Contract signed

My visit at Itaipú, yesterday, was very pleasant. We managed to talk about the construction contract, and signe it.

We also discussed a short materials purchse list. We will need more screws, and plywood panels to fix the templates on the strongback, to then build the boat over that jig. A quite aeronautical technique will be used to build the hulls.

Another pleasant circumstance, was that Pedro, my long time childhood friend, and very talented engineer, showed up to say hello. He is a specialist for so called exotic, renevable, natural fibers. It was him who referred me to Luiz Fernando.

We discussed several applications of these fibers on the construction of Arpex. He suggested, for example to use bamboo to build the deck. Another possibility we discussed was the use of Piaçava fibers to build the mast. Piaçava is a fiber gained from a palmtree which is endemic in the State of Bahia. It grows mostly along the Atlantic coastline. It fibers are extermely strong, light and cheap. They get up to 1m long. It seems piaçava is beeing tested with epoxi for different applications. I wonder ,whether it is possible to use it on masts? Pedro mentioned it when I said that I'd like to use bamboo. At lest it will be fun, and instructive, to study about it.