Controversial Topic of the Week

If you consider the marketing however it is very misleading to new sailors when they look at a manufacturers range of boats and assume they've sold loads.. they then buy one of that manufacturers boats because they obviously build good ones because they've sold lots...

I think you'd be surprised at how many club sailors aren't aware of this practice.....

In classes I've been involved with, the number is issued to the builder before measurement, normally well beforehand. Apart from anything else, as people have indicated, many classes require the sail number to be engraved or otherwise attached to the hull, so the builder has to know it early on. 

That's vey suprising as this thread has shown - just a modicum of investigation reveals numerical floors everywhere. I think most people would be aware SMODs with number based names start with their names number first and its face smackingly obvious that not all home built boats get finished.

I never said the sail numbers didn't indicate numbers of boats built.... just don't give an accurate figure. If this is anybody's suprise then it is me who is shocked. But then I was shocked when people watched Big Brother, voted for New Labour twice, ever bought a packet of Super Noodles or that flavoured water and cried uncontrollable tears for the demise of the Princess of Wales. British people are if nothing else, interesting.

A thread on a class message board isn't representative of any official class line - A certain aardvark just wants more excuses to get high on epoxy and indulge his cherub/moth side ...

The class is very much taking the stability route a to build up the new boat numbers - it seems to be working as more double bottom boats are now finding their way onto the secondhand market and being snapped up by people upgrading from older designs.