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Main Hydrofoil Design
Shaped aluminum forms a skeleton for all main components. I used a piece of 6601 aluminum angle stock (notice the vertical tab) and ground a foil shape by hand. Irregularities in the shaping were corrected at the polishing stage when flaws became obvious as distortions in reflection. |
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General Form
The emerging shape of the prototype -- notice the winglets on the main foil, the wood fuselage, and the rear foil. Additional aluminum brakets were added (unseen here) to mount fuselage and increase rigidity. With a general shape established, components were modified to reduce weight and optimize hydrodynamics. |
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Tendon Reinforcement
Holes were drilled into the wing in order to reduce weight and form a ladder structure. The edges of the holes were ground to form a sine wave pattern and a continuous fibreglass band was woven into the wing. This design provides a cross-bracing reinforcement for the wing that resists delamination. |
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Carbon Skin
The shaped skeleton and interlaced tendon provide a formed foundation for the carbon fibre skin. The wing has doubled in thickness after several layers and a light filler was used for fine tuning the foil's profile before the final wrap. Pictured on the right is the foil and daggerboard detached. |