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.
It’s still a good height for Gustav.
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.
Turn on the motor…. So far, it looks as though my motor is able to handle the job effortlessly. (This video was taken with my old camera, but it gets the point across.)
Now, I need to create the sails.
