: Hey, what about a mini trebuchet for

: I'll get right on it. Ha!

: Mike thanks for all the good information. I'll put my intra-library loan to
: work looking for some of this material. They have never failed me yet.

: I'm inching my way through this project to determine if it is going to be a
: project. Perhaps the 10 foot steel spar pipes with blue tarp plastic for
: cheap testing and if the results are ok then making permanent laminated
: curved wood spars and a good sail. What is worrisome is that all I find
: are people doing test on crab-claw sails usually end up as a failure
: except for the types that move the sail from end to end to change
: directions like the Proa's used in the south pacific.

: I did a twisted rope compression test in the 10 ft copper tube and the tube
: can't be set in a curve but always flips back strait under tension. That
: seems pretty obvious now I guess but it didn't at the time. I'll maybe do
: one more test with a 10-foot plastic pipe to see if it is strengthened and
: by how much. Set the pipe between two blocks with a weight in the middle
: and measure the amount of sag, the put the pipe under tension and then
: measure the sag again. This might tell you if plastic pipe can be
: strengthened enough for using as flexible spars. I can't believe I get
: side tracked on some of this stuff.

: John

John,
I don't think I've seen the main track for all the side tracks I end up on.

I think the failures may be that many testers were trying to get a rig as 'simple' as a bermudan. To use it as a western style rig, tacking rather than shunting, you have to think in terms of the old dipping lug rig for handling. The dipping lug is a good bit slower to switch sides than a bermudan, more 'technique' to it.

Mike Savage
South West Cork
Dang, now I'm thinking of playing with that rig type again.