I’m curious if anyone has made carbon fiber mast, boom or cross beams, based on the article in the tutorials section.
https://boatbuildercentral.com/support ... r-spar.pdf
I also came across an approach for wood core using an elliptical wood profile, wrapped with softwood veneer,
https://www.ericwsponberg.com/wp-conte ... -masts.pdf
]
I came up with another approach. I didn’t find any veneer in my local market place, I did come across elliptical PVC tube.
I’m building a Quattro 16 of Woods Design. I have so far made the cross beams as well as the smaller fore beam.
The cross beams using the larger PVC profile which is roughly 130mm by 65mm. And the fore beam using the smaller profile which is 50mm by 30mm.
I used the PVC as the form to get started.
Epoxy doesn’t glue well to PVC, PVC is very smooth, to get it to stick, wipe the PVC with PVC adhesive and let it dry.
Apply epoxy to the dried PVC, I prefer to use a brush.
A layer of fabric is 33cm, so I cut the fabric 50cm wide, the length of the tube.
Apply a layer of glass fabric. I used my hands to smooth out any wrinkles and use a plastic scraper to squeegee the epoxy into the fabric.
When it starts to get tacky, apply a layer of carbon fiber fabric.
Again using your hands to smooth the fabric onto the tube,
Use the brush to apply epoxy and the scraper to work it into the CF fabric.
Initially I put 3 layers of carbon fiber. Test to see if this is strong enough.
I continue adding layers of carbon fiber as the epoxy is wet.
If it gets tacky, let it set for 24 hours sand before adding more layers.
Perhaps it is where I choose to live and perhaps it’s the pandemic. However, I cannot seem to buy aluminum spars.
This allows me to continue building.
In a week or so I will test this process on a 9 meter mast.
