Hi Bob,
"I didn’t mean to insult your business knowledge, Just pointing out some of the hurtles the US built boat manufactures have to jump over. Steve lives outside the US, and things might work different there, I was trying to bring these factors to light to answer his question of why ARC did not build and market a 20’ boat as light as the Tornado. I am sure there are differences between the US, Australia, and S. Africa regulations as to what a catamaran manufacture would have to adhere to in order to legally operate."
I`m sure there are many differences, my point is that, if you already have the moulds for a hull design, you could build it out of a variety of materials if you wanted to. All the costs a boatbuilder incurs are there, whether he builds fibreglass boats or epoxy boats, no difference except more skilled labour required, and higher material cost for more exotic materials. Subsequently you & Bill have educated me to the fact that ARC products ARE already epoxy foam, and not straight fibreglass hulls, also interesting to see that the ARC21 is not that much heavier than I-20. What makes a boat successful in the market is not always the design features or speed of the boat, but in some instances it`s the marketing drive behind the product. Gone are the days where the quality of the product speaks for itself. One only has to look at Hobie & how they have owned the market through strong marketing skills, rather than product superiority.They make good boats & market them well. Are there better boats ? Maybe, but none that sell as well, which makes you wonder. We could all learn from them, except that cat-sailing, and sailing in general worldwide is in a decline, so no-one is going to spend advertising money.
In SA things are VERY different from US and even Auz. We can put a Mosquito together, 16ft spinnaker boat weighs less than 100kg, for less than the price of a new Laser would cost here. The more local content the less we have to import, and we don`t have to pay some "one-manufacturer" class high royalty fees. We have all the controls of a Tornado, Epoxy foam hulls, Mylar sails. A Laser has 2 pieces of string, ONE fibreglass hull, and a piece of dacron the siz of my jib. And in SA we don`t have to "pay ourselves" minimum wage, what is that, the American government trying to prevent you from doing things for yourself, like building a boat, for fear that it might take a job away from a boatbuilder ? I`ve heard stranger things, but this one`s unique. I suppose we all have different situations to deal with, and would probably laugh at eachother`s unique set of problems since we don`t understand them from our own perspectives.
I can imagine the scenario : you pay income tax on the money you take home from your job, then have to pay tax again on the money you have to pay yourself to build the boat. Don`t let an African government get hold of that idea !

Cheers
Steve