Wouter,

I'm sure there are many readers of this forum keen for an update on the progress of your "Typhoon". I think that's what you've decided to call it.

What deviations have you made or are you going to make from the original Taipan design? Has it hit the water yet? If not how long before it is likely to?

Rob.

Rob and all,

>>I'm sure there are many readers of this forum keen for an update on the progress of your "Typhoon". I think that's what you've decided to call it.


Yes indeed I've decide to call it a Typhoon F16, but you are correct the design incorporates alot of AHPC's Taipan 4.9 elements and parts.

>What deviations have you made or are you going to make from the original Taipan design? Has it hit the water yet? If not how long before it is likely to?


The differences between the Typhoon and the Taipan are the following :

The mainbeam sits higher on the hulls and my dolphin striker pin is longer than that of the Taipan. Together result in a situation where the striker strap below the pin on both design are at equal higher.

When I calculated the mainbeam assembly of my Typhoon I found that by making the dolphin striker pin 2,5 cm or about an inch longer I could correct for the extra width of my platform which is 2,5 mtr. instead of the 2,34 mtr that the Taipan uses. This way I've lost only lost some 400 grams with respect to the Taipan main beam and have the same stiffness. Side effect it that the mainbeam is higher of the water surface too which may well help in choppy conditions.

My mast is beasically the same as the Taipan mast as it is the same section and it has the same length. The fittings are different though. I have proctor spreader arms and I ran my diamonf wires of a single turnbuckle which is fitted right behind the mast track. With the fact that the rig is a prebend rig and the turnbuckle is slightly pulled away from the mast itself as the diamond wires run a little aft of the mast; this cancells the need for a sliding plate guiding the turnbuckle and save costs. Of course with this setup I can adjust the diamond wire tension without dropping the mast or detensioning the wires itself by taken them off the spreader arms.

I will have the Taipan internal downhaul system as I think that one is just the best system there is.

I will have a different halyard system which resembles the hook system as seen on the newer Hobie designs.

I still haven't decided wether I'll make my boom a sliding boom or not.

I do use the Taipan daggerboards and daggerboard systems. I could only do worse than that.

I'm still not happy with the offered ruddersystems so I will continue to work on that.

My jib will be a higher aspect blade jib and possibly a selftacking on. If I decide against it than it will still be a high aspect blade jib but run of the trampoline right after the mainbeam. Much more foirward than the current Taipan jib. I will also extend the jib all the way down to my spinnaker pole as the Tornado's have done. This will make sure that the jib and jib blocks are completely out of the way when sailing with a spinnaker which requires some free space on the trampoline. For now I will use a bag system instead of a snuffer system as I prefer the first.

Boom will be similar to the Taipan boom although I will not use a swiveling cleat for the outhaul.

My mast rotator will be completely different but I don't want to to much about that at this time.

My mainsail is already made and is fully optimized under the F16 rules. We had the change to test it against standard Taipans and found that the top speed is the same in both the light and strong conditions but that it's overall (gust) behaviour is slightly better. It will fit to a standard Taipan mast.. We've also done away with the loose flap at the bottom of the sail as models predicted that it wouldn't do much under any sailing circumstances. Also this is a preparation to have a sliding boom, if I'm still opting for that one. With respect to gust responses, we are very happy with that (sailmaker and I) as that is very handy when flying a spi where one needs to keep the mainsheet tensioned to support the mast. With this improved spilling of air I can now keep it longer cleated without capsizing. Also handy when singlehanding. Main difference between my sail and a standard Taipan sail is that it has a larger squaretop although it is still modest.

And that I have a whole lot of differences in fittings but that is to much to write down now.

One thing that is significant is the fact that my sidestays are moved back but about 200 mm with respect to the Taipan. This opens up the spi slot more through which I will set and retrieve the spi. Because of the extra width teh boom can still move out as far as on a Taipan.

I hope this answers your questions.

the platform wll see water late this spring I estimate.

Wouter

Wouter-
Thanks for the info. What's a "sliding boom"??
As to the rudders- Check out some of the "A" cat rudders ala Ben Hall's boat or Nils new Nikita (has only one "cheek" to the rudder support with large "bearing" between the single cheek and the rudder!)-
Photos??

Kirt

The gooseneck isn't fitted to teh mast itself but to a car that can slide up and down the mast. in effect the boom moves up and down with the bottom of the mainsail.

This will place the boom higher above the trampoline in light airs (little prebend and downhaul) and keep the curve at the bottom of the sail constant when downhauling.

wouter