New Laser daggerboard brake

Today I had a phone call with our national main Laserstore at Hamburg. They said, it is available probably from end of November on. So, at the main Laserstore of the UK it's sure sold earlier.

What I do not understand in the moment, by viewin to the photos: How is the fairlead of the ratchet block is attached to the new brake.
 
everyone just listen to one thing. " if you want to get better spend time on the water and go sailing". who cares about this crap. if you can get the board down then good if not then find out how. but spend your time on the water and not wondering how to do things differant.
 
everyone just listen to one thing. " if you want to get better spend time on the water and go sailing". who cares about this crap. if you can get the board down then good if not then find out how. but spend your time on the water and not wondering how to do things differant.

That is a bit harsh Gordo.

A lot of people I know are tired of having to replace the current brake once or twice a year. It is a constant pain in the butt.

There has been a bit about the release of this in the states but nothing about when it will be available in the UK and Europe (and Aus for that matter).

I do have problems with mine, I have on every Laser I have owned. It will be nice to be able to chuck the board down and know it is going to stay down.
 
...who cares about this crap... .

gordo, I understand your huff. Some new parts for the Laser seem to be useless or way to expensive. Yes, sometimes I also think in the same way first.

But, it is everyones own decision what to use on the boat, if the boat is not a club boat. No one is forced to buy new Laser parts and no one is forced to race.

There are 2 parties here. Those who like to send all that is new to hell and those that decide from Laser part to Laser part, if it is usefull to purchase or not.

I am in the middle.

I say: if the new Laserpart is usefull (and really makes life easier on board) and LaserPerformance do not want a "moon price" for a Laser part (unfortunately often they do sell it for moon prices and the elected heads of the ILCA, nothing did or do something against it, than to say only f.e. : "... buy at your local dealer"), I buy.
Otherwise, I don't buy, as long f.e. the price does not rise down (f.e. for the new blocks here at ILCA Region Europe. They are useful, no question, but LaserPerformance /UK wants, that we Eurpeans should pay much more for those blocks than at other continents).

Personally, I like modern Lasers AND vintage Lasers.

Old Lasers ("ochre"-coloured or "Britisch-racing-green"-coloured hull, original wodden tiller with metal joint for the tiller extension, 70 cm originally aluminum tiller extension, metal gudgeons, wooden blades, diameter 10mm white Polyester main sheet, simple rigged single white diameter 6mm polyester lines for the Cunnigham/Outhaul and traveller, black plastic camcleats, no ratchetblock but only the famous small original RWO block for the mainsheet, a small simple rope-loop for the clew to tie down, unpadded black car belt for hikingstrap, no autobailer, original 1:3 Holt vang and an original `71 Elvstroem/Toronto Standard sail without any window) really have a wonderful special flair, absolutely. I guess, you gordo must be such a "hardliner" of the "vintage Laser party" and do sail this exact what I just described, wonderful, otherwise ...

But to the opposite: I never again want to miss to enjoy ride with a new GXD Laser in a nice force 5 breeze with big waves and current. For me to sail a new Laser, it's definitely much more fun, totally different and easier, than to sail a vintage Laser in such conditions.

However, gordo, good sailing

LooserLu
 
For me, I like to think about doing things differently when I actually can't get on the water, e.g at night when I'm on this forum. This new brake looks great especially at this price.
 
A lot of people I know are tired of having to replace the current brake once or twice a year. It is a constant pain in the butt.

Once or twice a year! Is that all? Mine gets changed far more frequently than that. This is one of the few new products this year that I have been looking forward to as the existing brake wears out in a matter of weeks for me.
 
Once or twice a year! Is that all? Mine gets changed far more frequently than that. This is one of the few new products this year that I have been looking forward to as the existing brake wears out in a matter of weeks for me.

I don't sail as much as you!.....

Do you know if Steve is planning on stocking these? I would rather pay my hard earned to him than to Laser Performance.
 
Rooster don't stock many official parts so not sure. They're not stocking the new blocks so I wouldn't expect them to be stocking the new brake. I'll ask though.
 
I know this is politically impossible and fait accompli now, but does anyone else think that the brake should actually go at the leading edge of the centerboard rather where tension in the bungee and drag on the board push it against the trunk?

Does anyone know what materials the new brake is made out of?
 
I picked up a new brake on Saturday and had a look at installing it. There are no instructions on the card, but one of the websites I looked at implies that the old holes are fine and no drilling is needed. On Sunday I unscrewed the old brake and lined up the new one- for the brake to even touch the daggerboard the whole assembly would need to move forward about a half inch, thus out of place for the old holes. I pulled a couple of other Laser daggerboards to see if it was just my daggerboard, but they were the same. I have a 1998 hull and the old brake was mounted there when I bought it. Next time I am at the marina I will pull a 2003 hull to check if the newer boats are different.

