Guys do not get me wrong in advocating weight for weight sake, I am a real light weight advocate ( my own home built "almost" F16 compatible boat is around the 100 kilos and I could have made it lighter if I felt the need ( 5 kgs max of ballast ) ) and do consider the likes of the Viper just an economic but lazy way to build boats. I'm sure if the Viper used properly designed ancillary components then it would be pretty close to the class weight, after all I am led to believe the hulls are around the 26 kilos, which is pretty par to most other manufacturers hulls.

But I am a realist who understands that to move foward you sometimes have to bow to greater influences. At this time the rating systems and market forces are out of kilter with our class weights, to change that will take years and years to both alter the perception of the buying public and even longer to sway the likes of the SCHRS who by very nature of its business will be cautious and will generally lag current boat design, after all its not until there is a problem, can it react.

So on one hand I would say why bother at this stage to alter what is a pretty achievible weight and on the other I'm saying for the benefit of the class it is probably a need to accept that we may need for the moment to increase it.

Wayne,

I dont see any significant reason to increase min weight and I dont see a need.
Raising min weight would be a very radical move back into the past.

You have presented some valid arguments for taking action and I think this have been an interesting discussion. But it is very clear, to me at least, that nothing needs to be done

If there is an agenda in the background to raise min weight we will know when the ballot is presented. It looks like I will have a boat next summer so I will be a class member again. I have not weighted my homebuild yet but whatever the finished weight will be I will not argue to have the class rules changed to optimize my boat


Could we instead talk about CNC and stepper motors not moving as I want them to?

Guys I might have to eat my words a bit, as part of Bitsa's " upgrade " I have it back at home and felt with all the weight issues being bandied about again, I would take the time to weigh it accurately ( I had only ever weighed it with rig and everything up fresh out of the workshop and its not the easiest at that stage ). Recently I have altered the original spinny concept and had a few ding repairs over the last season + had a water leak etc, probably a more representative time to do the weighing.

A porky 107 kgs or there abouts. I'm pretty sure I could have built it down to around the 104 pretty easily but always knew that weight was not an issue due to the majority of handicap racing that I do ( which I suspect most clubmen do ) and taken some liberties in beefing up the bottom of the hulls with extra layers of glass etc.

Sorry, no hostility intended against the heavier boats. They elected to do things a certain way and that is fine with me. The people who purchased their boats did so knowing they were heavy. It is called freedom and I am all over it.

Now there is a movement in place to force heavy on everyone and this does make me hostile. There are affordable choices of lighter boats, so to say it cannot be done is BS. If no one buys the heavy models you better beleive a new light version will soon appear. (From the builders standpoint, why go the effort to do it if the public buys the one you already have). At the end of the day , who cares if Nacra or ahpc or any other builder makes an F16. As long as there are boats being bought, somebody will build them. If the class continues its growth, they already have an investment and they will figure it out - it is not that difficult.

This carbon cost thing is nothing more than scare tactics. I can go out and purchase a new full carbon 75kg state of the art A class cat for the same or less than a Fiberglass and aluminum heavy butt F18. If you ask me, (and I'm getting old, so its more important) the A class option is a much better value for what I am purchasing.

I felt disturbance in the force and I kept getting drawn here and then there it was screaming at me, I couldn't stop myself.

Uh oh, sweetness just caught looking at the F16 forum gotta go.

Isn't she on an H-16 now?

Nope. She is sailing with me this weekend at DIYC and she's doing Hirams. She doesn't mind the H16 but I have ruined her for everyone else. What can I say, I'm special.

Like "Short Bus riding" special?

The two food supplements I've been using since high school, to both gain weight and increase cerebral capacity are; Pizza and Beer.

The Pizza will put weight on you quickly. If on Friday night you find out it's going to be blowing on Saturday, Eat UP! You'll be 10lbs. heavier by morning!

And the beer will make you super intelligent, even quicker!

Just ask anyone, after their 5th beer...

But be careful, too much beer and you'll lose your Pizza weight!

I'm so glad you're a pilot....

Just watched "Flight". I may never fly again.

Pete, you're looking at this all wrong.

These men & women pilots are PROFESSIONALS (see Timbo's post above); as such, they can fly in all conditions (weather & personal).

I fully support our professional pilots!!

If you guys knew how many people are in AA, and how many should be, you'd freak!

...yes, been there done that.

as Timbo and Orsen Wells pointed out, we'll all be ferried around by drone aircraft pretty soon.

So we can use our support toward single moms...and pole dancing lessons.

Matt can explain how the "good" ones can slide UP the pole

I thought we were talking about sailing, not flying.

But if you would like to talk about flying, and share your valuable input, and all your experience, with real pilots, here's where you need to be:

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com