Laurent Giles 'Jolly Boat' Exeter |
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RS200 |
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Mark Aged 42
Groupie Joined: 24 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 98 |
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Topic: RS200 Posted: 11 Oct 21 at 7:59am |
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My club has no adult 2 man class, but I have a hankering for a 2 adult boat for me and Mrs MA42 to race in the occaisional club handicap event. Lasers will remain the weapons of choice.
So, theres an RS200 for sale near me, and that class does have a fine reputation. Does the RS200 have any well known problems with the hull or rig? What to look for when inspecting it?
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Mozzy
Far too distracted from work Joined: 21 Apr 20 Online Status: Offline Posts: 209 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 11 Oct 21 at 8:22am | |
Old deck, look for longitudinal crack on the underneath of the hull running where the toe straps are. Also check the deck for flex where the toe straps attach, either or both of these is a sign of the skin coming away from the stringers and is quite an expensive repair. Or, you might find some obvious changes in gel colour on the underside from the front of the case going back where the repair has previously been done, which is probably a good sign for an old boat as I've not heard of them going twice!
Check the boom for cracks at the kicker fitting. High loads an a bit of corrosion between steel and alloy here make it a common failure point. The old poles can wear through at the bow where they are strapped down with the steel band. On the new deck boats (1600+) check the rudder gudgeons have been bolted on not screwed. Also check where it hangs on the trolley arms as the hull can crack at the gunwall and flair out (the older hulls had rib of reinforcement here, which also stopped the boats slipping off the trolley, shame that feature was lost). Generally, they are a pretty robust boat and even a very old hull, with some new fittings and ropes, and attention to settings will be competitive. Luke just won the endeavour with a 21 year old boat. Edited by Mozzy - 11 Oct 21 at 8:24am |
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Mark Aged 42
Groupie Joined: 24 Aug 11 Online Status: Offline Posts: 98 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 7:52am | |
Mozzy, thanks for this info. Keep up the good work on your YT channel, its very educational and interesting.
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Sussex Lad
Far too distracted from work Joined: 08 Jun 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 359 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 8:30am | |
Had one of the old ones briefly a few years ago but decided to go back to symmetric.
So apart from it being an assy which didn't suit us the three things that I found to be irritations: It does have an open transom but don't let that fool you. If you get water in it it will take quite a while to get rid of. Inefficient bailer with a bowl shaped cockpit. So capsizes, hove to between races and launching (water comes in through the internal bung if you forget to put it in), and big seas. Spinnaker chute was an afterthought during design so it's a bit tight and does take a lot of wear because it sticks up. Ours was coming apart at the seams and was near impossible to repair. Wear and tear on spinny resulting. Also extra wear and tear on the foot of the jib. The RS 200 was advertised as a lightweight boat at the time with some ridiculous weight quoted on their website. Turns out the weight quoted was for an unfitted hull and the actual hull weight was not particularly light. RS have since amended their advertising. No doubt good technique and work arounds help for some of these issues Edited by Sussex Lad - 12 Oct 21 at 9:06am |
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 10:46am | |
For an asy boat, they are terribly slow. Even slower than their PY suggests. Their PY and reputatiuon is boosted by many very good younger sailors sailing them in strong breeze. The 400 is a far better boat unless you are on the small side and want to sail in near gales. There was an article in the RS class mag some years back showing the build process for a 200. The words 'brush and bucket' are apt. A lot of these boats are overweight, leak,have gone soft etc. They used to be inexpensive and many of them have had hard lives doing a lot of road miles on the circuit. The sails have been upgraded in recent years. RS Rudder blades of a certain vintage had a rep for cracking, even breaking below the stock.
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L123456
Really should get out more Joined: 30 Apr 12 Online Status: Offline Posts: 500 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 3:52pm | |
Given they are very heavy why did they go gunwhale hung trolley? They all seem to deform on the load point.
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L123456
Really should get out more Joined: 30 Apr 12 Online Status: Offline Posts: 500 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 4:10pm | |
Good point the website still quotes 78kg for the hull weight but that must be before the fit it out and add the pole, thwart etc ... not what most of us would consider the definition of hull weight. Says on their website that the sailing weight is 114kg so that is another 36kg of stuff on top of the hull ... For an occasional 2 hander I'd go with a National 12 or Tasar, both far more pleasing to sail and a lot easier to pull up the beach afterwards. Edited by L123456 - 12 Oct 21 at 4:12pm |
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ClubRacer
Far too distracted from work Joined: 26 Sep 15 Online Status: Offline Posts: 210 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 5:35pm | |
The 200 PY isn't actually that good in breeze, short hull, draggy main, small spinnaker and fairly heavy hull make it hard work upwind and slow down. Ever thought the youths that sail the boat well in wind are...you know...pretty good? Its only sweet spot is the medium range between 5-10 knots when you're in full power mode. The gunwale hung trolleys are only an issue on the newer ones. The benefit of the gunwale hung when done right is it removes the dents you get on the bottom of the hull when sat on a cradle for years.
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eric_c
Far too distracted from work Joined: 21 Jan 18 Online Status: Offline Posts: 382 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 5:57pm | |
A lot depends on what you will be race against, at some clubs you'll be in the 'medium' fleet mostly racing against singlehanders. What courses you get will make a difference too, if you get a lot of reaches at just the right angle and no proper leeward legs, any asy suddenly looks good. If you get a lot of runs, boats of similar PY and a proper kite will go direct and be all over you. Some boats don't really play nicely in a mixed handicap race, IMHO the best reason to be buying one is to race against others of the same design. Of course if you really don't care about the results, you may find any boat with a kite is more fun than one without. But then there are many other classes in the genre for less cash, if that matters? Making a boat that size and weight with the gunwhales not up to a gunwhale-hung trolley sounds like an epic fail.
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JimC
Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6649 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 12 Oct 21 at 6:19pm | |
What a remarkably negative thread. The 200 is a sweet little thing, if rather too small for my over substantial frame at the front end.
Its the most popular two handed class in the country for good reason. Its in the nature of the beast for a low powered boat that must be little over 12 foot waterline not to be warp speed fast, but its the quickest two hander in its size range on the PY list, and quicker than a N12, even a Lark and quite a few other longer boats. Indeed there are precious few sit on the side pole kite boats of any length that are much faster. As for the PY, due to the large numbers racing its one of the best attested numbers out there. |
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