On my taipan, among other things, we are looking at having spares of a few things, namely daggerboards and rudder blades, made up so that in the event of a breakage, there is a spare ready to go.
currently we have the old style fiberglass rudders and boards, which are looking a bit worn.
are there any intellectual property laws which would be broken if we paid a composite manufacturer to make up molds of our foils, or are we allowed to do this?
also, does anyone have any idea of the cost of this?
thanks,
Alex

In general you are allowed to copy anything legally as long as you do so for personal use and not intent to sell it on to make earnings or profit.

Intellectual property law in principle only regulate economic exploitation of a thus protected item. If their is no such intent then intellectual property law will not apply to your case.

Wouter

usually this comes out as more expensive than just getting the foils from the manufacturer anyway though.

Find the person who made the original foils... then ask them to make a new set using the material of your selection. Much like sail cloth, the choice of material affects building costs very little.

I have a set of timber centreboards as spares, originally off a mossie, they are very well made and fit the cases perfectly, this maybe a cheap consideration, to make a spare one out of timber/glass.

The thing is with boards and blades, if people buy a new set they hang on to the old ones for spares, and when people do sell them they are usually nearly brand new for some reason and have the price to suit, it may be that they sell their boat with the old set and get some extra cash by selling the new ones seperate.

There is no "intellectual property" involved in foils.
Check out the NACA foils or go to http://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/
After you make a choice make a test section and make sure
it fits in your CB trunks. Then make your molds.
Then check out http://www.philsfoils.com/ , they can make foils, plugs, or molds for you.
Good Luck,