Has anyone made any progress on building a boat?
I can understand why a builder may not be posting, every spare minute goes into building or trying locate parts or supplies.
My status:
My boat has seen the water. I had to use a Laser rig in a bolted on plywood adapter/mast step. Everything went as expected. Meaning only one rudder would lock, the mainsheet wouldn't feed and later twisted. The hulls performed well. The boat tacks, gybes and the hulls don't leak. With the Laser rig it was way underpowered, J24's were out running me. When I finally got a puff that made the hull feel light, the mast step broke. I had to sail back with an advanced canting rig. The rig was canted the wrong way on one tack. As normal, that was the tack I needed to get home.
Right now I am shortening a broken Marstrom A-Class mast. That mast is amazing. The 30+ ft extrusion is lighter than a Laser mast.
It turns out shortening a carbon mast is pretty easy. Mine is a tapered mast, so it must be shortened between the diamond wires. Mine was broken about a foot below the top diamond wire tang. The only thing that needs to be/can be moved is the spreaders. The only tricky part of that, is maneuvering the internal reinforcement to the right spot on the end of a long stick.
I also learned something last night. If you have a choice, make your mast a little longer than you need/want. That way the top of the sail does not have to be completely flat. Adding a small diagonal or curved section to the top of a square-top improves leach control. My experience agrees with this. It is difficult to control the top section of an extreme square-top.
Good luck to everyone
