'Triple Jack' rebuild...FU Irma!

[racinginparadise]

Aye, when will she be ready and how will she sail??
Good questions.

How will she sail first.
Like any multihull it's all about constantly reminding yourself 'add less weight'.
To be honest we are not sure how we have done in that department.
At her last weigh-in she was 4.157 metric tonnes, or 9,164 llbs.
Just over 4 Volkswagen Beetles.

The new engine and saildrive, (3GM30 with SD20) along with the extra laminations and the saildrive base itself have to be at least 550llbs.
Plastic fuel tank? Not much if empty!
The carbon mast and boom should be lighter than the originals but we have no idea by how much.
The rigging definitely so with Dyneema shrouds, lighter diamonds, babystay and headstay.
The heavy old rudder has gone, along with its SS stock and head.
The coachroof with its purpleheart beams? Hmmmm, heavier I would say.
New aft wings, beam reinforcements, foredeck...all heavier.
Chainplates? Definitely heavier.
Then you have the engine controls, batteries, wiring and more than a few gallons of paint.

Time for a sweepstake?
I'm going for 4,600kg
If that is the case I think she will handle the extra very well.
Less weight aloft and the majority of the extra weight being around midships.
The smaller rudder further forwards will be interesting, less ventilation but not as punchy on the helm.
So long as we get the mast rake where she needs it she should handle well, with the sailplan balanced the helm loads were always minimal.

When will she be ready?
Well, sadly not for the Willy T race, nor the Round Tortola this year.
The 'to do' list is impressive, she has to come out of this refit ocean ready, not 'round the cans' ready.
Steve and I both have demanding work lives coming up with the season starting.
We have a great worksite set up and we need to make the most of it.
Once launched work on board will not be so easy out on her mooring, every job on the list from now on will involve trips to the chandlery!
What can I say...other than watch this space!

Only 2 shots this time for a change.
One shows why we are looking at using a matte clearcoat once the logos are on.
The other is our best clue for the mast rake she liked, the shot taken from Shelly Beach, Exmouth with TJ on the Lifeboat mooring.

 

[Gone Ballistic]

I guess she might be stiffer too, and that'll help with performance even if she has put on a few pounds!

I'll throw-in a fiver for the sweepstake - 4720kg, i think these things have a habit of being heavier than hoped, but i'll be happy to loose my fiver!

 

[racinginparadise]

Rattling on down here.
Sunday saw Steve reacquainting himself with the rudders. It's odd not being able to check they fit first, but that would involve a crane lift or a digging a big hole. Trust in the measurements.

I worked with Barry on replacing the trampoline attachment strops. Only 5 of them were missing out of nearly 200, they are SS rings cow hitched with 3/16" dyneema loops to the SS rods 'captured' in GRP half pipes. The system has stood the test of time, we have never blown one out when sailing. The tramps themselves are still in great shape despite being 24 yrs old. We had them custom made in Tortola by Manesseh Phillip. He used 5 ton yellow cargo straps sewn into a double PVC border. The net itself is that stuff ATN use. I have never seen it UV out or tear, many of the bareboat cats I managed had these nets. The only reason I know it is yellow cargo strap is because one corner of the tramp did succumb to Irma as a 1" dock line was brutally pulled clean through the front beam that it was attached to.

The boatyard has launched the majority of bareboat cats well ahead of Nov 1st the 'official' end of hurricane season. The new season start date appears to be Oct 1st. I remember 'wrong way Lenny' a cat 5 hurricane that nailed St Croix November 14th 1999 as a cat 5. We don't need a repeat of that, a predicted bumper season would be in full swing! I am always looking at the models for 2/3 weeks ahead but there is nothing out there at the moment.

History is the last crane lift, the next one will be mast up and after that the launch!

 

[Gone Ballistic]

@Team Triple Jack, they need you over here: https://forums.sailinganarchy.com/threads/save-this-trt1200-hurricane-ian-flipped-her.239335/

 

[PIL66 - XL2]

Can I ask why you are using rings for lashing of the nets instead of just stringing it through the ss rod in the PVC tubes ...? seems to be a double up... ?

 

[racinginparadise]

aye, no more projects for us thanks you v.much!

PIL, the SS rods end up very tight to the GRP and it's a real fiddle to get the loops cow-hitched on with 3/16" spectra behind the stainless
However, once in place they stay there and the SS rings make it easy to lace and tension the tramps with regular line.

 

[Ravenswing]

aye, no more projects for us thanks you v.much!

PIL, the SS rods end up very tight to the GRP and it's a real fiddle to get the loops cow-hitched on with 3/16" spectra behind the stainless
However, once in place they stay there and the SS rings make it easy to lace and tension the tramps with regular line.

