Hi Dan,
I know it's been a while since there was any movement on this topic. But I have a query over the T-rail that is used to hold the blade to the foot pocket tendons.
Brief: - I have a pair of C4 Falcon Blades in Medium with Mares Pockets.
My blades have scuffs and scratches and have had the odd bump. The blades themselves are fine other than aesthetics and having read all the complaints about them breaking so easily I am pleasantly surprised that they haven't.
What has happened is that the T-rails that hold the foot pocket tendons to the blades have cracked in multiple places. I noticed during a session where the tendons started to pull away from the blades. The now short sections of the T-rails pulled off the blade in the tendons leaving them loose.
I made some temporary fixes on the boat by super glueing the pieces back on, but now want to get the problem solved properly.
I bought a T-rail section from a local shop and had it delivered. I believe it is a Salvimar T-rail and the only stuff I could find in Europe other than what C4 has promised to send me. (Still waiting)
But on closer inspection the T-rail material I bought is quite a soft rubber. The sections I have removed from the blades are a very stiff and brittle material.
(Logically them cracking in to small pieces as they have done is as expected...because they don't seem to have any flex but lie in an area where the blades are still flexing)...So surely a rubbery flexible material makes more sense unless the aim is to stiffen up the blades...
Can you give me an idea what you would expect and what you have found to be the best as I know you have spent a lot of time on T-rail design.
Attached are pictures of the rails broken on the blades and then samples of the rails.