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Thread: Cool stuff

  1. #91
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    I would have said that: If the Antal fails, the cascade remains structurally sound. It may suddenly have a lot of friction in it, but it stays together. If the Ronstan fails, the cascade comes apart, possibly with catastrophic results.

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  3. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by paulie View Post
    I would have said that: If the Antal fails, the cascade remains structurally sound. It may suddenly have a lot of friction in it, but it stays together. If the Ronstan fails, the cascade comes apart, possibly with catastrophic results.
    Spot on Paulie. With the thimble you get to finish your race if it fails. These are appearing on dinghy control lines and also on ocean racers where they are looking for reliability. Antal and Ronstan say they are made from aluminium but I suspect they are probably an alu/titanium alloy. They work best with unsheathed dyneema/spectra lines or lines where the sheath is designed to be removed. Not quite as low friction as ballbearing blocks, but better reliability and much more cost effective.

    1613.jpg

  4. #93
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    Nice one Bruce,

    Always nice to see some changes in the way things can be done.

    I did some extra digging. On Sailing Anarchy the vote is inconclusive - the participants in the discussion are pretty big names too.
    Ronstan SHOCK blocks- How well do they work? - Dinghy Anarchy - Sailing Anarchy Forums

    One interesting statement was just to use sailmaker's thimbles (thimbles that are a closed loop. They can be pricey but duckworks sourced some cheaper ones.
    Heavy Duty Thimbles

    The inconclusiveness is interesting to me. One guy using says huge difference, most say some are using and some are not, others say no difference and they would have to actually do some measurements to see if it works.

    Ah ... measurements.

    We take measurements of the differences in Goat Island skiff spars (finished weight and stiffness) because the materials are different, the methods are different and there are lots of tracks to the best solution - and the best way is to share so that everyone can see what has gone on before.

    However for a completely standardised product the need for measurements is interesting. The difference seems to be minimal - which means cheaper and lighter is good.

    One thing to be really aware of - about a decade ago there was an article on the real effectiveness of rope and pulley mechanical advantage. It showed mathematically that initially you gain by adding mechanical advantage but then start losing beyond a certain point. This is because every extra pulley adds more friction. And eventually the friction of added blocks outstrips the mechanical advantage.

    The important thing to take from this is that if you want powerful purchases with mechanical advantage you need the lowest possible friction blocks - or really "system" as we know having narrow ropes on standard blocks saves a lot of friction.

    In the interim my advice would be that having these new thingies (old square rigging term is deadeye - but that is too unfashionable for the marketers!) is that having one in the highest load part of a cascade makes some sense because of the high capacity and weight saving. But if you continue them down the cascade then the friction losses will accumulate very quickly compared to using ball bearing blocks.

    I think this, while cool, is possibly fanciful and might to be at the point where two ball bearing blocks would do the job of the three thingumies. But thats a case for measurement





    So I'd definitely do two things ...

    1/ use one or maybe two at the high load end of highly loaded systems or other locations where loads are moderate and light and friction not excessively important.

    1a/ Remember that the shroud adjustment system for a 505 or Sharpie cost the same as building two complete OzRacers and add less than a percent to the performance of the boat they are fitted to. Enough to win regattas, but hardly revolutionary!

    2/ call them deadeyes ... just to rub the marketer's noses in it And look ... it is the original high load location - for shroud adjustment!



    Image from With Needle and Palm: Turning in the Shrouds

  5. #94
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    I haven't yet seen thimbles on Lasers but saw them on MG14s and Impulses recently. I have not yet seen the Ronstan Shock on any boats. Likely the sailmaker's thimbles will have more friction as they are narrower. I like the concept of no moving parts. I have had a 16mm bearing block disintegrate, so I can understand why Volvo racers would use them as a block failure on the high seas is a real pita. For high loads, they are adding an extra purchase to take care of the friction issue. The other thing I like is the way they are spliced on. These splices are so simple to do, and very reliable and strong. Given a choice, I would go with the Antal. I like the redundancy that's built in.

  6. #95
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    5-4-3-2-1 BANG! What a great start by these 4 boats!

    Pic courtesy of Sailing Anarchy.




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  9. #98
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    Maybe I need to say the "Enigmatic" Christophe!?

    It is interesting .. but what is it?

