2686-20060403a.jpgAfter a bit of time spend sailing Primal we decided that there was a problem with the geometry of the spinniker chute. The old version was very low and did not give much space for the kite to squeeze through. There was also a sharp corner between the chute and the side of the boat which meant that if the kite got dragged back it would jam in the corner. Winter gave me the opertunity to come up with a new design to avoid these problems.

2686-20060403b.jpgI wanted the mouth to be as rounded as possible with no sharp corners and a relitavly large diameter that would let the spiniker slip into the chute. I was inspired by the story from the Dinghy show of a Mirror with a chute molded around a bicycle inner tube. So decided to give it a go. I built a jig to match the shape of the bow of the boat that I could sit the partially inflated tube in while it cured. I covered the inner tube in parcel tape so that it would release and then put on a single layer of glass and wrapped in peel ply. With the inner tube pumped up a bit more I put it all into the jig to get the shape right and left to cure.

Once it had cured I could pull the inner tube out and it was almost ready to fit to the boat. The old one was cut out and the paint sanded back to a clean surface to bond on to. The idea was to sit the new chute on top of the gunwale as this would give more space for the spinniker and would give a slight increase in freeboard to try and keep some water out of the boat. The tube was tacked in place with hot glue and some bits of foam cut out and used to support it and to provide an end to the tubes. With all the foam in place the whole thing was covered in Carbon and glassto attach it and build up the tube from the initial single layer of glass. Peel ply was used to keep it all snug while it cured.

The whole thing was filled, faired and painted. Ready for attaching the sock and the jib sheet.

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First impressions are good the kite seems to slip in and out of the new chute much eisier than before and a trawling sesion does not mean a trip to the foredeck anymore.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

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  • tech/new_chute.txt
  • Last modified: 2020/12/09 19:21
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