Hey, can I ask about your lamination schedule for the net lacing tubes? For my F39 build, I used three layers of 1708DB over 3/4” PVC electrical conduit. Came out great but I think it might be overkill. I’m going to build some for a 27’ tri rehab coming up, and wondering what fabric weight and layers count have worked for you guys?
Thank you for the continued updates from Triple Jack! I know it’s hard to work on the boat and also be the correspondent.

 

[racinginparadise]

Hey, can I ask about your lamination schedule for the net lacing tubes? For my F39 build, I used three layers of 1708DB over 3/4” PVC electrical conduit. Came out great but I think it might be overkill. I’m going to build some for a 27’ tri rehab coming up, and wondering what fabric weight and layers count have worked for you guys?
Thank you for the continued updates from Triple Jack! I know it’s hard to work on the boat and also be the correspondent.

It was a long time ago, but I remember 2x 1708 tabs over the 3/4" pipe with roughly 3" and 5" overlap either side. I nearly just did one, especially around the 'pointy' parts of the beam fairing, them being a 'wrap' not a 'sit on top' laminate.
I also pondered not leaving the PVC form pipe in place and instead just using it to make a mold. That would have left more space for lacing around the rods...on the other hand the rod is held snug by the pipe and the PVC in my mind is an anti-chafe lining.
I wouldn't worry about your 3x tabs, that's for life, belt and braces!

 

[racinginparadise]

Evening all, a bit of advice is needed.
It's time to fit the new spreaders and the choice is not clear.
Nor is the original spreader length of either uppers or lowers.
The donor 'King Spar' carbon mast had two sets of spreaders, both raked aft as per racing monohull.
I have those spreaders that can be shortened and grafted onto the alloy thru mast spreader bars.
I also have 2 sets of alloy spreaders that were donated from I don't know where. The wall thickness is these is 1/8"
The carbon spreaders are thicker walled.

So, the issue is, do I use carbon or alloy?
Guessing the spreader length is also tricky.
If we get it too long it will stop the genoa sheeting in, we always gauged sheet tension by looking at the clearance between the lower spreader tip and the leech of the sail. Remember too that our new sheeting angle will be 7.5 degrees, possibly closer than before and thus requiring a shorter spreader. Then there's the fact that the carbon mast wall will be stiffer than the old alloy spar...does that mean we can get away with shorter spreaders. The new diamond stays will be 8mm, they were 3/8", what does that mean?

We cannot get out our minds the image of 'Alacrity' dismasting right in front of us on the first leg of the first race in St Martin. (anyone got that Tim Wright shot of it going??) A carbon spreader failed in compression and down it came. Shorter spreaders, greater loads on wire and spreader? Anyhow, see pictures below of the contenders for the job!

I have finished the jig that screws into the freshly tapped antal track holes. This will be used to position and epoxy the new spreaders into their new position at right angles to the mast wall. If it goes well the spreaders will be removeable, there is a chance that they will be high-density epoxied into a permanent home. We'll see!

Barry has nearly stripped the mast of all old clearcoat. I'm not sure I will be clearcoating over carbon any time soon, it's just asking for trouble, where is the primer? It came off in sheets and good riddance. Proper Alexseal white primer next after an aggressive sanding followed by Alexseal 'off white' to match the hull and decks. It will take the temperature down several notches too.

History? Nah, here's the new look! The red logo really kicks off the blue in our humble opinion.

 

[Rasputin22]

Just keep your diamond to mast angles at or just above 10 degrees or your mast compression will go up. 10 degrees is sort of the 'point of diminishing returns'. You should probably keep the aft rake of the mast and spreader brackets too which will keep the mast from inverting in its bend profile. I have a wonderful rig design program called RIGEDGE that would be just the ticket to run some analysis for your rig but it uses a dongle and you pay a subscription for use of the program. I think I got 6 months and the dongle thinking I wouldn't need it for more than a month while designing a rig for a Waikiki Beach daysailing catamaran but kept using it for the whole term. On the other hand it would have been way cheaper to use the TLAR software that comes in your brain, That Looks About Right...

RigEdge | SMAR Azure

smar-azure.com

 

[racinginparadise]

OK Ras, that is interesting. I'll measure up and see if we are less than 10 degrees.
I am certain that our original mast had spreaders sprouting out at right angles to the mast in both directions.
We always had some pre-bend, that was induced by the babystay.
I kind of like the idea of slightly aft raked spreaders to take care of pre bend.
We found that our babystay worked hard all the time to keep that pre bend in place, we never sailed without a babystay.
Maybe with slightly aft raked spreaders the babystay would have much less work to do, maybe not even required in light airs?