So will we need to drill new holes a little further forward? Has anyone else tried mounting the new brake yet? I held off the install until I heard a little more feedback. Thanks!
 
Do you have something on the front of the centerboard trunk too? It won't give you a half an inch but it could help out a little.

I held off putting mine on for now. I might experiment in my garage and see how it fits.
 
Screw the original concept of the least possible money to go race in a fleet of identical boats. The America's Teacup Regatta had a $700 maximum price for any singlehanded boat. Even with inflation since 1969 that number is only about $7,000 today.

Keep adding those racing goodies one at a time and by 2012, when crackpots say the world comes to an end, the on the water price for a compertitive Laser sailor will exceed $10, 000.

Fact is we may already be there. Add em up::
carbon tillers
carbon extensions
High tech mainsheets
High teack control lines
Boots
Hiking pants
special life jackets
super expensive giant old fashioned compasses
Patented overpriced high tech illegal wind indicators
Unobtanium lined outhaul slides
Super spray tops
special underwear
adhesive bottomed hiking straps
Desalinating waterbottles
idedentify shift by colors goggles
Coach to competitor ear piece radios


and don't forget, in North America, we all have to spend another few thousand in the middle of the off season and go sail the world's most expensive sail two days and sit on shore waiting for wind the other three days regatta to be considered as serious competitors.

Sorry guys, I see the new centerboard brake on the traveling hotshot's boat as one more thing that makes the local weekend sailor who bought a boat that was just like everybody else's and still hasn't bought the fancy new boom blocks more likely to simply give up on trying to have a boat just like that hotshot.

Those of you who have bottomless sailing wallets are ruing laser sailing.

Oh yeah.. It's just anpother ten bucks.

You don't get it.

But unfortunatly, you are in charge..

of a shrinking game.

Gee I wonder why that might be??

Can you even say inclusive??
 
I have been using my outhaul line to keep my board in the right place, I discovered it by mistake. Just grab a bite of the outhaul and slip in in the slot when you put your board in and your set to go -- legal too.
 
I am planning to putting a piece of fuzzy velcro on the front of the trunk, but I am sure it won't buy me that much room. Also, the way the holes are drilled for the old brake, there would be no room for adjustability fore and aft, it would be right up against the main block. So I wonder- is the area around the trunk a half an inch in front of the current screws reinforced?

And as an slightly off topic reply to gouvernail, it's just a little piece of plastic, $15 at that. Will it make my boat faster? Not really, just a little more convenient- I'm sick of my daggerboard popping up on every tack. You don't need to spend $10,000 to have a fast Laser. I have spent less on ALL my Laser gear than a friend of mine who is replacing the sail set on his keelboat- mine is a 1998 and I bought it this year second hand for not too much. It already had a few nice upgrades, like a carbon tiller, etc. but still had the old style vang, which I finally replaced this week after sailing all summer with the old one. Will the new vang make me faster? No, it is just more convenient for me- I was sick of the jam cleat on the old vang. I won my share of races against brand new boats this season, not because I had a carbon tiller but because I sailed a little better. And I was often beat by people in older boats who sailed a little better than me.

Yeah, once you get up to the top level, some of these little things will make a very slight difference, but it is like that in any endeavour, and the real factor comes down to skill. The weekend hotshot might be hot because they spend a lot of time on the water, not from a piece of plastic. Far from ruining Laser sailing, they are probably the ones most dedicated to it. Weekend sailors like me on my older boat try to watch and learn from the hotshots!
 
Is this the time I get all upset that the North America and Europe has equipment that isn't available yet in Australia and keep harping on that it will make your boats faster than ours, just like what occurred with the centreboards and rudders which Australia/NZ got first?

This is one feature that's needed redesigning a long time ago, I'm glad it will soon be available to all.
 
I am planning to putting a piece of fuzzy velcro on the front of the trunk, but I am sure it won't buy me that much room.
I did this, it helped a little, but not much. The front of my trunk was worn out a little, so this could have caused it. But so far, the velcro didn't do anything.
 
Is this the time I get all upset that the North America and Europe has equipment that isn't available yet in Australia and keep harping on that it will make your boats faster than ours, just like what occurred with the centreboards and rudders which Australia/NZ got first?

Well, Alan, you should. If you want to get as upset about a $15 part as I am about a $400 part (or $1250 US, if you're outside of Australia) it's your prerogative.

This catalog page http://www.boatlocker.com/home.php?cat=267 is telling. This is the only US vendor I've found for the Aussie daggerboards, and they're able to get away with charging three times the price for something that's supposedly the same.

