Phantom Purchasing Guidelines

Originally posted by Steve411 Did you see some of the literature on the Phantom stand?]

No, I've learned that without waterproofs, it's best to steer clear of that stand, they are normally gorging themselves on something messy/likely to squirt over you if you get too close... Looked like they had cow pie again this year..

Originally posted by iGRF I saw Maxi at the Dinghy show, he'd fallen over, but unfortunately there was no one available on the Phantom stand to come over and pick him up, (somebody had probably bought another cake to the stand) so I pulled up a chair and had a chat...

And I was still taller than you

Sorry Graham where normal your not. just short and to light.Simple.
Ask Maxi he knows everything.

Originally posted by jeffers Originally posted by maxibuddah Originally posted by jeffers Back on topic..... If you decide to go for a Vandercraft boat watch out for the side deck going soft, there were quite a few at Hunts that suffered because the bracing in the tanks as not in the optimal place and the deck developed a lot of flex. Ovi sorted this out though. Aside from that they seem to be every bit as fast as the Ovi (with equivalent equipment on board). Actually Paul, Vandercraft sorted that out, not ovi. It was sorted by about boat 1160 or so (well that's the last one I know that did it anyway). The problem came because of the joint between basically two flatish sheets of foam sandwich and the curve joint. Vandercraft solved it by putting a formed piece behind and bonding it in place. This repair can be done retrospectively though it's not easy. You only need to press on the area where you would sit and if it flexes stupidly there's a problem. If there are cracks in the gelcoat it doesn't mean there's a problem with flexing, you need to push it. Mine has cracks along that area but it is still rigid as anything. Good to know that. The guys at Hunts who had Vandercrafts said it was a perennial issue (one them had 3 hulls under warranty precisely because of this, the side deck flexed alarmingly even when pushed by hand on one of the hulls). Good to know the guide hull number where it was rectified by the builder.

Well let's put it this way Paul, I know that 1160 had the problem but not sure about later boats. I know that 1175 doesn't do it so somewhere close to 1160 was the last to experience it. I guess it done of things that take a while to come through the system and of course a while load more were built in the interim.