thanks for that Qb2

it does answer a few questions i had

1. it seems 6 ports were not a factory thing anywhere, extra ports will probably have been added by owners. haven't heard of any of those boats breaking yet, good, but as has been said probably best not to go cutting good deck without very good reason

2. some reports on 5.2's i've seen said that the pre-85 solid glass boats where lighter than the foam cored boats. other reports have said heavier. presumably if there were 2 versions of foam cored boats made this might explain that

3. when rigging the boat i noticed that 1 of my stays has a trap wire swagged on to it at the top but on the other side the trap wire is a separate line, the boat came with a spare stay. possibly the swagged stay is oem from the early days when the 5.2 only had 1 on the trap, like the tornado, but the other side was replaced and the stays came as a pair

nothing really important but i do like to learn as much as i can about the history of the old things i buy as understanding them better helps to keep them going longer

eric e