Reply To: Carbon question
I agree with Bill that the point is being lost here.
The idea is not to rip boats apart but to provide information on what is allowed. If someone has a small piece of carbon plate under a pulley on his deck to protect the varnish or paint and it is stuck on it should be ok. If it is in the laminate then any measurer who knows that OK’s cannot be constructed from carbon should rule accordingly.
As for the pad issue you can also buy and use plastic padding for repairing holes. I believe this is also hard when used correctly. If you want a witch hunt on carbon pussy pads then ask the question officially as a measurer, of the technical committee. Perhaps if more questions had been asked instead of just looking in the dictionary then some boats measured in England would never have been either built that way or passed measurement. Now we have the situation that boats have to be altered to not only comply with the new rule but also so they comply with the existing rules. I would like to say here as well that the owners bought OK dinghies in good faith and have been let down by the class not having clear guidelines and the measurers not asking questions.
We have tried and I think succeeded in clarifying what can be done with carbon on an OK. In effect this should make your job easier and not harder.
