Tim,




I don't know about the wave and getaway but this Dart 16 (no spi or other race things) costs 7550 Euro already. That would be 9600 US$ ex shipping although the tax deduction will take of that somewhat. Add a spinnaker (pretty much a must have in racing today) and this rotomolded cat will easily pass the 10.000 mark. Even with spi it will be noticeably slower then a non spi Hobie 16, not to mention significantly more expensive. If this cat could be had at 6000 US$ or less then yes I think there would be a case. But it doesn't appear this Dart 16 fits this requirement.

Also it is my experience that the hulls themself are not a large enough component to really save money on. It is not like you can drop the price of a decent cat design by opting for rotomolded hulls. The vast majority of cost is still labour and small components like cleats and blocks. It is truly remarkable how quickly small items can add up.

Even if you could make the hulls for free then the price of a new boat will never drop more then 30 %. All the rest is still taken up by fittings, sails, labour and profit margin.

If you are really cutting down on the fittings and such then you'll quickly get away from the "racing cat" requirement. There is no easy way out of this trap.

Ohh, remember the SL16 youth boat project that was to solve these issues. Being inexpensive was a key ISAF criterium. Despite the fact that its cost is a very well kept secret, online quotes range from 11.000 to 14.000 Euro's. With the younger quotes all ending up in the high end of the range.

There is no quick fix here.

I'm still saying the best fix was the nacra 500 with spi. It wouldn't have been extremely cheap, but both faster and cheaper then the SL16 and the youth would have had a decent second hand boat market to get started. At 10.500 Euro's (no spi) is a quite a good boat for a decent price. And I think it is well worth the 3000 Difference with the laser 16.

Wouter