Thom

I think Mr. Farrier's strategy is the best alternative to leave Corsair miles behind.

His new designs (33, 22 and the ones to come) represent a "new generation" of folding boats that differ in more then hits the eye from the previous one.

You already noticed that - weight is down significantly.

Since the old models are also suitable for amateur building, their specifications and construction techniques are not ideal to achieve minimal weight, so Corsair is left with heavy "old" designs that will gradually become less atractive to the F-Boaters.

This means that there is plenty of room to make the new models with tighter specifications, built with more sophisticated techniques, resulting in lighter and better boats.

Obviously, home construction will not be possible due to the inherent uncertainty regarding the builder's proficiency generating a need to increase safety factors and keep away from some construction techniques.

However, kits will be a suitable replacement for amateur building, retaining the high quality and structural light weight of the production boat, but still allowing a certain degree of customization. Kits will enables a fast start and a slow finish, according to the availability of money.

The 33 and 22 do not compete directly with Corsair's products, but after their production lines are firmly established in weaker currency countries (= better price), I would expect Mr. Farrier to launch at least one boat in the middle of Corsair's range, also better and lighter then the existing models. This will be the "coup de grace".

Meanwhile, the Catri 27 is the best high tech boat in the middle of the range. Frankly, from the technical point of view it is hard to compete with. But the market buys other features too, so technical excelence alone is not a guaranty of better sales.

Cheers,