EXCELLENT idea Qb2

have just fired this off to them, if i hear nothing in a few weeks and still can't post to catsailor.net i'll pm you ask if you can ask them there for me:-)

"hi,
i'm an australian currently living in japan and a couple of years ago i took up lake sailing in a 13foot yamaha dingy

a few weeks ago i bought an american built 1982 nacra 5.2 and am currently trying to learn as much as i can about how to sail it and look after it

the best forums i've found for info have been the usa's catsailor.com and the aussie forums at catsailor.net

recently on catsailor.com a restored usa built 5.2 suffered catastrophic hull failure, possibly due to stringer de-lamination in the blind forward compartments

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/showflat...true#Post118887

and i see stories on catsailor.net about an aussie built 5.8 suffering disintergrating bulkheads, the bulkheads look very different to those in my 5.2....

i understand that these are old boats of uncertain history and not reflective on the majority of nacras out there but i'm wondering if it's worth cutting 2 more inspection ports into the forward compartments of my boat, just forward of the main beam, to check the other side of the bulkheads and the stringers

i would welcome any comments you could make

and if possible it would be great to know what differences there are between aussie and usa 5.2s built in 1985

eric e