Chasing stuff down

Today I called Dupont in the US to find out about unbranded, white Tyvek (Spun Olefin building wrap) for prototyping the sail. I like the idea of sail prototyping with Tyvek, but have some reservations of displaying their logo on Thomas' boat (without sponsorship compensation!).

Eventually navigated my way through the Dupont voice mail minefield and caught a real person unawares picking up the phone. This person seemed stunned their customer avoidance training had failed and they had to talk to me. I asked about unbranded Tyvek and they put me on to a Canadian representative out of Toronto (pronounced Tronna if you are local). Called him and after three tries he answered his cell phone. It took me some convincing, but he eventually conceded Dupont may sell unbranded Tyvek. I said to Google "Tyvek Sail Boat". He said Tyvek was not appropriate for the application - it has a four month lifetime while exposed to UV - I said a couple months of direct exposure was more than long enough for testing sail designs.

He's looking into it and will get back to me. Yeah right. I'm not holding my breath.

Eric sent me the measurements I need to start the assembly layout on the keel frame. I'll go buy some large paper and make templates to layout the foam cuts better. I'll talk through this more as I describe things later on.

My over-the-fence neighbor Norm has a secret stash of African Mahogany he salvaged from an Elections Canada government office being renovated to use modern cubicles. I help Norm out with computer and communication issues and we take care of each other. He's a retired RCMP officer who happens to be a great neighbor. I'm going to see if I can come up with enough Mahogany to make the Microskiff daggerboard & rudder blade. Be nice to have some bling for Thomas!

<insert dramatic pause ....>

Just came back from Norm's place with enough Mahogany to do the foils for the Microskiff. Awesome.