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Dinghy popularity

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SoggyBadger View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote SoggyBadger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Dinghy popularity
    Posted: 06 Jul 13 at 11:14pm
Originally posted by RS400atC

After all people don't buy much plastic furniture do they?


I suspect there's a Kentish dwarf who's house is stacked our with it.
Best wishes from deep in the woods

SB

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yellowwelly View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 7:35am
so the solution is flat pack boats, piled high sold cheap, sold on the promise of a cheap hot dog at the end of it?  

I have the perfect themed names for the first two:

flöten - the singlehanded beach toy for one man (or woman) racing
jȇtsen - for family cruising and two person racing
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Do Different Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 8:34am
Back to the OP

"So why is the dinghy world so slow to develop new designs? Why do old designs prove popular time and time again"

The best answer for me was a page or two back.

Because it's not really about the gear, well not in the first instance, you get into dinghies in the UK because you like messing about in boats and don't mind too much getting cold n wet.

Okay after a while interest in the gear comes, but still underpinned by enjoyment of the activity.

Why are old designs still popular, because they work well over a wide range of conditions.

A lot of the newer designs have gone down the short and wide route which work well planing off wind with an asymmetric kite but not always so well in other areas.

Interestingly two new designs which have attracted some interest (not withstanding opinions on cost and gaining critical mass) have been the Icon and Alto. To my innocent eye these boats owe a lot to older principles.

  
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blaze720 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote blaze720 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 9:15am
To my innocent eye these boats owe a lot to older principles.

Absolutely !  Though most modern boats owe a lot to earleir ideas and designs.

 The Icon is a modified NS hull form, only 50+ years in the making and is just about as simple  a 2-sail design as you can get.  We thought  'Simple' however should not mean slow, heavy, boring or un-refined .... as a few of you are finding out either by trying one or seeing how they go.  

It is 'accessible' to virtually all who can sail reasonably well ... but an absolute joy if you get to know it well.   But heck we are biased so we would say that .  Would it be more attractive with a deck made from dead trees ?   Might be to some but we are back to (more expensive) 'furniture land' if we are not careful ! .... I don't subscribe to the currently fashionable 'decorative' use of carbon either as I prefer the more spartan look - ie 'if it is there it has got to have a practical purpose'.     So 'classical' old boats with all their character and woodwork get my vote but  'retro' woodwork or 'corsa' carbon on newer boats is a tad naff imho ! Wink

Mike L.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote scotsfinn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 9:27am
Well done Mike slap another loyal customer in the face! ..... My NAF carbon embellished boat has gained many admirers who appreciate the modern look with obviously efficient dynamics. Now the red taped sails and plain white on white colour scheme ...... A tad naf IMHO and a bit bit beach boat. Vile la differance  LOL

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Post Options Post Options   Quote RS400atC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 9:39am
I have to agree with Mike on the decorative carbon.
I have a motorbike with visible carbon on the mudguards, that is part of the special spec of that particular machine. An expensive toy when new. It's K reg. 1992. Carbon was new then (in consumer terms), now it's old hat.
Like the square headlight.
The bike has stood the test of time better than dinghies of that era perhaps.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote alstorer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 9:53am
Apparently a few years ago, during a spell when carbon production was struggling to meet demand (new CF lines are expensive) Hexcel (I work for them) had suppliers produce black glass fibre in order to fulfill orders for decorative CF (the customers, though perhaps not the end customers, knew what they were getting).
-_
Al
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Post Options Post Options   Quote yellowwelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 10:18am
Originally posted by scotsfinn

Well done Mike slap another loyal customer in the face! ..... My NAF carbon embellished boat has gained many admirers who appreciate the modern look with obviously efficient dynamics. Now the red taped sails and plain white on white colour scheme ...... A tad naf IMHO and a bit bit beach boat. Vile la differance  LOL


I think it's a dig at the RS400's recent facelift, tummy tuck and breast augmentation...
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Post Options Post Options   Quote scotsfinn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 11:42am
Al .... I don't think many on the forum mistake the decorative use of carbon for the real structural benefits of higher tech materials. Doesn't stop it looking good and up to the minute. ...... Or do most of us have alloy wheels on our cars because we all fully understand the benefits of unsprung  weight in a suspension set up .... Nothing wrong with a bit of bling now and again ..... Like pink solos which may become "the thing in sailing bling" due to YW's trend setting moves Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Bootscooter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 13 at 1:25pm
I'm putting some 1mm C/F sheet on the foredeck of the Yoof's newly refurbished OK (only smallish strips, under the mini-blocks by the mast and other wear areas).
With the Atlantic Grey top sides, the black fittings and the black ProGrip it's going to look the dog's danglies!
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