RS400 proposed changes

Originally posted by RS400atC Nylon seems a curous choice of material? Swells when wet Notoriously difficult to glue High thermal expansion

Good for incontinence pants though

At time of writing...most popular other topics are fast pins, best photo of the year, front and rear drysuit, and slolo fleet still growing. Strikes me that people are thrashing around for something to pitch at. At the end of the day, the 400 is still a highly regarded boat (I'll have one one-day), the old boats still seem to be really competitive (look at the winner of the inlands), probably more people sail/race RS boats than any other adult class (Lasers??!) and thats voting with feet. TBH, a lot of the comment here may not be coming from people with any interest in the class...time to start a more interesting thread perhaps...?

Originally posted by 2547 No engineer would use nylon in that way for all the above reasons ...  When he says bulkhead do we assume sleeve? When he says inertia do you think he means point loading? The whole episode sounds a right dogs breakfast.

Thats a load of balls to be honest. Yes nylon absorbs water but depending on the type, only 0.5-2$ by weight and generally speaking this only leads to a change in size of about 0.7%. All this is partially counteracted by the fact that the nylon loses the water it absorbs as quick as it gains it therefore although it may absorb a miniscule amount of water from the air and even when you are sailing (maybe 1-3 hours a week) as soon as its in a lower humidity environment it will quickly return to normal.

Nylon has been used in many classes over the years due to its low cost and easy machining capabilities.

I personally wouldnt even blink an eyelid at using nylon for most applications on dinghies, especially if the coponents are designed properly to take into account the application it will be used for.

If and its a big if, nylon causes you problems then a change to another engineering plastic such as acetal (delrin) would be a slightly less cost effective solution that would perform just as well.



Dan

Sources .....im an engineer that deals with many plastics from day to day in medical applications.

As i probably helmed this thread off track and towards what names people are given by their wives, maybe i can steer it back on track. 

This depressing thread makes the 59er look like the greatest boat not to happen in the UK