I see this from many angles, I agree lighter weight may be possible but it isn't in the best interest of the class and really isn't the elephant in the room...

First, not all new boats are overweight, many are under. Many are also underbuilt. Folks won't speak publicly about their issues but both of the major builders have been having QC issues on the hulls since switching to a lower cost manufacturing facility some years ago. This issue is much more prolific and high profile on the N17 and is being addressed there, but I doubt it will change on the F18, certainly not until consumers have a choice and vote with their wallet to go elsewhere. Anyway, point is I don't think the big builders can build a lighter F18 and have them last, considering the current boats aren't built to an amazing, last 10 year standard as is. I would rather see the weight stay the same and the owners push for a higher quality build!! I would love to see Marstrom building a F18 for example, even if it cost $5k more out of the box I would buy one for the quality no questions asked.

Now the elephant in the room: foiling. Other classes are pushing for lower weights and stiffer platforms because they want to foil, or are foiling. I don't think the F18 needs foils to remain relevant right now, but certainly in a few years time it may. To me, the Gen4 F18 is a well built, stiff version of the F18 with curved foils and t-foil rudders, at the same weight as the existing F18 (possibly allowing retrofits, but not likely given the loads involved). This may require carbon in the hulls, and that really opens a new can of worms and none of this drives cost down, rather up. How the class handles this is a big unknown, but something to be thinking about for ~2018-2020. It would, in many ways, make the class relevant again from a design space, but how to do so without disrupting the existing fleets and existing events is key, these are waters not to be treaded on lightly.

My other thought is leave the boat unchanged but really work to reduce costs so more sailors can participate, this is more important to me than lighter weight or a slightly faster semi-foiling ride.