The only F16s currently for sale are at the upper end of my budget. Dave's got this lightly used 2002 Bimare F18HT for a little over $4K, that has me pondering. Anyone got advice or opinions? Weight? It's a carbon mast, height? I hear negative comments occaisionally about Bims' durability, is that just their As, or is it their construction techniques in general? Is this an unfair criticism?
The boat comes with a carbon and an alum spin pole, with an endpole snuffer. Is anyone using endpole snuffers anymore? I assume I could convert it to midpole fairly easily.
Seems like I could solo this boat with no problem up to, what, 10 or 12 knots(I'm 160 lbs)? I felt comfortable soloing the SC20 up to 12 or so. Probably couldn't right it by myself.
I've still got the same criteria, a boat I can single hand up to some wind strength, then add semi skilled crew for high wind blasting. No one around to race, so don't need a class boat. Have a fairly steep soft sand beach, and I'm ageing rapidly, so the light weight of the F16 is real attractive, but at a $4K premium? Can I be happy with an HT? Thanks!

Dave