Thanks again to everyone who helped with suggestions about tacking several days ago. I went sailing in the San Juans yesterday. Much easier tacking. I think most of the problem was the severely bent rudder arm, which I corrected before going out.
Man, what a difference between sailing in the islands versus Lake Whatcom! Went about 10 miles upwind so I would get back faster than going out. Wind died right at the furthest point away, so I'm really glad I didn't get stuck downwind.
I had enough fun on this first trip to convince me to buy some tubing for building wings. I'm getting round 6061 T6 aluminum, 1/4" thick 1.75" dia. Plan on bolting them together. See the 'wings construction' thread from earlier. I can get some cheap, but the longest is 48". That should be okay for everything except the 2 rails that make up the long part. So I'm would splice 2 sections together by using a 1.25" dia by .25" thick sleeve to go inside at the junction. The way I have it figured, 1.75" is the OD, and with .25" thickness, I'd have 1.25" ID. So I need 1.25" OD sleeves to go inside, right? Plan on making the sleeves 12" long.
What do you think about these materials? I'm mainly concerned about the rail strength. Total span would be ~7', ~12" apart. I could stagger the splices, one at 3 ft, the other at 4.
