This fact is a proof of how conservative the worldwide sailing comunity is - even the most competitive ones. Multihullers have a reputation of being more open minded.

But I remember lots of IOR boats in the 70s using this system, with a big tube inside the cabin. After some time the system was abandoned. Maybe it is not so efficient for bigger spinakers, but the truth is I don't know the actual reason. I was too young...

Anyway, even the best engineering takes some time to replace traditional methods. When refrigerators were invented, it took a long time and extensive advertising for people to start buying. Sounds like a joke today, but it's true.

One reason why sailing evolves so slowly, is the small size of sailing related industires. Big industries and corporations are faster then individuals with regards to (profitable) inovations. Mass production turns small unit profits into interesting results.

Keeping with the refrigerators, Lokheed's representative in Brazil once told me the following story when he rented my apartment there:

A company (there) started to mold the foam insulation instead of just jam pieces of foam between the internal and external walls of the refrigerators, as was customary at that time. The insulation of the molded foam is far better then that of pieces of foam, so the insulation could be thiner and still more efficient. Then, a smaller engine could be used (cheaper and less power consumption) and the internal volume grew (more groceries inside a refrigerator that looks the same in the outside).

This inovation found its way into every industy in the world and also helped that Brazilian industry a lot - they owe some very popular international brands today.

Comercial planes also copied the same idea (to keep the heat inside) and that explains why the guy from Lokheed knew the story.

We need more people sailing and greater production volumes. Then, improvements will be introduced yearly, like in cars.

Cheers,