If weight was not such an issue, then why do sailors (who know a thing or two about sailing) scrape to remove every gram they can to get as close to min weight as possible.......
I also know more then a few women who nearly starve themselves to death and look like bloody skeletons because they've somehow convinced themselves that they are more attractive that way.
I guess that you also feel that the doctors and psychiatrists are wrong to claim the opposite in this case as well ? Hundred thousants of women can't be wrong right ? ... Right ?
Nicely constructed argument there Wouter. How about answering the question properly. Your reference of women is relating to so called physical improvement. My reference to sailors relates to a performance improvement, so your argument is of very little substance.
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And F16 sailors believe 18 kg makes no difference.
Correction, the company AHPC believes such a thing. All the other F16 builders and class member opinions are nowhere near that far away from the minimum weight. Hell, even my own ply homebuild is not that far off the class minimum and that says something as I was not at all anal about a few grams here and there !
Wouter
I would imagine AHPC are more focused on producing a product that is cost efficient and performs. They are under no illusion that if their boat was 18 kg lighter, it would be quicker...... But also more expensive. They have designed and built a boat that performs equally or better than all current F16s, giving away a weight advantage but making up for it with superior design.
The reason why large volume manufacturers find it expensive to build boats down to weight, fully utilising the freedom of the current formula is because catamaran manufacturing is not an on the side “hobby” project for them, but either their main source of income or an economically viable business in its own right. They offer worldwide distribution, dealer servicing, marketing, product warranty, extensive research and development programs.
Quote below from Brett Goodall.
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/ubb...ords=warranty&Search=true#Post210876
Firstly, it is more than possible to build a boat close to minimum weight without blowing the budget. Smaller manufactures and home builders have proven this. However this does come as a trade off on two fronts, durability and stiffness.
As a major manufacture we have to guarantee our boats, and in Europe that is 2 years by law. If you under build your designs then you are effectively playing Russian Roulette with your business. The other option is you have to charge more per boat to cover the high level of warranty claims.
The second point of stiffness is something that gets highly over looked as an integral design feature. I’m not going to get into the "He said" - "She said" - "my numbers show" arguments here... As an engineer I know we can all take different conclusions from the same results. But the fact is stiffness comes at a cost, either dollars or KG (lb for the Americans among us). You have to choose the trade off between weight Vs stiffness. On a side note I believe this is a good feature of the F16... that is that the designer must make another critical decision.
While I agree that some manufactures choose to build easy / cheep boats in favour of "High Teching it up" I think it is rude to assume it is "Apathy? Ineptitude? Laziness? Greed? Arrogance?. In all situations the decisions have been carefully thought through and choices made.
I encourage anyone who feels they can do a good job at designing / manufacturing a catamaran to do so... then consider doing it commercially.
