A thought came to mind while looking at RG's renderings. Have any of the people considering free standing rigs considered the option of using the dolphin as a socket. ie use an oversize striker tube and then run a X pattern of straps rather than the traditional St. Steel strip. It would then allow you to get rid of the struts.
Yes, Phills design is far more along those lines. I think he is also used in pod in which you can just drop the mast.
I eventually decided against this as the unstayed rig will need to be supported both along the centreline and perpendicular to the centreline. In effect you'll need to dolphin strikers then with one running along the centreline to the rear beam or something. I my opinion this comes close to have the famous kneeknocker bar of the old Nacra 5.2's. Also I feel this contruction is both more complex and more expensive then the push rod setup.
The push rod setup have other advantages as like much lover stresses in the involved components. But I won't go into detail here. The pushrod setup is also simpler and quicker to homebuild as it can be made up of plain parts like round alu tubing and standard marine hardware like eyebolts, threaded forks, plain bolts and clevis pins. There is no bending of straps or tubes involved.
Two added advantages of the push rods that I was after are the ease of sliding the F12 on its beams on the supports (plain plancks or beams) of a trailer or roof rack and the ability to grap this structure by the sailor when getting back on board or handling the craft.
Wouter
