I wonder how much money would be saved by building a 16' DNA out of glass, vs. the present 18' carbon hulls, and then using aluminum beams and mast, vs. paying for all the carbon stuff on the DNA.
I agree with Adio, more time spent out practicing will make you faster than trying to build a tweeked out uni boat.
In the end, you still have to sail it right, no matter what you build, and no specialtiy build is going to give you two extra hands when you really need them!
Making the mast in Ali is probably the wrong way to go, the A class have developed rigs and masts that are way ahead of ours at present, far better to just use that knowledge and leap frog the development time.
I think Wouter has put on this forum a number of times, calculations that put Ali on a par with Carbon as a beam, yes it won't be as light in weight, but in robustness and cost effectiveness to get similar bending moments,then a properly engineered Ali beam is fine.
As for Carbon in hulls, yes it will give a very low weight to strength ratio, but we probably have a 5kg weight per hull to find to bring the boat up to around 100kgs, why not just beef up the hulls to such an exent that they become really tough and long lasting. All to often I have punched a hole right through my A Class hulls ( all carbon )in launching and handling errors ( twice I have put the tip of my trapeze hook through on getting back on board after a capsize ) where if they had been made in more durable glass, would that have happened.
Do agree that practice and yet more practice will always give better performance gains than any boat upgrade.
