Unstable foils

[pugwash]

Hi,

I leave my foils in a thermal bag under the top cover in the boat during the summer club racing season. They warp!

My rudder grows lumps each year and I have to cut it back to the rusting reinforcement, fill with epoxy and fair in the spring.

Plan A - buy a set of the new FRP class legal boards.

Three questions:

Where to get them?
Do they warp when hot?
Do they have steel reinforcement that rusts?

Plan B - keep my class legal boards at home in air conditioned comfort - use them for big regattas - buy a set of replica FRP boards from Intensity for club racing.

What to you guys think Plan A or B?

Puggy

 

[Deimos]

Hi,

I leave my foils in a thermal bag under the top cover in the boat during the summer club racing season. They warp!

My rudder grows lumps each year and I have to cut it back to the rusting reinforcement, fill with epoxy and fair in the spring.

Plan A - buy a set of the new FRP class legal boards.

Three questions:

Where to get them?
Do they warp when hot?
Do they have steel reinforcement that rusts?

Plan B - keep my class legal boards at home in air conditioned comfort - use them for big regattas - buy a set of replica FRP boards from Intensity for club racing.

What to you guys think Plan A or B?

Puggy

Stay class legal - that way you will be sailing a Laser against others who are also sailing Lasers. Why go off on a tangent and sail something different against the other Lasers (where your achievements and results will be totally meaningless).

Ian

 

[203]

The heat under a cover is amazing, here in North Carolina. We've had two months of 90+ weather ( Deg F ) and I use a PVC pipe to keep my cover at an angle to not collect water. The pipe now looks like a pretzel.

Keep your blades in a bag in your house. They like it where it's a normal temperature.

 

[Icedtea]

Stay class legal - that way you will be sailing a Laser against others who are also sailing Lasers. Why go off on a tangent and sail something different against the other Lasers (where your achievements and results will be totally meaningless).

Ian

What and spend twice as much money on something of the same quality?

 

[TonyB]

What and spend twice as much money on something of the same quality?

It amazes me that so many Laser sailors just don't get the one design principles that have made the class such a success, and want to throw it all away just to save a few dollars.

On the original question, if you absolutely must leave your foils with the boat rather than take them home each day, you have to keep them somewhere shaded. If you keep the boat on a dolly, keep your foils under the hull where they will get at least some protection from the weather without overheating.

Don't buy the replicas - buy a real set and look after them. Good foils are critical to good performance... maybe more so than the sail or any other gear.