Hi there,
The mast is very nice, and suits a singlehander really well (hounds are lower etc), the rest of the boat is the same, very well balanced and it works well so why change it for the sake of it?
With regard to the weight issue, F16 will have to decide where it wants to be in 5 years and weight will be a big part of that future.
Since the platform weight, the ready to sail weight, the mast material and the mast cross section is fixed according to F18 rules, the mast is surely overdone for a singlehander. But I am sure it is a realy cheap solution to use the same mast. Even with aluminium, a single hander mast could be much lighter.
Maybe the boat is well balanced, but in 5 years the future will be: Carbon masts for most of the higher performance beach cats (it is lighter, safer and not necassarliy more expensive). Single hander will be between 75 - 100 kg and double hander 100 - 150 kg. I am sure, that under the competition from newcoming boats, Hobie and Nacra has no other choice than to adapt to this situation and F18 will also change their rules for CFRP masts and maybe lower weights. People who wants to buy a new boat (like me) will not buy a new boat which weights as much as a Dart 18 or H17. And there are so many new and interesting lightweight boats available, which will be also considered as light boats in 5 years.
I should maybe write an article, how to buy a new boat (maybe also in French <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />). Actually my strongest driver is weight, since weight makes you slow, weight makes you feel weak and old if you push your boat over the beach and finally weight is money (because a light weight boat need less sail area and 40kg of glass fibre, resin and its manufactoring has a price).
One last word, if you state you can righten the boat, please let us know, what is your weight and if you use any aids, because this is an other very important criterium to buy or not buy.
Cheers,
Smiths Cat
