D-Zero

I'm sure other excitable puppies have also been told that devil details will be released in due course- a team of highly experienced folks are beavering away so the questions we all have will be answered concisely and with accuracy from the off, no nasty surprises 6 months into potential ownership.... In the interim (and due to lack of photos) speculation and all other recurring generic themes seem appropriate discourse....

Edited by yellowwelly - 11 Feb 14 at 7:26pm

Dan's cat (developed along with Glenn Truswell) is a good bit more refined than the other roto-molded cats out there I'd say from what I saw at the LBS...just IMHO

Originally posted by yellowwelly Harken fit out.... ✔︎ Okay, so more news please... proper details, not rumours: - open or closed sailmakers? - carbon or alloy boom? - hull material? - gnav or normal kicker? - anticipated (not nail your balls to the wall) fitted hull weight for roof top analysis - foil material in build? cheers folks.

Evening all, apologies for tardiness in reply, been busy!
Can't reply to everything but will hopefully capture most stuff from a design perspective anyhow.
There are a few details to be finalised but watch this space or come and see us at the show.
So to answer a couple of questions:
It is predicated on a closed sailmaker for the time being - although I understand the D One has just changed..
Carbon boom
Normal Kicker
Weight TBC expected to be approx similar to orig boat which was 43kg bare hull - car topping was always high on the agenda, but may depend on the trolley weight. Could be lighter but we value robustness.
Foils will be similar layup to D One - epoxy glass carbon

The boat in the video is the original boat (not what you will see at the show) being sailed by Victor Teply. It has the very nice mk2 mast / sail combo that a few people have seen. The production boat will feature a very similar mast and sail in every way except that it will be a tracked sail. I am a purist and this was tough but there were a number of reasons for this, but they became overwhelming when they facilitated doing away with camber inducers / doing away with trick gooseneck systems / doing away with keeping sailmaking consistency on the sleeve attachment / keeping the sail off the ground / perhaps tempting more people out of their solos.

Re the mainsheet - somebody correctly identified that the original system was a product of getting mid cockpit sheeting ergonomics over a sheeting angle up to 15 deg, not necessarily using vang, all from a wishbone boom. The intent with the D Zero is to have the laser style aft bridle and mid cockpit sheeting - less parts, less cost less friction. However we have retained the architecture to allow sheeting in the under floor fashion so may well offer the sheeting of the original as an option if you don't mind adding blocks. The extra friction is barely noticeable in the light, more a factor on the sheeting rate on windy reaches, or when getting the last bit of sheet in upwind with no vang on. And you don't have a bit of mainsheet from mid boom to ratchet (Which to be honest shouldn't be a problem with decent technique) The current boat doesn't suffer from mainsheet catching around the corner and neither should this one.  I will use the "new" system but could see why peeps might want the "punk" system.

My personal feeling is that you don't sail a boat that you have to get wet to the waist to launch, and has less than 40cm depth, with a view to staying dry. If you want your sailing dry there are a plenty of alternatives out there. Or golf.

I took more technical and design risk on the original than I would have liked to on someone else's account for a single prototyping iteration, but was very lucky that most of it worked really well. In the intervening years I did a lot of sailing, got a lot of feedback, a lot of details have been changed, been tried out and generally developed and de-risked. I have sailed the original boat on sea, lakes rivers estuaries and even around the Isle of Wight with no support, went fishing with the wife, and it took it all in its stride. The D Zero aims to roll all the lessons learned into an improved grown up package that reflects all of the learning and experience that has been picked up on the way, whilst keeping honest to the original intent. I accept that it won't (can't) be everybodys cup of tea, and make no apologies for that, but hope that the versatility and other good stuff will appeal to plenty of you.

Cheers

Dan

Hi.
Maybe I was being a bit glib re: wetness.
I don't see it as being any wetter to sail than a laser. If you discount launching, then inland you will stay prettying dry unless it's windy when you would get wet in a solo as well.
Test sails will be available through Rodney at Suntouched pretty soon.
Dan

Originally posted by Blue One Hi Dan, can I be the first on the forum to commend you on the boat. The concept, design and build look spot on. It's a boat that deserves to sell in large numbers. My only small concern is your target market, you talked about tempting people out of their solos, but your own statement about " wet sailing" would rule out 90% of inland solo sailors. Or are you going to target the younger laser/radial market? Good luck with it anyway and I look forward to having a close look at it at the dinghy show on the Sunday. Oh and any chance of a test sail some time