Fireball Questions

I'm minded to have a look at bringing this old hulk up to date with an Assym set up and I've been looking around for some old mingers to have a mess about with, but I notice some seem to have a hole up front for the chute, but others don't so what's going on here?

There are also some that seem to be at pains to crack on about narrow bows, so that must mean there are wide bows, what's all that about, anyone care to give me a potted history, in my day they were a *yuppie boat towed around by Escort Mexico's and avoiding the sea at all costs.

The reason for this, we find ourselves my new crew and I, too short and too light for the jolly old Alto of joy, have no interest whatsoever in revisiting the RS500, especially having heard it's history, but want a single trap assym with centreboard which of course there are none.

So a Fireball with a proper modern rig on it might suit the bill, no I don't care what they think since I won't be racing them, they should have done this long ago.

*cept they didn't call them yuppies.

Edited by iGRF - 21 May 13 at 11:07pm

Actually was a river boat. Fireball 1 was launched at Trent Valley sailing club. The original photos are still in the club scrapbook. We used to spend ages trawling through them as kids.
I believe the asymmetric was tried by winders and found to he no faster and less versatile. There was an article in Y and Y about it at the time. The rest of the rig looked standard from what I can remember and am sure there was not a canting pole system.



Edited by andymck - 22 May 13 at 1:12am

Putting a pivoting centreboard into one of those double bottom boats would be a pretty nasty job because you need, of course, to make it 100% watertight and access would be very difficult. You'd really need to split hull and deck, and by the time you've done all that, well, you might almost as well build a new boat.

I suggest that for the original frankenboat concept a 470 might be a better donor than a Fireball.

Hi Grf
Stick a trapeze on am old rs 400.centreboard, asymetric and old one getting cheap.
with the large beam making up for your weight and stature.

If GRF already has the FB, then it makes it by far the best choice to butcher, surely?

Somehow, scow bowed boats with a bowsprit always look somewhat strange, but plenty of the yankee scows have them, so they must work.

The FB's tried it in the early days, but I think there was a lack of true understanding of what makes am assy boat work well, and how much bigger the kite needs to be than a sym one for it to actually be faster round the course.