[MHml] Catamarans

[Roy Mills]

At 04:28 PM 9/7/06, you wrote:
>So, riddle me this, o learned one. Why is a seagul striker typically
>aligned vertically, and not in line with the force it is resisting,
>which is parallel with the forestay?

         I did not know that Dave, on my boat the seagull striker is 
angled back essentially parallel to the forestay, and so it is on 
Reidar's boat and on Guy's boat, so I thought it would be on all 
cats. The only residual force for the crossbeam to fight is the 
couple between the seagull striker and the forestay. Now you tell me 
that this is not the case typically. I'm sure it will be so angled on 
Malcolm Tennant's boats, his drawings of the seagull striker set up 
on the T 10 is quite explicit in that regard.

>  A simple answer might be that the
>typical crossbeam is elliptical, with sufficient bending resistance in
>a fore-aft direction, but really, wouldn't it make more sense to align
>the striker with the force itself?

         That was certainly the way that Reidar, Guy and I felt about 
it. Please note that I said upwards, but not vertically upwards.


>Just wondering...
>
>Dave

         Me too
                 Roy