Daggerboard

So I went sailing yesterday in perhaps a little too much wind but it was a fun ride with me having recently re-calibarated the trap lines to be more horizontal. Well, needless to say, with the chop we were hanging from the lines more than once with no actual feet on the boat. Anyway...
So we were on a close reach flying a hull and felt something sort of tug at the boat for a second. I figured we sort of skirted the bottom and the rudder didn't kick up. Then the cascading downhaul blew- which I saw coming based on how I have it rigged. When we were headed back to shore I asked my crew to pull up the boards and when he pulled up the starboard board only half of it came up! I was like.. wow... as far as I can tell the hull isn't damaged but I will certainly look closer next time I have it off the beach.
How common is this? Do you figure it was more of a lateral stress that did it or from the front?

one more pic

Did you snag a fishing line?

This is off your 6.0? What kind of board is that with blue foam? I'm pretty sure that is not a factory daggerboard so it could have very likely been too weak for reaching (and/or cycle loading). Sorry to hear about that!

Yep, 6.0. Not sure whether it is factory or not. I figured it was. This is the same board I e-mailed you about regarding the repair of the trailing edge. Regarding the question about cyclic loading- I did notice that there were stress lines in the "gel coat" on the lateral aspects of the boards. Maybe it was just a lateral loading issue in the making for some time. I did recently label one board for starboard- to just see which one seemed to get crunched more.

In the end.. after thinking about it, I think it just snapped... I am not sure I hit anything.

Same thing happened to me.. We were hauling pretty good and one of the boards hit something and snapped right off. The impact was very small, or sounded small at least. Boat didn't slow down at all. Yes they were factory boards..2001 vintage.

PTP,
first off, those daggerboards look longer then stock. I could be wrong though. Second the handles are the old style so like mid 1990's blades. New blades were somewhat stronger.

When you are sailing in big wind ie 18+ you need to bring the daggerboards up 6-10 inches upwind and reaching to reduce the stress on them. This is especialy impartant if you are sailing heavy ie 350+ lbs of crew weight. The boards will last much longer and you don't need that much board down anyway (plenty of lift).

What realy breaks those suckers is reaching in waves. Launch off a wave when you are flying a hull fairly high. boat crashes down and the leeward board hits sideways.

Cheers,
Eric

How tough is that blue foam?
Can you dent it by poking your finger into it?

Here are my views (rant) on daggerboards and it includes
some material on strength:
http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/Boat/dagger.html

/Martin

So during a race last weekend... using the new daggerboard and the older one.
On a reach, not going too fast. Felt a pop and then we just went REALLY slow. Another 6.0 was gaining on us relatively quickly. I was like.. WTF.. Robi was like.. WTF. Considering my recent experience with a broken board I figured I should check out the leeward board (old one) because considering my luck recently, I was sure it had broken in half and we were dragging the bottom half. Pulled up the board and it had delaminated and was basicly functioning as a scoop to slow us down. The bottom 1/3 had come apart at the leading edge. I figured I might try to fix it to use as a backup in the future. BAD luck these days- did I mention a rudder casting broke last week when a storm flipped the boat on the beach ? (spare me the ways to anchor the boat- I know I should have... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> ) and now this. In truth I am suprised nothing broke when we were going through 3-4 foot chop and burying the bows left and right.
Serves me right.. I think I said something about 2 weeks ago to the effect of "my boat is a tank." Screwed myself there <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Clearly, you need a new Blade!! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Just mention the economics to your wife and go for it! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

would love to, but seeing as I will not be able to replace the 6.0, I will keep pouring money into it. Our next boat will be a corsair 28cc or 31 (the wife all into that, and who am I to challenge that <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> )

Hi Martin,We have one Spyder in Ireland, built in 1986. I remember bringing Richard Woods and Nigel Irons to see it when it was being built. (Tony Bullamore and Patrick Boyd were also in Dublin that weekend for a Multihull Seminar - Those were the days <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />)
When the first hull was being built, my friend was supplied with the wrong epoxy glue - it was too brittle and the strip planks started springing apart. When the hull was dropped over the edge of a local dump, it exploded - only strips of wood were left. The Spyder was finally completed and I believe is still sailing.

Hi Dermot,


In Sweden there are two Spyders and as far as I know four
were built in Amsterdam. One of these is now in New England.

And I know of one Spyder in Belgium.

When visiting the builder in Amsterdam I was told four
were being built in Ireland. I guess I was really told
four sets of plans had been sold to Ireland.

All these boats are Mk I Spyders (well, the two in Sweden
are really Mk 1.5 and mine is heavily modified). One
of the Dutch Spyders was a special version for a disabled
owner. It had no **** in the hulls but a ****
pod slung between the mast beam and the aft beam. It was
very nicely designed and didn't spoil the looks of the boat.

I don't know of any other Spyders or if any Mk IIs were
ever built.

/Martin
http://hem.bredband.net/b262106/

PS I thought I could start a new thread by changing the subject but I was wrong :-(

Quite a few people were talking of building at that time, but I am fairly sure that only one Spyder was built. We thought that we had a cruiser / racer fleet developing, but it never took off.