Unfortunately, the Viper 640 class is pretty much dead. It was somebody's "Boat of the Year" in 1997, but the builder went out of business 2 years ago. The molds were sold to a company in Europe, but little / no activity since then. Only about 80 boats were ever sold. There is only one active fleet in Marblehead MA.
So I figure there is no advantage to keeping the boat "class legal".
As far as a shambles goes, the mast is broken, mainsail/jib/spinnaker all were damaged and need repairs, and the mast step was torn loose.
So I figure I'd spend some extra money to make the boat more exciting.
Thanks for your thoughts, and I have the same concern ... lots of cost with the risk of a "hacked" result.