Without being too controversial ( OK I'm bored and its lashing down with rain outside ) but there seems to be an awful lot of wish I had a carbon mast and wish I had T foils and wish I had Landenberger sails and wish I had xxxxx from the Blade owners, now the Stealth comes standard with these bits plus it is cheaper in the first place, why oh why is the Stealth not the boat of choice if its already got the right bits, is just as fast, about the same weight and offered with the same warranties.

I guess it must be that fashion thingy we are all so guilty of, buy the basic tool and then spend about the same amount on cool upgrades <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I didn't want carbon, but I did want a boat built locally.

Interesting...why didn't you want carbon?

I wasn't willing to pay for it and didn't (still don't) see any practical advantage.

It might be worthwhile at the Championship level, but not for me.

There is nothing like having a builder in your backyard when you break something and need another one -right now-! When my boat was flipped in the storm at JPOR, it only took two days for it to be fixed and ready to go. And since most of the F16's over here are Blades, it really is more like one design racing than an arms race. And I'm very happy with my alum. wing mast. I won't pay $big buck$ for carbon. If I had that kind of money, I'd be racing an A cat. $300 for a carbon tiller extension? Spare me!

Personally, I really liked Mark Pressdee's Stealth at the Global Challenge and I told him so.

If anyway were to ask me why I think the Stealth is not getting the attention and sales (outside of UK) that it deserves then I would blame lack of promotion and brand familiarty.


It is not like Blade is a very easy sell here in mainland Europe, afterall these are still reasonably expensive racing boats. But with lots of time spend on answering e-mail and inviting people to the beach and offering test rides we are building a presence here. When we had a mainland Stealth agent he just didn't "get involved" and the results were accordingly. Also because with his margin added to the retail price the boat wasn't significantly cheaper then the others anymore. That is the cold hard truth.

Since the GC, I have had many inquiries and interested parties. I'm sure Hans has a similar experience. But at this time we only have second hand Blades on offer as there were no Stealth demo's at the event.

I'm trying really hard to keep the Stealth in the picture with these newly interest people, but without having anything to work with it is very hard to not let the conversation end solely on the Blades. With AHPC having Remco Kenbeek as official agent for the Viper F16 I think they two will soon elbow themselves above the Stealths in the listing.


With regard to carbon mast. I investigated the possibility when I build my boat and decided against it because of added cost. I'm pretty happy with my aluminium. Just as with Tikipete, my level of sailing skills is really not of that level that I need carbon to move upon a place to 1st overall. I'm much better off improving in other area's first.

Wouter

There's been a few interesting articles from designers recently that have found some instances where carbon boats can be made cheaper than equivalent glass boats. One article was about the construction of RIBs for the navy.

Admittedly, the main saving was in labour with a multi-layered laminate construction. The point is, please don't dismiss carbon because of perceived greater cost than glass, that is only taking into account material cost. Don't forget labour and life-time costs. Does anyone have data on life expectancy of carbon vs glass vs kevlar vs ply dinghy hulls? My gut feeling is carbon will come out on top with kevlar a close second, then ply (depending on maintenance and care) and glass last.

The only real -life expectancy- data I've seen is all the 20+ year old Hobies and Prindles still out sailing, with their original aluminum masts I might add. Carbon hasn't been around long enough to establish a real life expectancy. It might last longer but it will take another 20 years to find out for sure.

The all carbon mega cat Playstation has been around for at least 10 years I think, sailed hard, I don't know how it is doing structurally today. Many improvements in construction technique have been made since PS was built too.

At the local club, the lasers were testing carbon mast tops!

shipping to here is the reason I built mine rather than purchase a boat..