    MIK

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  11. #100
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boatmik View Post
    It is interesting .. but what is it?

    MIK
    It is a variation of a stove top coffee maker used much in Italy. I have had one for 15 years or so to make coffee when camping or otherwise travelling (like Christophe).

    Easy process: pour water in bottom water holder, put ground coffee in the perforated metal coffee holder above bottom water holder, put on heat, and you will have a decent (but strong) brew in 5 minutes or so (the water evaporates and is pushed through the grounded coffee by pressure after which it condensates as coffee in the cooler upper part).

    Google Bialetti to see the most popular brand in Italy.

    It is often called an espresso maker but it is not really since you don't get the pressures required for a good espresso (8-9 Bar). But it is relatively cheap, does not require electricity, is very portable and the coffee tastes quite good (especially when outdoors) in comparison to other means of making coffee when not having access to a coffee machine.

    Do you drink coffee? If so, PM me your address details and I will send you one so you can try it yourself (it is the least that I can do, for you having made a great design resulting in GISwerk and the joy of being part of this forum).

    Joost

  12. #101
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    It produces acceptable coffee, but as Joost says, the pressure isn't enough and the extraction temperature is too high. I'm a bit of a coffee nut who even roasts his own beans because store bought beans, even from Roasters, isn't quite good enough. Besides, I prefer my own blends.

    The Italians make really good, quality machines, the best, but their beans are so yuk. I mean, how can Italian roasted beans arrive to me in Australia fresh?

    But if you're out camping in the gammadoolas, Callsign's setup would be pretty much heaven.

  13. #102
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    I use a handpresso for camping. It produces surprisingly good coffee (16bar), however if you want to get the best out of it a thermometer is handy to get water at right temp.
    uploadfromtaptalk1374658113129.jpg
    My son has hidden part of it in his room, so it's out of use at the moment.

    Also be prepared for swedish penis pump jokes

    Dan out.

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  14. #103
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    Hi Woodeneye and Mik

    Do you see this current foiling technology on the AC72s moving down to smaller boats?

    The Moths have been foiling for quite a while now with the variable pitch horizontal foil on the daggerboard controlled by a wand on the bow plus a twist grip control on the elevator on the rudder. IIRC, the rule for these cats on horizontal control surfaces was meant to prevent foiling setups being used but the Kiwis figured a way to get stable foiling without actively adjustable foils.

    I'm wondering if this stable foiling without actively adjustable foils translates to a small moth sized hull or small catamaran and could allow Moth style foiling performance without quite that level of attention and acrobatics needed on a Moth?

    Could be interesting to see where this goes.

    Ian

    Also interesting to see Oracle go past the kiteboarder, I'd seen that windward-leeward race between a kiteboarder, foiling Moth and 49er with the kiteboarder coming out ahead. How did that straight race Golden Gate Bridge to Alcatraz relate to a windward-leeward race? I'm guessing the big cat would be more ahead going to windward?

  15. #104
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joost View Post
    It is often called an espresso maker but it is not really since you don't get the pressures required for a good espresso (8-9 Bar).
    Quote Originally Posted by woodeneye View Post
    It produces acceptable coffee, but as Joost says, the pressure isn't enough and the extraction temperature is too high.
    This is probably obvious to Joost and Bruce, etc, but maybe not to others (MIK), a trick with this machine is to pack in the grounds nice and tight. I've seen some explanation videos where they just dump some grounds into the filter leaving behind mucho air space and not packing them, making for a significantly poorer coffee.

    As Bruce says, out on some island somewhere, this little machine is a piece of heaven.

    EDIT It does build some pressure, there is a blow-out valve on the backside

  16. #105
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    Yes, indeed pack the grounds nice and tight. And use a decent brand of correctly ground coffee for this type of coffee maker. It really does make a big difference (my friends usually just use normal grounds for filter type coffee, and when we are camping together it is always my jar of ground coffee that is finished first!).

    Pressure is something like 1.5 bar I believe for a normal perculator (but the wizzling sound that the safety valve makes, makes one believe it is a lot more!).

    I need to find a Bialetti Brika (Moka pot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), which allows more pressure to be built up before passing through the grounds but at a lower temperature. Good topic, it has made me become aware of this version of a stove top coffee maker. Thanks!

    Joost

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