I think the situation is vastly different in the rest of the world to what we experience here in the UK.

To a great extent we are spoiled by having several high quality cat, boat and yacht manufacturers based here. In addition we have good dealerships for those boats not built or fitted out here.

On each occasion that I have bought a new boat, whether UK built or imported via a Dealer, the boat has either been as perfect as I would expect or has been rectified to my satisfaction by the Dealer or the builder. UK bought boats don't tend to be shipped huge distances and we still tend to collect them ourselves from the builder/dealer.

In Will's case it's highly unlikely that VWM would have shipped the boat with a defect. When you're fitting out it's almost impossible to miss something like that.

I would have thought that Will has a case against the shipper in UK law but I don't know the specifics in his situation in the USA.

Wayne,
It's 1930 miles from my house to Vectorworks Marine, and 3088 kilometers from Vectorworks Marine to my house. I would have liked to have driven out there and picked up the boat on a trailer and driven home. That would have been at least a week and many hotels with my boat fending for itself while I slept is some strange town. There was a time when I liked to hold small business's nose to the grind stone and caused a few of them to decide to go out of business. My high achievement was an argument with MCI about being double charged for 'something' on my phone bill. I won that one and they sent me a check for 75 cents times 2, (for 2 months). I cashed the check. In two months I'll be sixty, I ordered this boat in May, I can usually sail up into November. I took about a dozen pictures until I got one that really showed off the 'dimple'. Had the hull not been so shiny, I'd probably not have seen it. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to have a boat with a small blemish than to be waiting 10 days as the hull goes to Titusville, seven days waiting for someone to fix it up so it looks good, and another ten days while it traveles back home, enduring what possible misfortune along the way? I for one don't have time to worry about the imperfections of others when so much fun beckons to me from my not-yet-assembled F-16. A quote from Matt McDonald last year, 'you probably won't know if you like this boat until you get a ride on one'. I went to Titusville to get that ride in March, but didn't decided until May 2 to buy the boat. It was kind of difficult for me to decide but at this point I'm quite pleased.
Will Lints

I too travelled to Florida last March for a test ride on a Blade. Was impressed & had to buy one. Choose the kevlar outer & carbon foils options. It was shipped halfway around the globe and arrived in Dubai a week ago in perfect condition. No complaints about VWM from me!

That is VERY nice Davidh. What sort of cats are you sailing against, and are you mainly solo or two-up?

David,

May I invite you to place your flag on our world membership map at :

http://www.frappr.com/formula16classgroup

It shows were we all are. Currently 71 members did so.

Best of luck and enjoyment with your new boat.

Is the Spitfire catamaran of Peter and Carol Eldridge at the same water venue as you will keep your boat ?

Wouter

WOW! My decals are travelling the world with the Blade boats! im so proud!

Anyway, seems like the Dubai boat has the snuffer further foward now. Nice! I like that setup, leaves less room for the spinnaker to get tangled on the bridles.

Enjoy the boats gents

Hi & thanks for the welcome.

We sail from Jebel Ali Sailing Club. Currently 3 spitfires, 2 shadows, 5 F18's (cirrus, tiger & nacra), Topcat K1's, H16's & a Tornado. Peter E owns one of the Spitfires.

Plan to sail 2up with the wife, at 64kg, just too light on my own, but will give it a go. Even 2up, we'll be light at 109kg. Originating from Oz, as long as my wife can hang in there, I'm not phased with the strong winds.

In Dubai, summers almost at an end (summer=45degC, not many people get out on the water in summer) and the racing will be starting up over the next few weeks.

David

3 Spits, 5 F18's and your F16, that is some nice sailing/racing fleet you got there. First in wins all the way. At your 109 kg weight doublehanded you'll rock in the light stuff but really need to use every trick in the depower book when it is heavy. Spinnaker riding however will be your strong point by far, I'm jalous of that.

Best of luck !

Wouter

Hi David,

welcome to F16, that is a round about way of getting a Australian designed boat via the USA <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. Hope you get back to sail in OZ one day, by then the Blade will hopefully be made in OZ. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Don't worry about your weight, I was cleaned up by a two up Taipan with about that weight on board at the states, it's fast.

Regards Gary. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hi Gary,
Not worried by the lack of weight, I've always had this problem. Used to race TheMightyHobie18(always on min crew weight) at Toukley and always done well. In Dubai, and around the world, sailing H16's on min weight & Topcat k1's at a very light weight, we've always done well in 20kn+. I suspect it is more us sailing consistently across a larger wind range and others starting to struggle in 20kn+. I've read some posts here talking ideal weights for 1up and 2up and to be honest disagree. If it's ok to sail 1up with a weight around 100kg, why would it not be ok to be around the same weight 2up. Just think....4 hands rather than 2 and more weight distribution options. On the extreme days (very rare in dubai) we also have the option to leave the jib at home (I don't think there is a rule opposing this). Also, GlennA cut the sails for our weight, and the average wind in Dubai (10kn). I think we'll be competitive in most conditions. We'll be on the water next week, less talk & more sailing!

Regards
David

Wayne,

Whilst I don't believe that we should "censor" what we post here, it's very easy for a forum like this to create a misleading impression of the number of problems, as generally people only post when they've got an issue to talk about. Our success as a class is very much tied to the success of the manufacturers supporting it and whilst we should not cover up for bad workmanship or bad service (and as far as I know we don't have any of that in the F16 world) it's worth bearing in mind the overall impression created by discussing the issues in public.

When comparing the price of boats with the price of cars it's worth remembering that cars come from the mass-manufacturing world that we've all become used to. Not only does this give huge economies of scale, but it also allows for far more testing - car manufacturers can afford to write-off more cars in the testing of one model than any manufacturer has ever sold F16s. Buying a catamaran is more like buying a brand new house than buying a car. When buying a new house, a small number of "snagging" issues are expected. The key question is whether the issues are dealt with well. As far as I'm aware, the level of post-sales support from the F16 manufacturers (and importers) is nothing short of excellent.

As far as damage in transit, the issue should definitely be taken up with the carrier, although it somewhat depends on the terms of shipping. There are car body-shops that get a decent proportion of their work from sorting out dings in brand new cars. The reason your brand new car that you collect from the local dealer doesn't have a ding in its fender (is that the wing or the bumper ? <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ) may be because it's already been to the body shop...

Paul

Sounds ok : Stealth #534 (Bahrt Luis') & #536 (ours, 1/2 carbon version, built Nov 2004) were officially weighed at Texel 2005 on a very impressive set of 3 load cells with digital read-out. 534 was 116kg & 536 was 125kg. My guess would be that good ones will weigh in the region of 116kg, others will just be more.

cheers
Pete McD