Berny,
I printed an error in the specifications of the 4.3 Alpha Omega the other day, the foam that we are using is 4mm thick, not 8mm, and the approx' sailing weight will be much closer to 100lb than 140lb.
It will be somewhere down to the weight of the old paper tiger in marine ply (or less) but even at that weight, with the laminates that we are using, and the internal structuring it's a very "tough" set of hulls that should remain competitive for many years of hard sailing. The most delicate component of the cat will be the mast. carbon fibre masts don't like impact, but to get the performance it is a necessity to use carbon fibre for the mast today, (besides, they are at least repairable if broken, unlike an aluminum mast). We have fould that we can't justify the purchase of aluminum mast any way! The way that "Capral" have dictated the means of their supply, makes it prohibative - to have one mast from them, we would have to take a full "production run" which would mean that we would have to carry in stock about 176 lengths (and that applies for any other sections that we would be using if we were to use aluminum)
Darryl J Barrett.