A friend of mine was at the Annapolis boat show and he says the boat weighs 120 lbs. If LP were to start producing enough boats, like they did back when they first bought Sunfish, there would be no need for the Sol. And if you want to race, you will need a Sunfish - I can't imagine enough Sol owners will want to race to make it a viable racing fleet.I watched the video and came to realize that I REALLY like the cubby on my fish!
Paddle, lunch, water, sponge, bailer, racing instructions (some of the time); where would I store all of that on a SOL?
PS: It has dawned upon me that Sunfish Direct and SERO innovation (manufacturer of the SOL) are distinct entities although they clearly share people. How well this would play with LP remains to be seen.
SERO SOL Boat Builder (seroinnovation.com)
PS: If I ever were to get really interested in a SOL, I would want to know more about the construction and weight of the hull.
but it might appeal to a yacht club that needs boats for a program. They need 10 boats and they can’t wait a few years, and all they care about is that the 10 boats are all the same and take the same parts.A friend of mine was at the Annapolis boat show and he says the boat weighs 120 lbs. If LP were to start producing enough boats, like they did back when they first bought Sunfish, there would be no need for the Sol. And if you want to race, you will need a Sunfish - I can't imagine enough Sol owners will want to race to make it a viable racing fleet.
Ummm isn’t this the Sunfish message board? Doesn’t this belong on the Sol message board?SERO Innovation delivered (15) new SOL's to Camp Sea Gull - Camp Seafarer a couple of weeks ago. This camp has been sailing Sunfish for many decades now and prior to taking delivery of their new SOL's had a fleet of 106 active Sunfish on the water daily. Now they have 91 Sunfish and 15 SOL's.
Time for camp! | 15 SOL sail boats are on their way to YMCA Camp Sea Gull and YMCA Camp Seafarer!! #solsailing #youthsailing #summercamp | By SOL Sailboat | Facebook
15 SOL sail boats are on their way to YMCA Camp Sea Gull and YMCA Camp Seafarer!! #solsailing #youthsailing #summercampfb.watch
I know this is an old thread, but the words are skirting the issue of the inability to use the Sunfish name for comparison.I do indeed hope they are successful. One way to do that is to be real, practical and honest especially in the world we are surrounded by. It appears that marketing is playing a big part in the SOL. So lets get real...
Key features
• A modern twist on the classic board boat. Accessible to new sailors. Anything is accessible to a new sailor if they have the time, money and desire. Most boats are accessible to new sailors. We see first time boat owners by 38 footers. "yet advanced enough to race." same strings to pull as that classic board boat. You can race 55 gallon drums around the buoys with a table cloth flying if you want.
• Open cockpit design offers comfort for up to a family of four. You could put a family of four aboard that classic board boat as well and many of us have, neither will be comfortable or perform. The open cockpit has the potential for an awful lot of water to collect. Open cockpit designs go hand in hand with open transoms solving that problem. This, combined with built in straps, allows you to haul all your gear for a day on the water or a weekend adventure. Let's face it, how many are going to weekend this boat? I agree with Wavedancer, the under deck cubby is probably more practical. Your life jacket remains dry in the cubby, in an open pan design it will become the sponge for even that smallest amount of water rolling around. Perhaps I would have just said a "spacious open non restricted cockpit design" and left it at that. Each owner can determine to what extent that feature is helpful.
• Buyers can choose from a number of options to create a boat that is uniquely theirs! In addition to sail designs and boat decals, we offer a variety of colors for the handles, optional SeaDek, and extended splash guard. Those are features but what about: Choose from a wide array of available colors and graphics as well as practical and performance accessories like adjustable outhaul, downhaul, quick adjust gooseneck, wind vane, adjustable tiller extension, deck mounted cam cleat?
• High quality construction with cored deck and hull, using a vacuum infusion process. The first time buyer typically doesn't know or care about coring or a vacuum infusion process. For a knowledgeable buyer it would be nice to know what the core material is. The infusion process tends to make the boats more uniform boat to boat. Perhaps a statement such as: A modern vacuum infusion building process assures consistent quality and remarkable lighter weight.