Trouble is I have no idea how much to rake them aft, ideas anyone?
All this is going on right after my laptop that has everything TJ has become 'Bitlocked'. I used it in the morning, shut the lid, didn't see any kind of update going on and then later that day it is toast. How do Microsoft get away with it. If it was a car they would lose their shirts!
Frikking Motherskunts!

 

[Rasputin22]

You still going to use backstay? Prebend would not be a term used for what a backstay would give. The angled spreaders would give you full time prebend even without backstay on. Going with a square top main?

 

[racinginparadise]

You still going to use backstay? Prebend would not be a term used for what a backstay would give. The angled spreaders would give you full time prebend even without backstay on. Going with a square top main?

Still using backstay? Yes. For years we had the backstay at 7/8 alone, but we found that pushed the centre of the mast too far forwards. We introduced a lower backstay that worked in tandem and that was a huge improvement.

We have always gone for some pre-bend to avoid any prospect of inverting the mast, as per last post, we have set that up with the lower triangle.

Our main was cut for our-bend, as our genoa was cut for forestay sag...all that might be different with a stiffer boat.

The current main is square top, but only moderately so.

 

[racinginparadise]

Time to do some more trig to figure out that lower spreader length!

 

[racinginparadise]

Right then, spreader angles have been sorted. In the end it came down to working out how much pre-bend there was at each spreader height and then using the spreader length and the desired pre-bend at that point to come up with an angle by simple trig. For the uppers that worked out at 9.5 degrees. The lowers will be revealed when I finalize a spreader length. Like most things on a boat that work, it looks good...so it should work.

The next step has already been taken. The gig has been set up to lock both spreaders at 9.5 degrees and the carbon spreader inboard ends have been shaped to perfectly meet the mast wall. Steve and I did that today by drawing a long sheet of 40grit belt sander material back and forth until a perfect fit against the mast was achieved. He noted it is how he fits guitar necks! Now all the holes in the spreader bars need filling and fairing. Then they will be coated with PVA and the spreaders, filled with high density filler, will be locked into place over those bars. If it all goes well the spreaders will pop off again and the holes for the pins will be opened back up. The pins, the high-density epoxy interference fit and the spreaders meeting the mast wall perfectly, will lock those puppies into their 9.5 degree angles. Once tensioned the new diamond stays acting on the raked spreaders will duly thrust the mast forwards to satisfy my trig calculations. What could possibly go wrong?

In other news Barry has finished drilling and tapping the mast track and had chipped away all the old clearcoat that is accessible off the mast. He is now 'hatch man'. There are 6 hatches and 6 Henderson watertight inspection hatches to dry fit. Paul snr is still away in the states but is very much keeping an eye on things, Paul jnr is in the wings, he'll re-appear once the electrics start going in being a dab hand at that.

History? Well, it's the shot that enabled me to figure out the lower spreader length. July 2017, taken whilst gently sinking after a lightning strike blew out a hole below the waterline. Less than 2 months later hurricane Irma did her bit, so, in the words of our dear departed Queen describing 1992, it really was an 'annus horribilis' for old Triple Jack!

 

[Zonker]

So, the issue is, do I use carbon or alloy?

The bigger cross section one.

 

[racinginparadise]

went for carbon for both sets, easier to sand!

 

[racinginparadise]

So, a bit of a blip in the weather as a polar front interacted with a tropical wave and served up copious amounts of rain but no crazy winds. It all cleared out by Sunday morning, cisterns are full!
We started properly fitting out at last. A brand new Lewmar Ocean 60 for each sponson and a used low profile 60 for the bow. Chris had painstakingly prepared the openings so the hatches fitted snugly with only a meduim bead of half price but still perfectly OK UV Sika 221. With that stuff you hardly need fixings but #12 2" went in after a dry fit, 4 bolts will be added to each, either side of the forward facing hinges. The bow hatch opens up 'prone', that's our power vent for the fwd berth! It is so good to see the hatches go in, Barry was ably assisted by Paul Jnr. who was making a well timed appearance.

I filled the spreaders with divinicell slabs and a microbaloon epoxy slurry mix. I needed a dam to fill against when my high density mix goes in to lock their angles. It also, in my mind, gives then a bit more integrity. I can't see them shattering in compression now. The weight penalty was low, I couldn't really see a down side of doing this. They are now ready for fitting in the jig, next week for that.

History? Well, that will be our dumbbells if we do not finish up soon! I cannot see how you can fix a boat without a pair of these!

 

[PIL66 - XL2]

This is the fun bit.... installing nice new shiny things

 

[karst]

In other news, we put Soma’s new carbon mast up yesterday. Though I don’t own her anymore it’s great helping and seeing her get resurrected.

The race between Soma and Triple Jack to get back in the water and sailing again continues the friendly rivalry. I look forward to seeing you guys back on a race course!