A cracked deck in my US12 sailboat necessitated a new deck be built. Thanks to having learned to use Sketchup for building planes, I put my experience to work on a new deck for my sailboat.

A deck template was designed and cut out in FFF to check for accuracy.

With the template properly fit, I turned my attention to cutting out hobby grade plywood to match the template. I purchased 5/32" ply and was tempted to try to cut it out in multipass on my MK1.5 but since I know a friend who lives just down the street who happens to have large CNC machine in his garage, I decided to make a phone call instead.

John was more than happy to oblige and took my Sketchup plans converted to DXF files and imported them to Cambam and cut the deck with a 1/8" carbide bit in two passes.

In just a few short minutes, my design had gone from paper to finished product.

After a bit of sanding, gluing, and varnishing, I now have a beautiful new sailboat ready for sailing in next weeks race. Attached files

 

Mark, if it's setup like mine, the rudder is on the rudder stick, the main sail is on the throttle stick and the jib sail is on the aileron stick. Both the jib and the mail sail are controlled by "sheeting-in" or "letting-out" the line, and are each wound around a winch servo. http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/522
when you switch from a port heading to starboard into the wind, the sails will pivot across the deck and fill with wind from the new side.
The wind is what actually pulls the line out from the winch, so the winch(es) are always pulling on the line.

 

The main sail and jib are controlled by a single servo which is setup on the throttle stick of the transmitter.

The rudder is setup on the transmitters aileron for steering. I also mix the rudder with the aileron so that both sticks control that function.

As Dorsal mentioned in the previous post, the servos control lines which are let in or out to allow the sails to fill with the wind or to take the wind from the sail as needed to stay on course at good speed.

When we are racing, there are a ton of rules that apply to who has the right of way throughout the course.

Tuning the sails for the wind conditions is an art in itself.

I had a reasonably good day today. Have had better days, but it is all in fun. The boat sailed better than the sailor today

As to that puppet in the window, I never noticed that before. I have no idea where he came from and I don't see him in the room where he appeared in the photo either! Maybe one of the grandkids toys, but I haven't a clue. Great observation on your part.

 

Running a sailboat is a lot like flying an RC sailplane. The performance will be the fastest if you can make smooth steering maneuver adjustments, and preservation of momentum is really what you're trying to accomplish. And you don't have to worry about gravity.
Make an RC model and I'll bet Trish will have to wrestle the controller out of your hands.

 

I find the sailing to be as challenging as flying. It looks so simple and the boats so graceful, but the winds shift and you have to read the water and watch the sails carefully. It they are luffing, you are not at optimum speed and need to change course, sail position or both.

I sail 2 days a week with a club and we race the boats for fun. Once a month we race for points but we are more in it for the fun than abiding by all of the rules as many clubs do.

Like Dennis said, get a transmitter in your hand and you will be hooked. It is more fun when you have someone to race against, so you will need one for both you and Trish!

Our club is looking into building the Pea Pod. We have ordered the full set of plans and I hope to make the CNC files to cut them out. It is one of the less expensive boats and appears to be a great match for CNC. I think the cost if purchased runs about $200 but I expect it can be made from scratch much more cheaply.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1278274

 

And of course, one could always use a retrieval boat just in case the mast comes off...

Attached files

 

First attempt would be to push. Second attempt would be to use a 90 lb test line that is attached to an eyehook on the transom.

At the other end is a ping pong ball. The idea here is to maneuver around the boat in distress and circle the boat with the line. As the rescue boat crosses over the line, it will catch the rudder post and pull the ping pong ball to it. Once the ball reaches the rescue boat, we can now start pulling the distressed boat that hopefully we have snagged by now.