John Franta // Synthetic Yacht Rigging
On the Wind Sailing
Andy Schell
4.8 • 593 Ratings
🗓️ 5 July 2016
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
#153. John Franta of Colligo Marine has been on the podcast before of course, in episode 45, where we discuss his career and some of the technical aspects of Colligo 'Dux,' the synthetic, dyneema-based standing rigging that we put on Arcturus before crossing the Atlantic. John's back this week to discuss some more technical aspects of his job at Colligo.
We start the discussion by focusing on one of John's most recent inventions, the so-called 'ELHF' furling system, and I use that as a sort of primer for discussing in general how he comes up with new ideas and what the design and production life cycle is like. John is as pure an engineer as there is, and LOVES the technical aspects of running a synthetic yacht rigging company, and it's a joy to hear him talk about his passions so, well, passionately! He gets to play with CAD and 3D printers all day long, so what's not to like (if you're an engineer!).
John's also been a dear friend of mine since we first met in 2009, and you can kind of see that in the way we talk throughout the episode, it's definitely a lot less formal than some of my other interviews. I think you'll dig it.
Crew arrives this afternoon for our next trip up to Lunenburg. By the time you hear this we'll be offshore, bound for Nova Scotia - check out our passage logs and follow the trip on 59-north.com/tracking.
We've also got a few spots left for the return passage, August 6-14 from Halifax to Annapolis. It's not too late to join! Go to 59-north.com/offshore for details - I hope by the time we get to Lunenburg, one of you faithful listeners out there has decided to sign up an join us!
Finally, we've got some new swag! In time for our passage to colder climes, we've ordered #isbjornsailing beanies. They come in any color, so long as it's black! Go to 59-north.com/shop to check them out and get yours now. $25, plus shipping.
Okay, enough about us. Enjoy episode 153 with John Franta!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, we have a couple of, yeah, 3D printers, plastic 3D printers that we use intermittently. |
| 0:07.4 | We're actually developing a part right now that a block system that uses a body that's 3D printed that I'm quite excited about. |
| 0:16.4 | We'll probably be having that out by the end of the year. |
| 0:20.2 | That, yeah, you know, and our goal, our goal there really is to have a block body that we can sell the print to you and you can print it out on your boat. That's wild, man. If you need a new one, you know, because I, you know, I think that's going to happen. People are even going to have 3D printers on their boat, you know, or you can make parts. |
| 0:40.1 | I mean, that's what enables the Mars mission, right? |
| 0:43.3 | People talk about that all the time. |
| 0:45.0 | You carry a 3D printer in your spaceship on the way to Mars, |
| 0:48.2 | and you don't have to carry a whole inventory of spare parts. |
| 0:51.8 | Hey, this is Anna Viner's live from Sweden. Welcome back to the... |
| 0:56.4 | Fah! Okay. Hey, this is Anna Winners live from Sweden. Welcome back to the 59 North Sailing |
| 1:06.2 | podcast with your host, Andy Shell. Enjoy the show. Hey, Andy here. I'm hosting a Celestial Workshop this fall, and you should all come. |
| 1:15.8 | It's been a while, but it's time again to dust off the old sextant and break out the site reduction tables. |
| 1:21.7 | Celestial navigation is a passion of mine that I love sharing with others, and quite frankly, I think I'm pretty darn good at explaining it. So come to Annapolis over the weekend of October 21 to the 23rd and join me and |
| 1:33.6 | my friends for some old school navigation. Just go to 59-north.com slash celestial to see all the |
| 1:40.0 | details of the course and to register. It's limited to the first 12 people who sign up, so do it. |
| 1:46.5 | See you in October. Okay, on to episode number 153. |
| 1:55.8 | This episode is sponsored by Mallard Marine Services. I met Kevin Leidenheim, the guru behind Mallard, last fall during Eastpheorn's refit in Annapolis. |
| 2:06.6 | Kevin answered my call for volunteers during the hallout and absolutely blew me away with his work ethic, knowledge base, professionalism, and passion for sailboats. |
| 2:15.6 | Kevin spent five days with us designing and implementing a solution to East Bjorn's pocket door problem, |
| 2:21.3 | which you can check out on this episode's show notes page, and the result was nothing short of extraordinary, |
| 2:29.3 | certainly something I could have never done by myself. |
| 2:32.3 | Mallard Marine Services offers general boat maintenance |
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