Would you believe?
 

This
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1091221500.jpg

Becomes this?
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1091221606.jpg

looks like someone's sportin' big wood...

I'll bet that's strong as hell. A circular glue-lam. Love it!

And heavy, that one is north of 7500#, it's sitting there because we made a 700# carbon fiber replacement, that won't dry rot.

So you save more than 3 tons! How much higher will it float?

Bill,

Can't they center bore those once they have set? Not that you'de get anywhere near 700Lbs but I bet you could drop over half the weight with similar strength.

Geez, how much did THAT run you?

The one on the shop floor is the foremast on this

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1091227236.jpghttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1091227441.jpg

They are hollow, but you can only leave out so much before they turn into straw, that will snap in a decent blow. If you gotta ask then you cannot afford it.

Is it possible to reinforce the hollow wooden mast with a tight-fitting CF tube or use a CF tube (for strength and ultimate lightness) with a thick veneer (~1/2 of real wood (for authenticity)?

Glad to see inventive ways of using dwindling natural resources. I would suspect in the past, an entire tree would have to be sacrificed to manufacture a single mast (or telephone pole).

Sherwood

Oh yeah! the second pic is w/ the c/f mast. It has a thin veneer to simulate the look of the original. Total wall thickness w/ the veneer is ~.5":) It looked like a sewer pipe on the rack.

I remember seeing the keel pic a while ago; is this your new weekend toy?

LOL, No, this going to a maritime museum

Entire tree for a utility pole, yes. Many trees for what I see on the floor.

How long did it take to make?

Wayne C.

Wouldn't wood be preferred? Renewable, biodegradable, etc. I guess the CF is good as long as it doesn't snap and explode everywhere.

I am not sure what the failure properties on CF are, but I pole vaulted in HS and god help you if you snapped your pole! It was ugly! It really was like an explosion.

They make race cars and airplanes out of CF. Properly engineered, it's fine. Overly stressed (like steel), it will probably fail.

Sherwood

That's really cool. I have a shaft on my cue stick that's made out of 10 pie-shaped pieces. Minimizes deflection. It's cool to see the same concept applied in an item that's 7499.90# heavier....

Dunno. I inherently hate glue-lam construction. It's NOT environmentally better since all the glues and hardeners can contain VOCs. I don't know about the long-term viability of the stuff either. There are houses in Europe that have stood for hundreds of years with timber-frame construction; I seriously doubt glue-lam beams are going to last a fraction of that.

That really is a gorgeous boat though!