joint all we did to the hull was fare it. That shape has many many merits, especially in light air. We've left the issue of covers for later to lower the burden on our friends at North. The high demand combined with material pipeline issues, as well as lockdowns and curfews in Sri Lanka (where the North OEM plant is) has left them very tight on capacity. So to increase the odds of our supply of sails running smoothly, we've pushed covers to the back burner.
DRC
robalex117
Super Anarchist
Real kids are away so next best thing is to take your other kids for a sail.
