My project was to construct a set of hydrofoils for a Laser sailboat. I have been sailing my whole life and was always fascinated with how the engineering of sailing works. As I'm sure you have seen America's cup boats lift out of the water like magic. This lifting is called hydrofoiling. The way that a hydrofoils work is by using a set of "foils" which are located underneath the boat to use the pressure of the boat pushing down into the water and the speed of the boat as the lift to raise the boat out of the water and hover just above the water. I constructed the mast for the foils out of solid molded PrePreg Carbon Fiber which is a extremely light but sturdy composite that will allow for maximum strength and maximum speed. The bottom foils will be made out of a foam core with a carbon fiber wrap surrounding the foam that will be resin infused. This will allow for the boat to remain light but use the composite strength of foam to keep it strong, much like the construction of Americas cup Boats. I'm planning to Finnish the rest of the construction of the foils within the rest of this virtual school year, and be sailing over the water by mid-summer.
Id like to thank sponsors that really helped this project along and allowed me to succeed.
Steve Hasset at Custom Composites for the materials and expert advice.
Everyone on the engineering team at Sabre Yachts for there engineering critices.
After I sail the foils I will be posting a video on youtube with the process of building these foils and sailing them.
If you would like to contact me about my project my contact info is: gordon.fream@baxter-academy.org