by lemsteraak » Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:49 pm
I have the exact sister ship to Ben, even the same colors. I was at first a sceptic, now I really like the SLI boats. I don't know about weight but the hulls are very fair and seem to match the early DS1's in terms of speed on the Willamette River. Where they shine is that they are designed for self-rescue. I haven't had the honor to flip mine yet but I've noticed they have a great deal of buoyancy and will not scoop up so much water so would be great for open water. The self bailer is a plus and a minus. On the plus side, you don't have to bail, on the minus, they leak when they get old, like 25 years old. Don't rebuild, save up and buy a new one, they are expensive.
The foils (centerboard, rudder) are well shaped and low drag. I suspect that they are copies of Waterrat designs. There is one major difference between Ben's boat and mine, the mast. His is set on a tabernacle and mine is a Ballanger tapered keel stepped mast. For racing, I prefer mine, but for knocking about and trailering, Ben's boat wins the speed in setup race. These boats are rather new to our club so we will know more after the Al Morris regatta ...... those early DS1s are strong and fast boats.
Rich
Portland Oregon