Matt Johnson – Team Take Me to the Volcano

April 14, 2016May 26, 2016

Canting twin daggerboards

One of the unique features of my new Race to Alaska trimaran are the canting dagger boards. They were designed by Rick Willoughby. Not only will the boards provide lift, but they will help counteract the heeling forces from the sail. I have very low volume stabilizer floats, so this lift will help keep me sailing level in a moderate breeze.

Canting daggerboards near front crossbeam

The daggerboards can cant from 60 degrees off horizontal to about 10 degrees, where the tip of the board is clear of the water. The adjustment is made by moving the inboard end of the brace up and down the guide rod. Originally this control was going to be with control lines, but now I believe I will reach forward and do it by hand. It pays to have long arms.

When sailing you lift the windward board and lower the leeward board each tack. When reaching both boards could be lowered to provide lift. The boards will also have a friction release of the board on the hinge plate so it is not fatally damaged in a collision. While these foils are not designed to fly the main hull, in the right conditions there will be some lift, and increased speed.

Daggerboard control rods along the side of the hull — Daggerboard guide rods along the side of the hull

April 9, 2016May 26, 2016

Cutting a big hole in my boat

Tonight I tackled the installation of the pedal mast and gearbox. Just another challenging job that I couldn’t afford to mess up. First I had to cut a big hole in the boat where the Mitrpak right angle gearbox will go. The shaft in the photo runs between a pillow block inside the pedal mast, and out to a coupling to the gearbox. The lower 14 tooth cog will attach to it.

Next I did my best to line everything up

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The prop shaft will actually run along the side of the boat. The hole is cut in the cockpit sole which hangs over the main hull about the width of the gearbox.

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Here everything is epoxied into place. The Pedal mast aluminum plates are bedded in epoxy, and sitting on a little square of fiberglass. Tomorrow I will fiberglass over the top of the attachment plates for the pedal mast.

March 31, 2016May 26, 2016

2000 hours to the Race to Alaska start

2000 hours until the start of the Race to Alaska!
Back in November when I started building this boat I did a couple easy trainer rides to start towards getting back in shape, but before my workouts totaled 1 hr, my time gave way to boat building. In the last four months, aside from family and work, most of my time has been working in the shop. This has come at the detriment of all else. I keep reminding myself to start workouts, but then I look at my calendar, my long list of jobs, and I forget to exercise.
So today was workout #1. I’m calling myself out here, because I can’t afford to slack off. From here on out I’m waking up early for a short but intense workout. My baseline is commuting to work, which is about 7.5 miles each way, three days a week. So a whopping 45 miles a week :(.
Today I warmed up for 5 minutes and then held over 300 watts for 20 minutes. I’m guessing I averaged 320 watts. I’ve never trained with power, so I don’t even know if that is any good.
I’m writing this while I cool down. Now its time to make Ciana breakfast, take her to school, and get out the the shop.

March 23, 2016March 31, 2016

The boat: V16 R2AK by Rick Willoughby

Below is a drawing of the latest design by Rick Willoughby. — a custom trimaran or stabilized monohull focused on enabling Matt Johnson to compete in the 2016 Race to Alaska (R2AK). Rick is an Australian engineer who designed the V series of pedal boats, on of which was used to set a World Record for 24-hour distance attained in a human-powered boat. Rick has pioneered the flex shaft propulsion system and dipping rudders, and in this R2AK-specific sailing design has also included a centerboard and canting foils.

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