• Compatible with readily available components. Wow, here is a beauty! What does this really mean? Does it mean that replacement parts will fit? Does it mean classic board boat parts will fit? Humm... Perhaps: Readily available replacement parts and accessories for carefree low-cost ownership.
Marketing has made some notable changes over the years. They use to simply state the positive features and leave it to the informed purchaser to decide. Apparently they all think the average customer is now clueless. Lately they find it necessary to tell you what you should think is important, how you are going to use it and when. Our local news affiliate has a tag line - 4 things you need to know today. Why don't they just present the news and we can decide what is important to retain for us.
I still think the boat has merit especially from the void that LP has created via their bad management. How it is marketed will be one of the keys to how well it sells. Stating the obvious would be helpful. How about using words such as: available, affordable, fun, fast, adaptable, durable. None of those words were used yet all of these words mean specific thing to each of us that reads them but not the same to any of us. Building the dream in the mind of the user is huge. Hobie did this in the 70's & 80's as they sold a great product and the Hobie way of life. They didn't sell you the product on the if come of day trips or weekend adventures, they sold you the product and you sold yourself on the possibility of daytrips and weekend adventures. They also didn't waste time mentioning colors of handles, the brochure made you more than aware of the possibilities just in its images.
Dale
Thanks for the very insightful input. Some things I hadn't thought of.I have not sailed one, however I did race against them in my sunfish this year at the Harkers Island regatta. When I asked around after the regatta the general consensus among the sunfish sailors who opted to try a new sol for the regatta rather than sail their sunfish was that it's very similar to a sunfish, the only difference in performance is it's harder to sit forward upwind because of the shape of the front of the cockpit, the sunfish bailer is pretty much useless with that large of a cockpit so there's always water inside if there's chop, the thinner side decks allow water to come over the side a little more than the wide decks of the sunfish and the splash guard/coming is less effective. Some mentioned the hull feeling slightly stiffer than a sunfish. There were 3-5 sols, one sailed by a youth. There was not a sol in the top 10 of 31 boats. However to be fair this regatta is a unique once around the island (similar to shelter island regatta) in shallow water and at least this year winds 20-25 and gusting, so lots of variables. The sol were very friendly and open, answering many questions and taking suggestions throughout the event, and even loaned me some tools allowing me to race after my boat broke on the way out to the start. It really depends what you want to use it for I think, you can't race it anyway (aside from a few extremely lenient and causal regattas/clubs) so the speed difference if there actually is one doesn't really matter much and it looked a lot easier to sail with two people, especially in the tacks and jibes when both people have to get under the boom and across relatively quickly if there's any decent breeze. Hope this gives you some useful information, I to am always curious about new sunfish related ideas and experiments in the sunfish world.
I have not sailed one, however I did race against them in my sunfish this year at the Harkers Island regatta. When I asked around after the regatta the general consensus among the sunfish sailors who opted to try a new sol for the regatta rather than sail their sunfish was that it's very similar to a sunfish, the only difference in performance is it's harder to sit forward upwind because of the shape of the front of the cockpit, the sunfish bailer is pretty much useless with that large of a cockpit so there's always water inside if there's chop, the thinner side decks allow water to come over the side a little more than the wide decks of the sunfish and the splash guard/coming is less effective. Some mentioned the hull feeling slightly stiffer than a sunfish. There were 3-5 sols, one sailed by a youth. There was not a sol in the top 10 of 31 boats. However to be fair this regatta is a unique once around the island (similar to shelter island regatta) in shallow water and at least this year winds 20-25 and gusting, so lots of variables. The sol were very friendly and open, answering many questions and taking suggestions throughout the event, and even loaned me some tools allowing me to race after my boat broke on the way out to the start. It really depends what you want to use it for I think, you can't race it anyway (aside from a few extremely lenient and causal regattas/clubs) so the speed difference if there actually is one doesn't really matter much and it looked a lot easier to sail with two people, especially in the tacks and jibes when both people have to get under the boom and across relatively quickly if there's any decent breeze. Hope this gives you some useful information, I to am always curious about new sunfish related ideas and experiments in the sunfish world.