Biocomposites...
Check out this bale!

Here's an article in Composites World on replacing glass with plants.

http://www.compositesworld.com/ct/issues/2006/February/1183

I might plant some trees to build my next A but this old girl was still fun last weekend <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Good idea Timbo I'll plant some trees for my next A but this old wooden girl pictured was still great fun 2 weeks ago regards

Actually, I don't think that cross-linked polyethylene plastic is recyclable.

Aha! So maybe I was not too crazy when I suggested basket-weaving as a sailboat construction technique. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

There's a Dutch company that specializes in products made up of composites and sustainable fibers.
They even built a cat out of flax material: http://www.npsp.nl/pageSub.asp?Chapter=3&IDPage=37

I'm thinking I could even make a boat out of bread dough and coat it with epoxy. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Or maybe papier mache coated with epoxy. What could be better? Recycle your newspapers by turning them into boats.

I'm actually serious!

Back on topic. The fact that sailboat production is declining does not necessarily mean, though, that sailing itself is declining; right? It might just mean that more people are buying used boats instead of new boats. And we might be just maintaining the status quo as far as the people who are actually sailing or racing. That is a harder thing to gauge.

The reality is in our area there are very few sailors I know of that have transitioned from roto-molded boats to glass ones and have become active in our sailing fleet. So yes, I dont see an increase in roto-molded boat sales as necessarily an indication of good things to come.

I hope Im wrong though, and that with more time, and maybe higher gas prices, we'll see more people get involved at the fleet level. It just hasn't happened yet.

I believe that beachcat sailing is declining. I keep my nacra 6.0 on the beach in Delray Beach, Florida where we are allowed 60 slots for local residents with mast up storage for $200 per year. Seven years ago you had to wait for someone to leave to get a slot. It has been on a steady decline since, with now only half of the slots taken. You could not ask for a more beautiful spot to sail in South Florida, clean water, balmy tropical breezes, no PWC's and very little powerboat traffic. BTW there is not one roto mold boat on the beach, and I can remember only one in the last seven years that I have been keeping my boat there. Any one have any clue as to why this sudden decline is happening. I try my best to get others involved by taking them sailing, offering to help them find a new or used boat, and answering any questions that I can. Down the beach one mile away I see the huge growth in kite boarding, it seems that every weekend there are more than the week before. If our sport could grow at 1/10th of kite boarding, we would be happy. Any ideas or sugesstions on how to fill the remaining 30 slots would be appreciated.

Wait, I thought everyone complained that one of the reasons for decline is a lack of mast-up storage yet, you guys, in a premo location, can't fill the slots.

$200 a YEAR for mast-up storage? What a great deal! It would be worth moving to South Florida. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

that is sweet...
I am not sure mast up storage would really convince people to get INTO sailing but it certainly would promote more active sailing by those who own a cat already.

Mast up storage is excellent. Having to rig the boat for every sail would be a major obstacle for a quick trip on the fjord for me.

How come there are empty slots? Lack of marketing/coordination/activity??

Holy cow. $200 a year! I pay $180 every three months to keep my boat mast up at a lake that's running out of water!

$400/year here. Beats the $240/year in the cow pasture, 5 miles away!

KSA mast up storage

Mast up storage makes a huge difference. Having the ability to week night sailing/racing makes a big difference too, especially as younger folks in the sport start to gain family obligations. Continually getting fresh blood in makes a big difference, as people will naturally over time drift away from the activities.

On the decline in production thing - a question or two and an observation or two.

On production - how do they count US companies that may manufacture overseas? If the manufacturing has moved away from the US does that count as part of the decline (think Corsair, NACRA, etc.).

Observations - for the people who would be targeting purchasing boats 20' and under the financial landscape has changed dramatically. Raises for most workers have not kept up with inflation, especially given the increase in payments for health care and other things that get taken out of your paycheck. With rising fuel costs folks in the market for boats of this size may be feeling squeezed (fuel costs add financial pressures that reduce buying power, not the actual operation of the sailboat). Many compensated for this through use of equity in their houses, but this is drying up too - in some markets home equity lines of credit are being revoked by the banks, cutting off an effective way to finance purchases of cars, boats, tvs, etc. People may find that getting a HELOC in the first place now is almost impossible. It's no surprise that the high end of the market is thriving, as that is a demographic that is not hit as hard by these realities. But these declines don't surprise me too much when you combine financial pressures with the decline in access to water.

On Hobie and the sales of roto-molded boats - Good for Hobie to be having good numbers! A few questions though, just for curiosity. The first is how much of those sales have been to resorts/rental companies? The domestic auto manufacturers kept their production status going through fleet sales to rental companies and agencies. I'm curious if part of Hobie's success here is through a similar avenue. Also, I suspect that a good number of the roto boats are sold to people who have easy water access, ie waterfront property. These are great boats for keeping in the yard for the kids to push off into the water. I see these boats along the waterfront more than fiber boats. These days the waterfront property owner is more likely to be in the demographic that is less affected by economics (at least that's the case where I live). So maybe they've hit gold in another spot by having a small boat that sells to the money crowd (either by design or accident)?

First, Here's a pic of our mast up storage here in SC. We have on average 40 boats that take advantage of it. About 10 of those boats are relics and sit mast down all summer long without being sailed. It's $50 a month, which in the bay area is pretty much rock bottom. If the beach gets full, the harbies just move the lifeguard shack over to make more space. It's pretty much the ideal scenario. Why aren't there 100 boats out there?





My personal experience is that the roto's sell 10 to 1 compared with glass/ carbon. The rental market is nonexistent here, so they're going to general family sailors, and mostly but not all to the inland areas.

I market hard at every nationals, worlds, and many local regattas here in CA where the vast majority of boats are glass. The general public sees us on the water and come up and want to know about the Getaway.

Are the Delray beach slots limited to city residents only?