For same time I have been working with handholds and steps on the outside to easier get back on board after a swim. That job is now done so today after the run and exercise I started on something new, to modify the rigging.
Unfortunately there is interference between the centerboard and the new sail. This I knew. The centerboard I was not able to mowe and there was no other place for the mast. So I did not have a choice. In Next Design the problem is solved. It is not so difficult to make a centerboard or a mast or the other hundreds of pieces needed for a cruising boat. The biggest problem is to make a design where they do not interfere with each other. After I have made a landfall in Australia hopefully there will be new interest in my talks and my books and my economy will hopefully get back on an even keel and also hopefully I can get other persons to get interested in this wonderfull kind of low energy boats that I am designing, because they are so much safer and simpler and more economical than what is used nowadays. Today I use the same size of boats that I used 50 years ago. At that time, in the sixties that size of boats where common, now they are a curiosity and yet they work as fine today as in those days. More and more people today do consider mans effect on the enviroment and they realise that in that respect an oar is better than an engine, also it is quiter, cheaper and takes up less space. Also it keeps its owner in good health. Cruising boats do not have to be 10 or 20 tons heavy 40 – 50 feet long. Cruising should be a hobby not a way to show conspicius consumption. Its OK if some boats are 40-50 feet long, but smaller boats should also have a place on the wide oceans. That is my idea.
If I can get 10 person interested in Next Design the tooling will be spread out on ten person and that will reduce cost.
Provisional the centerboard can not be fully raised. 15 cm or 6 inches will be below Exlex bottom when the new sail is used in full. If I take a reef in the sail then I can rise the centerboard fully.
In Next Design the interference problem is solwed.
Below are 3 pictures.
To be continued…
Regards Yrvind