Tim, im not building anything, more like assembling it all together.

Are you going to sail it mostly solo? I think a landenberger main CUT FOR UNI is probably the way to go. I think you have to talk a US sailmaker into redesigning the main on the F16 for a purely UNI mode. As much as I can't stand the FAD, someone said he commented on the mains on the uni F16s being too full and I think he is right on (when comparing our sails to 18HT uni sails, the N17, etc). Of course this leads to the whole uni vs 2-up main... blah blah blah. Whether it makes a difference or not... who knows.

I think you will have a blast setting things up the way you want... send me a pm or give me a ring if I can help with anything.

p.s. carbon mast? definately too expensive given today's climate but I think one would be great on the blade.

If I went your route and more or less "made" my own boat... hmmm.... high ratio daggers, and maybe a different shape rudder than what comes standard on the blade. ... definate UNI main, figure a way to remove all the 2-up stuff easily so you don't have to have all the extra stuff on when sailing solo. Maybe some torpedo tubes also... just under the waterline in the bows... could aim your bows at the FAD and take him out... all he would feel woudl be a little "pop" and then start going really slow (watch him kick our butt anyway though even with one hull full of water <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> ) They could still be useful for taking out anyone who crosses your bows too closely <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yeah Patrick, im going 100% uni. Trying to get a flatter landy mainsail will be a project all in itself. Plus serious $$$$ is involved.

Why settles for this


When I can settle for this

Those who are into cars might get it. But im LOLing over here! hahahahhaha

fair comment robi. I would of thought that Glasser would be able to make exactly what you want as he has very good knowledge of A class sails and they are not that different.A sail at around $1300 USD is not a bad price.I have found eBay a good source for brand new parts at 50% off.good luck with new boat hope to see pic soon.

Danny
Taipan F16

I inquired at Glaser about a uni cut F16 sail and kind of got the "all our sails are cut to F16 standards and are great for 1-up or 2-up sailing, computer generated, yada yada yada". They did not seem real interested in a flatter 1-up sail. I didn't push the point, but just kinda shrugged it off. Their website talks about A-Cat sails cut to crew weight and mast type, but the F16 section talks about a standard cut from Bill Gates.

Rumor has it that Smyth has a wing mast section from our friends in Titusville and might be building sails... I wonder if he...... nah, nevermind. Forget I said anything..... It was complete rumor....

I got the same from Glaser also....
In their defense, their main is flatter than my Ullman and is nicely depowered easily. I do like it and I probably wouldn't be able to utilize the possible performance difference anyway.

And I think Smyth has had that mast for a long time...

Why don't you try Ashby sails he makes what you want and he has been making Taipan,F16 and A class sails. Ashby normally asked
your weight, type of mast section, if it's a uni cut sail and what material you want it made out off. The sail are around $1550.00 AUS plus battens and freight. Gary has one of his sails and could give you more detail.

True, I PMed Gary and I PMed Phill asking about the Ashby main. I did send an email to Glen Ashby (from his website) but I assume he would be extremely busy to reply.

What are all the possible mast supplier options?

These are all I can think of...

Aluminium
- Taipan section from AHPC
- Blade section from Blade builders

Carbon
- Saarberg
- Fibrefoam
- Home build

I'd love a carbon one but where can I get them in Australia.

Ncik
The Blade and Taipan are both the same section I believe they both come from AHPC.

Robbie Daniel is importing (or already has) an AHPC Viper F16 with a carbon mast and it's headed your way (St. Pete). Notice that Robbie's F18 Capricorn banner ad at the top of this forum also says "F16 Viper".

If another container is headed to the USA maybe you could get one of those masts (or any other AHPC parts you'd like).

Fiberfoam both Ashby and AHPC
Sarberg you can contact Steve Brewin

Robi my brother got a Goodall sail made took 2 weeks from phone call to delivery. I have used the sail and it very good i'm 80kg and sail uni.

Any way of getting one in Australia?

Get 9 other F16 owners together and John_P will give you a very good price shipped to Aus. He's said it many times....

John Pierce and his Stealth Marine seem to deliver fantastic value for money. Why dont he market his products a bit more? I tried finding a breakdown on products and prices on stealthmarine.co.uk, but there wasn't much there. A cleanup on the website and some light marketing would make the products much more available in my opinion.


Back to topic.
"Personalized".. I would definately go with hulls and beams from the same manufacturer. Otherwise you might have to alter the beamseats to make beams fit, which can be a lot of work.
A carbon mast would be high on my list of items to get. I would also have looked at snuffers and whats available there. I do have a penchant for 'center-tube' snuffers like some of the tornados have. They look slick, but I would want one with alu-reinforcement of the opening (dont step on it). IF it was a 2-piece solution it would be even cooler.
T-foils is also something I would think hard about, but lets not go there again. A bit premature still..
For sails I would have looked at the local alternatives once more. You do have Sabre Sails and Calvert there, both supposedly good multihull sailmakers. Why not buy locally and go trough the design process with the sailmaker, on-site? You can have the sails much more "personalized" then. Buying from Landenberger gets you a "stock" sail. Sitting down face to face with a saildesigner, talking about how you sail, where you sail etc. will get you a different sail. You can have the sails buildt in whatever cloth you prefer, and you can get help with the flying shape afterwards..

Other "personalization" could be on the tramp. Having it buildt to your specification, and perhaps with some graphics painted on it? How about an in-boom cascading mainsheet? Thy sky (or rather the budget) is the limit <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The exchange rate is whats killing importing anything into the US. It is extremely expensive.

As far as the Landenber mainsail goes, I have coconut grove sails. An authorized Landenberger distributor. They are only a phone call away. I will talk to them about a uni cut mainsail.

A carbon mast now that is sexy! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> we'll see. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Ahh, but Robi, a distributor will not be able to customize the sail for you, and you will not get direct access to the designer, or watch your sail being buildt. All valuable points in my opinion if you want personalization?

Too bad about your exchange rate problems. I dearly hope the US economy comes back on track really fast. Our own economy is tied closely to yours.

If you really want a carbon mast but are worried about shipping from offshore or exchange rates, call Ben Hall, Hall Spars, he races A cats and his company builds many carbon masts. Since a F16 Uni is very near an A cat, he should be able to figure out what you need for a mast and build you one. If it catches on, we all may buy one, so use that marketing idea to temper his price if you can.

Of course, he could build you a full wing sail for about $2,000 acording to his own posts. That would be much cheaper than a carbon mast and new mainsail.

No no, Robi could build a wing for about US$2000, if he has the skills and equpment of Ben Hall <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />