Finally, some progress

After a lot of delays this spring I’m again working on the sail. I’ve decided, due to time constraints, to once again follow David’s footsteps and settle for a flat sail with hinges for now. It should be trivial to upgrade it to a wing sail at a later point, simply by replacing the front battens with noses and adding some extra canvas. I bought a lathe and have it setup in my garage, along with the sewing machine. The garage has an oil pit, which should be very beneficial when sewing. More on that later.

Hinge being made

Hinge ready, 20 degree articulation

Three hinges done, two prototypes on the right

I did a “stress test”, to see how much force I had to apply until the hinge broke.

Broken hinge

It was a decent amount of force that was needed, but I still decided to reinforce them with epoxy & GRP. Would’ve been more optimal to use either PVC or something like white oak, but due to time restraints (because of procrastination, among other things) I’ll have to settle for this. The wood used is scots pine.