Wooden daggerboard and rudder?

Markus

New Member
I am wondering if there were ever Lasers build, equipped with wooden daggerboard and/or rudder. Are there any other "old shool retro" features ?
 
I think they carried the wood blades up till 1978. Then they went to what we have today.
 
Rob B said:
I think they carried the wood blades up till 1978. Then they went to what we have today.

My oldest boat is 1488 and unfortunatly the previous owner lost the original rudder and has replaced it with a new glass one. The glass ones are faster stiffer maintenance free (relativly) and better for racing but I was hoping to have an original wood rudder.

If there is anyone with a wood rudder in reasonable shape I would would be willing to trade the glass one for it.
 
Hi,

The wood boards were considered stiffer, and a bit stronger. For a while, the hot racers were trading their white boards for wooden ones, so the class eventually passed a rule against sailing with wood boards, unless your hull came equipped with them.

They do float better, so must be lighter, but they are hard to keep fair, as the grain swells a bit, but they are easily reglued and repaired. We also always painted the rudder white, so we could see if we had weeds :-0

The oldies also had S. Steel gudgeons, and the spars seemed to last forever, unless corroded. The plastic thru hull at the bailer was a weak item, that I don't miss at all. They had wooden tillers, and 24" hiking sticks, lol, totally unacceptable now, as were the plastic clams, traveler eyes, etc.

There were some very nice stuff hulls/decks though. I've seen some really nice '74's lately.

Al Russell 182797 and 4606
 
Yup. The boat that I raced last fall had its original wooden blades! Also, the original radial sails had halyards. We had one of those, too.
 
3335 said:
Yup. The boat that I raced last fall had its original wooden blades! Also, the original radial sails had halyards. We had one of those, too.

HALYARDS??? Do you have pictures?
 
Markus said:
HALYARDS??? Do you have pictures?
I have such an old Radi-rigg&sail. It had a haleyard. I made it away and knot the top of the sail direct to the mast-ring-part that is needed for this old rigg. This ring came from "RWO". If I loose it, I get a problem, I guess...
The sail also has a pocket at the gooseneck area, to store the rope of haleyard. And on the gooseneck-fiiting of the lower mast, there is a special metal-pin (looks like a "L") for fixing the haleyard.
If the sail is knoted direct to the ring, it works good enough for recreational sailing. This sail and the lower mastpart are not conform to the actual measuring-diagramms, so racing with it only is allowed on club-races, if the others do not protest against me.
Because I only use it in heavy air, for recreational sailing, I´m happy to have it. A used Radi-rig here is not often sold on the market, expensive in relationship to their condition and they are "away" immediately. I post a pic (or 2) of this "grandfahtered" Radi-rig if desired.
LooserLu

P.S. There has been also a original buildersupplied Laser-Compass in the 70ties. Not comparable to the Silva´s ... Everytime I see this old-style-compass on an auction, I´m really amused how much the people spend for this piece...
I try to clear the question, if the wodden foils were also on the first Lasers, that where made Europe, but I never have seen here a Laser that had originally buildersupplied wooden foils here in GER/Europe.
 
Here are some pic´s of that Radial-Sail and about the old original buildersupplied Lasercompass:
 

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Hi,

I have a crispy white M rig that my Daughter uses in Heavy air, with a full spar, and an eye riveted to the top. We use the Tie it version that Lu mentions, but two feet of mast sticks out. She prefers a full sail, and at 125 lbs. had a first and second last night with the full, against a tough fleet, but in 7-8 knots. We have a radial spar, but have never bothered to use it.

I have one of the top eye devices that Lu shows in his pic, and never had a clue what it was for, lol. Maybe now I'll go rig the radial spar, full top and see how it looks. I'm sure it will flatten the sail better.

The ability to drop the sail is a great idea for a camp or beach boat. The kids can just beach it, drop/claw the sail down, and go to lunch.

Al Russell 182797
 
Mine are wooden. very pretty. i dont know how old my boat is though, its pretty old


Markus said:
I am wondering if there were ever Lasers build, equipped with wooden daggerboard and/or rudder. Are there any other "old shool retro" features ?
 
LooserLu said:
Here are some pic´s of that Radial-Sail and about the old original buildersupplied Lasercompass:

Many thanks for posting these pictures. A laser with halyard was completely new to me. Your pictures were the key for understanding this. Knowing that your are from Germany to, I am asking you wether you know somebody who wants to sell wooden foils. Danke ...
 
Markus said:
...Knowing that your are from Germany to, I am asking you wether you know somebody who wants to sell wooden foils. Danke ...
I have to look to my old email-archive. I guess, yes, there is somebody here in GER :)
When I have found something, I send you a "PM" via TLF.
Grüße
Ludwig
 
I had an early version of the radial sail (circa 1983) which had a halyard. It had a "canvas" sleave which went over the top section and an eye sewn into it at right angles for the line to pass through. After a few attempts to use the correct and legal method of rigging I gave the halyard the flick and lashed the sail to the sleave. At least the sail did not slide down the mast due to the rope stretching. Rope technology was not like it is today.
 
Markus said:
I am wondering if there were ever Lasers build, equipped with wooden daggerboard and/or rudder. Are there any other "old shool retro" features ?

Yes, most deffinitely yes. I still have my wooden daggerboard and rudder. Old School?? I'm still as bought in 1973. Want pictures??
 
Mudi 08757 said:
Yes, most deffinitely yes. I still have my wooden daggerboard and rudder. Old School?? I'm still as bought in 1973. Want pictures??

Pictures would be just fabulous!!! There might be a way to get some replica foils made of wood. But I am not sure if I should go for a compromise?!
 
Markus said:
Pictures would be just fabulous!!! There might be a way to get some replica foils made of wood. But I am not sure if I should go for a compromise?!

i have the rudder here, the daggerboard is at my fathers in CO. I'll get a picture of both and send. I also have the wodden cockpit grab handles, original tiller with newer extension and the original main sheet block and cleat swivel setup.

Just talking about it, I need to go sailing...
 
Markus said:
Pictures would be just fabulous!!! There might be a way to get some replica foils made of wood. But I am not sure if I should go for a compromise?!

I just received a 1970s vintage laser from my father-in-law, who is no longer healthy enough to sail it. It came with the orignal wood blades, which were stored in a garage the whole time, but are prety beat and need a lot of work. I';ve just started to refinish them, which is a task that I truly hate. I am not a restoration purist; I just love to sail.

I don't think anyone would be willing to trade me, but apparently the originals are difficult to find. I would gladly trade my wood centerboard, rudder, and tiller for new or like-new replacements to anyone who is interested in refinishing my wood blades. The tiller and rudder just need to be stripped, stained and varnished. The centerboard was split lengthwise, and epoxyed back together, plus the bottom edge has many cracks and the trailing edge is missing up to 1/4" of wood where it has been abused. I can post or send pctures.

I feel silly asking to trade my old, beat up blades for new ones, but I don't have a lot of money to invest in this boat right now, and want to be sailing it as soon as possible.
 

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