A neat bit of kit

The usual killer for RS slot gaskets is when people place the boat on the trolley incorrectly and then try and level it up on the shore. It bends and eventually the glue comes off.

Tips: (I've never seen a 500 but assume it's the same as a 200/400)

1) Use sikkaflex to glue it on. More flexible and lasts longer.

2) If the gasket is bent or distorted but still attached warm it up with a hairdryer or heat gun. It will return to the correct shape 9 times out of 10.

3) Look after the bottom of the boat. This means not dragging the boat across the trolley, loading it carefully etc.

 

Thanks for that Paramedic.

But it's more the victim of the beach we launch from, which frequently is
into and from a shore dump onto shingle so there isn't a lot of chance to
be to precious about the bottom of the boat, which in our case is pretty
scratched already.

I'll certainly try the hairgun approach, other than the factory fitted flusher
which came off pretty soon after we launched the boat for the first time,
all the ones I've fitted using the two part glue RS supply have stuck fast.

They just distort, fold over, then trap shingle which then gets lodged and
jams the plate (good fun finding out just as you've launched into a wavey
S'westerly).

Cobra (the company that build most of the worlds windsurfing boards
nowadays), use a gasket we sourced years ago from a company in
Whitstable, but it also can be problematic. The monkeys at Cobra often
cut it against the grain which then makes it too stiff to operate the plate.

The reason I mention them, they showed their stuff to RS (I guess RS are
thinking of having their boats made there).

I think the best system that was ever used, was fitted to the Brand
Fanatics windsurfing boards in the early nineties, it functioned by two
pieces of fairly soft, but folded rubber with air trapped in the fold so as
the plate past, it compressed and reformed, the units were screwed in
place so could easily be removed and replaced without the necessity for
thixofix, Evostick or other messy 'orrible glues.

It's the year 2008 coming up shortly, why are we still messing with silly
glues, or is it that the sailing world is populated by ex glue sniffers eager
to re engage their habit ?

Edited by G.R.F

GRF, I'm trying to see your point. We have pro-grip that is at least 3 seasons old on our boat, and it still works fine.  Just sounds as if you didn't put it on properly..... About Dinghy classes being "stuck" in the past.  Our class isn't stuck in the 80's, it was designed in the 50's, and (we'd like to think) continues to evolve.  Can you show me the windsurfer with a gybing centreboard?  Rig that you adjust during racing?  Nah - cos the kit never gets that technical. The loads that most dinghies manage around a race course are substantially more than any windsurfer ever will, so the kit needs to be a bit heftier to deal with that......Perhaps that's why new ideas (with less wear and tear) make it into the windsurfing fraternitiy before the greater mechanical test of dinghies? The glue for the slot gaskets isn't the real problem for me - it's how you keep the dacron from deforming...now that would be a nice invention...!!

 

Originally posted by ifoxwell I don’t know why you guys are giving GRF such a hard time. So he is out spoken and opinionated, arnt we all sometimes,  but he is also talking some sense. Listen to what he says, digest and disregard what you don’t agree with like we all do with everyone we read.

I agree - we are in danger of getting more than a bit 'precious' about our sport here.

I've succesfully progripped my boat more than once, but it took two of us an afternoon to do two boats. What a pain. However, a freind (a skilled joiner so no DIY idiot) did his recently and it fell off three weeks later -  a glue issue I suspect but as GRF is saying- there just shouldn't be any issue - with modern glues it should be virtually impossible to get it wrong.

When done properly progrip is great - look at a Winder fireball - the deck moulding is recessed and shaped so that the progrip sits flush with the adjacent deck - it's also stuck on with Dunlop Thixofix and I've never known it to come off - on any boat they've made. So done well, it's simple, effective and the sort of attention to detail that GRF rightly thinks others should emulate.

Why do you want to shoot him down for saying so?

 

I was also lucky enough to own both a Mistral SST and several Fanatics. The fanatic slot flusher was fantastic - why the hell dinghy manufacturers don't use it is beyond me.

 

Originally posted by G.R.F back then I was fairly handy at racing and we were being bombarded by keen dinghy sailors coming over to show us how to do it properly (They failed). .

Yep you were fairly handy G but as I recall the batch of ex-dinghy sailors who came over were pretty good (Roger, Lester and others) and largely kicked your arse!  I also seem to recall myself and brother both going to the Mistral worlds in  Gran Canaria at Mistral / Carlsberg expense by beating you and other 'pure windsurfers' at the qualifying circuit! Maybe you were past your best by then, or maybe the windsurfing skills and the tactical nouse of dinghy sailors were too much. Perhaps you enjoyed too much of the sponsors product to remember accurately. Or maybe that's me - hmm that is a disturbing but highly possible scenario!

Edited by Hector