I compiled the questions concerning the Viper from this forum and forwarded them to AHPC. Here is Gregg's comments. The questions are listed and Gregg's answers follow each question. Some interesting reading (IMO). I just thought the questions deserved an answer .

Bob Klein
Taipan 262


Q: Now that they're in production, how much does the viper weigh?
A: The Viper weighs all up 125kg. This is with an alloy mast. The Viper is a much bigger boat than either the Taipan or the Blade. A sloop Taipan with spinnaker weighs in at about 110kg. At the Global Challenge the average weight of the Blades, sloop with spin was 118kg. The lightest was, I believe, 112kg.
--The Viper is designed to be 125kg with a crew weight of 120 – 140 kg. The hull buoyancy and shape is designed around this.
--The Viper is designed to carry the crew on trapeze with spinnaker. The Taipan and Blade struggle to do this in anything over moderate conditions.
--The Viper does not appear to suffer from the extra few kilos even in light winds as the hull buoyancy is designed to carry the weight. If the boat was underpowered either up wind or down wind then there would be a problem. The F16 has power to burn; it is more of a problem of being able to harness the power and in particular how hard the boat can be pushed down wind. The Viper can be pushed a lot harder than any other F16 currently available.

Q: I notice the spin trimming blocks on the hulls are well inboard. Must be running a much flatter spinnaker. Is this correct?
A: The spinnaker is a flatter than earlier Taipan spinnakers and is fractionally flatter than our F18 spinnakers. The spin blocks are on the inner gunwale, the same as on all F18’s and the Tornado. Sheeting to the side stay is simply too wide for best performance.

Q: Any inside scoop on how much help the extra hull volume offers in higher wind strengths?
A: The Viper has about 50% more hull volume of the Taipan and about 20% more than the Blade. Does it make a difference? - heaps

Q: Have all the "pieces" been optimized to the F16 (alluding to the F18 parts used at the GC that were intended to be re-made for F16)?
A: Yes, The list of optimized things where we have saved some weight since the 1st boat at the GC are;
--Hulls now 26kg (-4kg)
--Front beam assembly -1.3kg
--Centerboards -1.2kg each
--Rudders -.2kg each
--Mainsheet system. -.6 kg
---Total 12.7kg
This has reduced the weight from 137kg to 125kg

Q: Any delivery dates for US buyers?
A: First boat into the US will arrive early December.

Q: where are the spin sheets led? Is that the yellow line I take it? Why so inboard with the sheeting? (if those are them, but there are no other blocks around)
A: Spin sheets go to ratchet blocks on the inner gunwale - then to turning blocks on the front beam. The turning blocks are positioned so that the crew on trapeze at the back of the boat can easily sheet past the skippers head. It also gives more angle of the sheet around the ratchet blocks.

Q: I'm also curious about volume distribution along the length of the hulls. Hard to get a clear idea from the photos but it seems as if there might be comparatively more volume further aft compared to the Blade.
A: In fact the buoyancy distribution is possibly a little further forward than the Blade but I have not really compared them. The transom on the Viper is smaller than the Blade and helps considerably with the downwind performance of the Viper. With the little bit of racing that we have done with the Viper it is proving to be every bit as good as hoped.

Hope this helps,

Regards,
Greg

Greg Goodall
Managing Director
Australian High Performance Catamarans