As I've said before, if two daggerboards are supposed to be the same, there's a lot more to it than matching the weight and nominal dimensions. To verify the dimensional accuracy, parts should be taken off the assembly line at random and measured with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). It's not up to a third party to prove that they're different, rather the burden falls on the manufacturer to show that they actually are the same. Otherwise, the pretense that they are equivalent should be dropped, and the class should ensure that manufacturers are available and willing in each region (or a global supply should be ensured) before allowing changes.
 
As I've said before, if two daggerboards are supposed to be the same, there's a lot more to it than matching the weight and nominal dimensions.

And yet I don't do any better with my Aussie blades (that I bought used from Paige Railey a few years ago). :rolleyes:
 
Those of you who have bottomless sailing wallets are ruing laser sailing.

If you dont like it, dont buy it. Sailing is an expensive sport, thats life.

The laser up untill a very short while ago was using equipment you were more likely to find on a viking ship than a racing dinghy! The fact of the matter is almost everything needed to be updated and its LONG over due.

I only race at a local club level and things like this wont benifit me, but if Im still glad to see these things coming out. Take a look at the windsurfing scene, both Bic one design (first windsurfer) and the laser came out roughly the same time. Look at the technolocial advances in windsurfing in the last 30 years, its been made easier and more accessable. Its about time the laser class started doing the same!!
 
To get back on topic...

Has anyone else actually installed the new brake yet? Did it require drilling new holes for proper alignment? I didn't install mine last weekend, but I may put it on this weekend.
 
To get back on topic...

Has anyone else actually installed the new brake yet? Did it require drilling new holes for proper alignment? I didn't install mine last weekend, but I may put it on this weekend.

There were 4 at the local frostbite near me who installed it. I think 3 out of the 4 were happy one had issues.
 
The laser up untill a very short while ago was using equipment you were more likely to find on a viking ship than a racing dinghy! The fact of the matter is almost everything needed to be updated and its LONG over due.

...

Actually the new brake looks like it is viking-mark-II standard at best. At 15 bucks extra.

The Laser manufacturers and the ILCA will understand what the Gouv and many on TLF are talking about when a competitively priced and durable boat comes on the market, the RS 100 or Rooster project X perhaps.
 
Actually the new brake looks like it is viking-mark-II standard at best. At 15 bucks extra.

The Laser manufacturers and the ILCA will understand what the Gouv and many on TLF are talking about when a competitively priced and durable boat comes on the market, the RS 100 or Rooster project X perhaps.

I hope your not confusing the cheap and accessable sport of sailing with the costly and heartbreaking life choice of boat owning!

Plus, I wouldn't consider the new RS100 competitively priced at nearly STG£7k. A new laser is a tad over 4k at the moment

I know im fighting a loosing battle here
 
I checked one of the newer hulls (2008) and while I didn't measure, it appears that the old brake screws are indeed a little further up than on my 1998 hull. I guess you'd have to drill new holes for this brake.

Has anyone else drilled to install yet?
 
Santa bought me one of these for Christmas. I was somewhat disappointed 9but not surpised) to find that it does not fit. This seems to be a common problem on UK built hulls. Has anyone else managed to fit one successfully or not, please let me know.

I have contact LP and am awaiting their response.....
 
I fitted one of these just before Christmas and have sailed with it a couple of time since.

Yes it doesn't fit the current holes and I had to re-drill my hull and fill the old holes up. No big deal and dead easy to do, this was on a 160,000+ hull

What I have now though is a brake that actually works and the board doesn't move when I set it to where I want. looks like it's not going to wear as quick as my old brake too, but time will tell on that one!

Happy days!

Steve
 
Thats disapointing that they don't fit, haven't got one yet but planning on getting one soon. Will be at the boat show this weekend so will ask a laser rep what they think is the best way of fitting them. Will be interesting to see if the lasers on show have the new brake fitted or not.
 
Hi Sailorchick,

If you could report back that wold be great. I reckon they have changed the location of the hulls if they are fitted as standard on the new boats.

One of the other boats I know of that is having a problem is a 192,000 boat so not exactly old (unlike mine).

Cheers,

Paul
 
I have had a response from LP, quoted below. They seem to think not many people have has issues fitting them, has anyone managed to bolt one straight on?

Email from LP:

Hi Paul

I have passed this e mail onto our warranty and technical departments.

You can expect to be contacted within a week to see how this is developing.

I do know that we have asked for pictures of a previous case so we can check that there is no damage to the boat which may cause the brake not to fit. Its not a problem that we have heard much about and the part was methodically tested by the GB squad before production.

Best regards
 
Well I have a reply. To be honest it is what I expected....

Apparently it is down to the age of my boat (bull, I know of some almost brand new boats that have the same issue).

The advice from LP is to re-drill the holes in the correct place (which was what I was expecting to have to do anyway).

Oh well....as long as the part works then that should be fine!
 
did you make sure to pad the front of your centerboard trunk first? Would that help any before you go drilling holes?
 

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