Professional BoatBuilder - December-January 2018

56 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

DESIGN: Hybrid Wing

huge oven utilizes only the segments

required for the length of a given mold-

ing. Some small prepreg parts were

“cooking” in a single segment while we

were there.

Prepregs have the prime advantage

of maintaining  ber straightness dur-

ing layup, substantially improving the

multiple CNC-cut plugs and their

resulting resin-infused molds for a

range of boats, wings, and foils. Smyth

described how the 62' wing’s prepreg-

carbon D-section spar was molded in

one piece and post-cured in the shop’s

95 '-long (29m) segmented, telescoping

oven. Built on rails, this potentially

for maximizing their overall section

shape to suit varying conditions. To

the same end, the hybrid wing’s so

and rigid elements can be sheeted

independently to produce the desired

twist-o near the top and a bit of

overtrim down low.

Scattered about the shop were

Above—In this view up the hybrid wing while under way, the transition from

rigid wing element, right, to battened soft sail is  awless. Right—Complex com-

posite structures, from solid carbon foils to light foam-cored skin structures, are

standard fare at Fast Forward Composites.

AARON PORTER

HybridWing170-ADFinal.indd 56 10/31/17 3:04 PM