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Today was a good day.

X-mas came early and I had 2 presents in my inbox :

First

Dynautics Blade F16 hulls (EU)










Secondly

Vectorworks Marine Blade F16 hulls (US)








Wouter

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I like that red one! looks kickass!!!!

Wow, those are some amazing looking pics! Cant wait to see one up close =)

Are both hulls (Dynautic and Vector) the same exact design? Are both built via the same methods?

>>Are both hulls (Dynautic and Vector) the same exact design?

Pretty much. Lets say in the area of shape yes. In the area of where the beam bolt holes are located, I'm not sure. Look at this from this way; both builders used their own facilities to build the same design. Much like a Hobie 16 build in US and France. They are identical from a design point of few (fittings, sails, mast etc) but may differ in the size and threading of the bolts and knots that are used.

>>Are both built via the same methods?

In the pictures :

The Vectorworks Marine hulls were made from glass and Dynautics hulls were made from ply and epoxy.

Isn't it cool that Phill designed a way in which homebuilders can produce truly modern hull shapes in ply ?

For a long while it was regarded that such a thing was impossible !

I believe Dynautic is considering building in glass for ease of production.

Wouter

To whom does one talk to in order to get Blade 16 pricing? Will Vectorworksrmarine sell the hulls direct or complete boats only? Who has financed the manufacture of the molds?

Anyone know what current pricing for the Taipan F16 is FOB
westcoast?


Trying to get the lay of the land and discover options to the Nacra/Hobie route of cat sailing here in the lower central plains states.

For pricing on the Taipan F16 just email Greg Goodall directly and he'll give you a quote. Sales at this point are factory direct. Another option is a second hand Taipan (also from the factory)--they are such unbelievably well build boats that "used" ones are as strong and fast as ever. In fact, if you look at the australian race results, low sail numbers are often very succssful (some are even early timber models).

So just email:

ahpc@ahpc.com.au


They'll give you all the info you need. If you're in Tulsa, a Gulf port destination may be preferable and not necessarily any more shipping cost.

Matt McDonald of VectorWorks Marine.

mail him at : MMcDonald@VectorworksMarine.com

To get some more info on the company go to : http://www.vectorworksmarine.com/




They will sell complete boats, ready to go, however this does not answer wether they also sell the hulls/platforms seperately. I think you will have to put the last question to Matt himself. Personally I wouldn't know why they wouldn't sell any combination of (spare) parts. But again, only Matt can give you the final answer on that.





Vectorworks Marine (VM). Actually this is a company of some size : http://www.vectorworksmarine.com/about.asp

They can do up to 70 feet laminate stuff.

They created a computer based (CAD-CAM) copy of the Blade F16 hulls as designed by Phill Brander and Ian Markovich and produced their own mould from this. The first serie of 5 boats is currently produced by them using this mould. All is financed by VM.





No but try to get it factory direct, saves money. You are gonna get git by the weak dollar though. The Aus$ to Euro exchange is pretty constant and we all know what the Euro to US$ has done over the last period. Like Eric says contact Goodall Yacht sails at AHPC@ahpc.com.au and ask them.

One option you may want to consider is Jeff Woodards Taipan 4.9 + spi :

You can see his add in the classified section of catsailor.com : http://www.catsailor.com/cs_classifieds.html



If you want a Taipan then this is the best USA deal you can get by far !

You will have to pick it up in Georgia but you wouldn't be able to get such a young second hand boat for that price any time soon. Not even when getting one from Australia.

Don't wait too long as Taipans never last long in the classified sections.




Good luck.

P.S. I think Kirt Simmons and his Taipan spi are pretty close to you in Arkansas. So if you want a test ride before deciding I would advice you contact him. Beware though, the old saying has proven to be as potent in modern times as it was in the 90's. "Don't test sail a Taipan unless you are prepared to buy one". Only thing that changed is that the Taipan has competition in its own field now. Going on the comments by test sailor on the Blade it appears that the saying holds when replacing "Taipan" with "Blade". Not really surprising though, they share the same wingmast rig and that is at least halve of the pleasure in sailing these boats.

Wouter

Thankyou all for your prompt and very informative responses to my questions.
I have received the following response from Matt McDonald, at Vectorworks Marine, which some may find of interest.
We will await futher announcements for the next batch of boats.

*********
Jim,

To answer your questions; Phill Brander designed this platform, and we have
signed an agreement with him to produce this design in composite here in the
US. We have constructed new molds to his specifications and have done the
laminate design to make this in composite. We will be selling complete
boats as well as components for the home builder as we have demand. We can
not sell molds as this would violate the copy write design from Phill. He
is selling plans, I believe now, to make a plywood home version.

The prototype is just being finished now, and a formal announcement of the
project will be coming out after its debut. This will include pricing and
the schedule of availability. Pricing will be competitive with the other
boats currently on the market similar in configuration.

There are a couple of guys from Tulsa that have been to our facility and
seen the work in process. There are also some really good reports coming
from everyone who has sailed the original wood prototype in Australia. This
should be a really great platform.

Thanks for your interest, and we will add your name to the list of people to
contact when this comes out if you wish.

Matt

Matt said they were looking somewhere around $11,000. He might have said 11,500, It was noisy & I was exhausted from a hard day's racing.
Cheaper than a F-18 by several thousand dollars. For lighter teams, probably a perfect choice.
I believe he said all of the first production boats had already been promised or sold. If you want one you better get out your checkbook to get to the head of the line.
If what I saw Matt and Gina sail this weekend is any indication of what the boat is capable of, no one could be disappointed in the Blade 16.
Cary Palmer
Commodore Fleet 141
www.seacats.org