Dinghy hull weights

Don't make the assumption that all members of a class - even a SMOD - will be the same weight...

Blazes have been in epoxy for over a decade now - there is no reason therefore why a 10 year old boat should still not be on standard weight – every hull is weighted and correctors added to bring up to standard weight. It might be of interest to some to know that for more than half the life of the Blaze class now epoxy has been used.  They have always been fully foamed in terms of construction as well  in both polyester and epoxy and don't generally 'go soft' with time,   Polyester boats, and this includes earlier Blazes can put on weight through moisture take-up. 

But not all will have done so if they are regularly washed out with fresh water and thoroughly dried over a few weeks (try a boiler house - it really does work !!) .  The best polyester boats can still be around standard weight today - and the nationals results in recent years do include polyester examples right to the very top.  Are there a few aging polyester clunkers' around ? - almost certainly just as there are in most classes.  Some could be 'bought back' with a bit of  TLC and can be become a very cost-effective entry boat for those prepared to put in some effort.

Not used for the Blaze at any point but 'vinyl-ester' has some of the characteristics of epoxy and is superior to polyester.  As with epoxy it does not effectively take-up moisture over time and is a good compromise for some classes.  I'm told, though don't know this for certain, that the RS 400 (and possibly 200) have more recently switched from polyester to vinyl-ester for these good reasons amongst others.   Closer to home Icon was originally made in vinyl-ester but the new Rondar version/derivative of that boat will apparently be in epoxy.  The new boat is primarily intended for the N.American market and the use of epoxy, while not strictly technically needed, does position it as more of a premium product there.  

Edited by Cirrus - 24 Aug 16 at 4:13pm

Originally posted by transient Thanks for that Mr Cirrus. Still leaves a couple of questions though. I know the minimum weight is 72kgs but what is standard weight? and are the modern ones made to the same weight tolerance as thew 10yr old ones or are the built closer to 72kgs now?

To my mind the main reason boat weights are so opaque is that its surprisingly troublesome to organise weighing a reasonable sample of boats accurately.

Not much point in getting tetchy about it.

Edited by JimC - 25 Aug 16 at 2:57pm

I have, today, more accurately weighed my Topper Spice (346, built by White Formula in, I think, 1998) and, all up, it weighs 152kg (+/- 2kg I'd say). That is 134kg for the hull and mast, with rigging, jib and kite onboard and 18kg for the other bits (mainsail, boom/mainsheet tackle daggerboard and rudder assembly). A disappointing 20kg more than I hoped. I guess my 'not entirely watertight' hull will have absorbed a little H2O over the years but I can't believe 20 litres. 

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 25 Aug 16 at 8:20pm