Testing the sails

March 6, 2016
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I cut a front wall from foam core board to determine the setup for the sails. I don't want to drill a hole, have to move it and be left with patching issues on the wood board. I mocked up a back wall for now as well and taped the motor in place. I can make adjustments to this wall as needed.

I'm using a wooden dowel for mockup purposes, taped to the motor. I might end up using this material in the end, but for now I'm just testing.

I made a sail hub from a scrap of foam core board and used bamboo skewers as the lead edges of the sails. These have 10" of exposed length. I cut foam core sails by eyeballing the first one and then cutting the rest to match -- these are 8.5" long x 2.5" wide. All of this is probably lighter in weight than my final sails will be, but it will at least give me an idea of scale and proportion. I think this has a good balance overall. So far, it looks as though my motor is able to handle the job effortlessly.

To see the sails in action, see my blog post.