I'm the proud owner of a 5.5sl Problem is, I can never get a consistant crew, and even if I could, I'm a "heavy" guy (6'5" - 220lbs)
I feel that an "A" cat is to small for me. I do sail uni on my 5.5 when the wind picks up, but a 5.5sl isn't a 5.5 uni, and boat vs. boat, I get walked 80% of the time.

Would the Blade or another 16 be something for me? If so, what kind of building skills does it take. I'm much better with glass and carbon than I am with wood, but thats relative. Is it "hard" to build one of these?

Where would I source a mast from? Beams, rudder setup, etc..?

Sorry for all the questions, your help is appriciated!

The best wishes for 2004 to you, Theo.


Summary : I can never get a consistant crew, ... , I'm a "heavy" guy (6'5" - 220lbs)

Questions :

-1- Would the Blade or another 16 be something for me?

The F16 will surely put you in the ball park of the Nacra 5.5 uni's. I think you stand a good chance of being faster as well but I don't like making overconfident claims. The tall masts of the Uni's will make them faster in the really really light airs though. However above 5 knots this mast advantage is gone. With your 220 lbs the Alu mast sections will work well for you. For crews much lighter it may pay to get a more flexible carbon mast. The alu mast of course was designed for double handed weights and is therefor a little stiff for 170 lbs crews. It dependents on how much you want to spend to decide wether to get a carbon mast or a alu mast. The alu is very much cheaper and a little more durable but more importantly I think that in your case there isn;t much performance difference between the two. The alu mast is only some at max some 4 kg's lighter. Anyways both are allowed in the F16 class.

There are different tastes in F16 and it dependents on how often you want to doublehanded the boat and with what crew weight to determine which version is best suited. However there is an F16 boat to cater each extreme of the scale. To give you a rough idea ; Taipan is an excellent singlehander, but is beter sailed below 145 kg's = 320 lbs; The Stealth is less sensitive to overall crewweight and will do well with nearly all weights. The Blade F16, despite being relatively new, has shown (in reference to other singlehanders) to be an excellent singlehander and very insensitive to overall crewweight. The last will make it a very good doublehander as well. In tests it carried as much as 180 kg = 397 lbs and behaved very well, as much as with 150 kg's. This brings me, in part, to the next point. If you want to homebuild a design than you have two options : Taipan F16 and Blade F16. In your case (expected high doublehanded weight) I would advice to decide for the Blade F16. The cost of the building plans and construction are as good as the same. The Blade uses the same alu mast section (if you don;t decide on carbon) as the Taipan and that is really the best mastsection for the F16 in the area of aluminium. The differences between the Taipan and Blade are to be found in the platform and not so much in the rig.

In order to be fair and balances I want to name the Stealth F16 as that one is very attractively prices right now when compared to the others. I has lost is funny bow section and has a more straight bow now. And it has an excellent "semi-planing" downwind performance. It is build in glass and can be had within weeks with a carbon mast for an investment that is not much higher at all than the cost that go into homebuilding a platform.

-2- If so, what kind of building skills does it take.

How does one measure these things ? An amateur can do it; but as always it helps alot when your are handy with tools and materials. A welll made timber boat was measured against a glass boat of the same time and it was found to be slightly stiffer. The construction itself is surprisingly simple. The hull is pretty much bend out of 4 sheets of marine grade ply. The more accurate and lovingly you work the better the product. It is not like the hull is made of many planks or strips. I must admit that I had help in building my own hulls, and I don't know much about the building skill required for the Blade. So I think I will pass this question on to somebody more knowledgable.

Apart from the hull all parts are bought of respected suppliers. I don't advice anyone making their own boards and rudders. It takes some effort to get them right and companies like AHPC sell top quality products for extremely attractive prices. I payed some 425 USD for a pair of carbon rudders. (I've used the lastest exchange rate for EURO-Dollar which is above 120 %.


-3- Is it "hard" to build one of these?

It is hard on the amount of spare time you have left. Building the platform takes time. No first timer does it under 200 hours. On the money front, you save quite a bit on designs in the 13500 USD range. I spend this on extra goodies. Tooling ? I know a machined router was handy but not necessary. Alot of glue clamps and then the normal tools. Nothing really special. Ohh a second pair of hands. Apart from that a firm commitment to work on the hulls regulary. And to work with an eye for getting it right to achieve the best result. Some people think this is very hard, others think it is so much fun that have build 7 platforms since the first one. Depends mostly on your character.


-4- Where would I source a mast from? Beams, rudder setup, etc..?

This is no problem, you can source them either through or at the F16 class or local suppliers.

Mast : Either carbon (F16 class can help you here) or alu (from AHPC or Dynautic ; idenical sections from the same batch)

Beams : any major alu tube supplier. Or make them yourself from carbon. Can be had from AHPC or Dynautic as well.

Rudder setup : you have a few options here. Dotan, Stealth, AHPC or again Dynautic. But you could also use Hobie FX-one or I-17 rudders; not adviced due to weight considerations though.

Boards, Again, AHPC, Stealth, Dynautic.

Don't worry about this gear. I payed (at the then going exchange rate between EURO and Dollar) about 1700,- US$ for the complete daggerboard and ruddersetup including everything from (carbon-kevlar) joystick to pintles. My stocks are carbon and so are my rudderblades. I couldn't even get an normal glass-alu setup for this little with any of the other suppliers.

All the other gear is pretty much harken or ronstan and cen be ordered or bought from any local supplier. That is what I did. Both companies has good quality control and a very good global dealor network.

Sails ; Buy them directly in Australia; There good sails and very cost effective as well. To name but one : Glenn Ashby has a sailmaking business in Aus right now and he knows the Taipan mast section very well. He has been champ on this design several time even recently as last year if I remember correctly.


>>Sorry for all the questions, your help is appriciated!

I hope this helps.

With kind regards,

Wouter

Theo,

As far as building a Blade goes I don't see the wood working skills required as anything all that special. As Wouter put it it is more related to the persons character.

If a person likes to be reasonably accurate and is willing to take the time to be accurate. If that same person has the quality of perseverance then not only would that person find it easy but also quite enjoyable.

When writing the building instructions I've tried to approach it from the perspective of someone that has not built before. So there are more than 40 pages of instructions explainig the process in detail with over 50 small colour photos. I took over 200 photos when building the prototype and selected the ones that best illustrated the process for the building instructions. So they should be fairly easy to follow.

If you are seriously considering building a Blade send me a private email and we will work out the best way of walking you through the process so you can determine if it is something that you want to get into.

Regards,
Phill