2010 Laser Performance Sunfish

matias

Member
I own a new 2010 sunfish and have some questions about the new parts
the new tiller is a single aluminium tube, it seems a bit flexible when going downwind
my question is, Is it as resistant as the wishbone type tiller? or is it a bit softer?

and the new GRP daggerboard is great, it gives you a lot more lift and makes you point much higher than the previous daggerboard but it looks very very fragile. same question, is it as resistant as the older one?

Matias Jochamowitz
 
Good questions. I have not sailed the new aluminum tiller but I hear that, like the wood tillers with the standard tiller straps, they do flex a bit. The twin tube (aka: wishbone) tiller is definitely stiffer. I have one and I love it, especially upwind in chop in heavy air where you are making a lot of small tiller adjustments as you steer thru the chop. I understand that the twin tube tiller is no longer in production and when you can find one, they sell for anywhere from $175 - $220.

The FRP Sunfish daggerboard is fast, and they have internal metal reinforcing rods that run most of the length of the board, but end a few inches short of the tip. Accordingly, the tips tend to break off in board tip vs. submerged rock incidents. I have repaired about 6 of these tip damaged boards. That said, if you are careful and raise the board when you near shore and don't stand on the tips righting a capsized boat, you can use them for years with no problems. When they came on the scene, they improved the
performance of the Sunfish considerably and made the class much more one-design for racing.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
I agree with the first paragraph of the previous post. But to prevent confusion about the second paragraph, I think that Matias is referring to the (2010) Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) board. The board that Alan is writing about is the polyurethane foam board with the vertical metal rods for reinforcement. The company that made these boards decided not to continue producing them. Hence, LaserPerformance had to go elsewhere to get daggerboards made. See:
http://uk.laserperformance.com/news...-simon-cooke-to-launch-infused-foils-globally

The newfangled GRP boards were 'introduced' at the 2010 Worlds in Italy. Somewhat of a (public relations) disaster, because they didn't fit in the slot:
http://www.sunfishforum.com/showthread.php?t=33275

Presumably, that problem has been fixed by now.

Alan, and many others, have pointed out that the polyurethane boards chip quite easily. I don't know how well the GRP boards will hold up. Any input from happy or unhappy users?

PS: Complaints about the Laser version of GRP daggerboards (made by the same company, AFAIK) can be found on the Laser Forum.
 
I agree with the first paragraph of the previous post. But to prevent confusion about the second paragraph, I think that Matias is referring to the (2010) Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) board. The board that Alan is writing about is the polyurethane foam board with the vertical metal rods for reinforcement. The company that made these boards decided not to continue producing them. Hence, LaserPerformance had to go elsewhere to get daggerboards made. See:
http://uk.laserperformance.com/news...-simon-cooke-to-launch-infused-foils-globally

The newfangled GRP boards were 'introduced' at the 2010 Worlds in Italy. Somewhat of a (public relations) disaster, because they didn't fit in the slot:
http://www.sunfishforum.com/showthread.php?t=33275

Presumably, that problem has been fixed by now.

Alan, and many others, have pointed out that the polyurethane boards chip quite easily. I don't know how well the GRP boards will hold up. Any input from happy or unhappy users?

PS: Complaints about the Laser version of the GRP daggerboards can be found on the Laser Forum.
Thanks Wavedancer and Alan,
Yes, i was referring to tha GRP 2010 version introduced in italy, my boat is actually one of the boats used in the 2010 worlds but the daggerboard is new because the ones used during the championship were sanded down and yes, they have fixed the thickness problem

I had the older version of the racing daggerboard (the one with the hole) and it did chip quite easily I really hope the new one isn´t as brittle as that one.

thanks for the replys

Matias.
 
the new GRP daggerboard is great, it gives you a lot more lift and makes you point much higher than the previous daggerboard

Are you claiming the board generates more lift than your older version of the racing daggerboard with the hole for a handle? How did you reach this conclusion? Are you doing two boat testing?
 
Are you claiming the board generates more lift than your older version of the racing daggerboard with the hole for a handle? How did you reach this conclusion? Are you doing two boat testing?

yes, actually I did test it with several boats
in my local club we have bought 10 brand new boats and last weekend we had a practice race and I noticed that the boats using the new daggerboard actually pointed much higher than the boats with the older daggerboards
 
Got my attention. Can you post photos of the two boards? I'm having a hard time picturing the differences. Thanks
 
the first picture is the older version of the racing daggerboard
second and third are some pictures taken during the sunfish worlds in Punta Ala Tuscany Italy
the black part on the GRP daggerboards is the part that was sanded down to fit in the daggerboard trunk but now they have re-designed it to fit perfectly
 

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Matias,

I have replaced my foam centerboard with the new frp centerboard and I agree it gives you a lot more lift and makes you point much higher than the previous centerboard. Sailing next to a foam centerboard boat in the same wind both in clear air and was lifting away from the other boat at the same speed. Noticed this several times on the course that my boat was lifting away from the boats with the foam boards when racing side by side.
 
Did you mean GRP?? because the older ones are the FRP that you call foam frp stands for Fiber Reinforced Plastic and grp for Glass Reinforced plastic
After measuring both daggerboards side by side I noticed that the new GRP version is actually a thin slice smaller than both previous versions in FRP

this is a really bad drawing but it explains it clearly
the blue line marks the old edge and the black part is the new one
Sin título.png
 
Yikes - another major change that effects performance? Are you sure the boats were all set the same - gooseneck placement? Was the new blade an accident or was it made with higher performance in mind? Seems harder to keep up with all the changes these days! One design my foot!
 
At the Barrington NAs that wrapped up last month, the third and fifth place boats had foam boards and the rest of the top five had glass. Had Malcolm Smith, who had a foam board, gone up the right side of the last leg of the last race and not the left side, he would probably have won the regatta. He said he did not notice any difference in his performance vs the glass blades. I will check with Bill and see what he says, but he can't have been having much trouble given he finished third. Chris
 

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