Reply To: OK Dinghy Weight Concentration
Hi guys,
Long time no see, had to smile when I when reading this about weight concentration. Hope you don’t mind but I would like to add to this conversation.
Having built some 65 oks and raced in the class for 20 years I have gained quite an insight into the ins and out of this fantastic boat.
Trying to detect if weight has been concentrated in an actual layup of a boat is dam near impossable to detect from a visual measuring point of veiw, as to the drilling of test holes I have never heard of that ever been carried out, and I think never will.
When polyester boats were being made the weight limit set was achievable with care and quite often new boats would carry 5kg of correctors, when boats were starting to be made out of epoxy in the late nineties straight away they became 20 % lighter in hull and deck form. Now over time With better resins, cloth and no use of gel coat /spray painted these boats are even lighter. So how is the weight made up?
Of coarse weight concentration goes on.
Swing tests would be a good ideas, but how do you get some base figures to start with, test 10 different boats at a worlds and you will have 10 different results. Also it could only be introduced to new builds. One way round this is to reduce the overall weight which is long overdue and then incorporate a swing test with correctors fitted.
I think it is about time the rules were tightend up, why not stipulate bulkhead thickness at each station, also transom thickness maybe incorporating a 2/3 mm foam, centreboard case construction, and give a size and material for backing plates especially the toestraps, these would all make the measuring a lot easier to police.
At the end of the day these modern epoxy boats are a lot lighter to construct and stiffer, so the most effective way is to reduce the overall weight, and I am talking 5/7 kgs if not more. The Finns have reduced theirs by 5kg and they do not build in epoxy?
What happens to wooden and polyester boats I am not sure, wether they can still compete down to a new weight who knows,unfortunately more new builds are in epoxy than anything else.
Hopefully this throws a better light on the issue and not a spanner in the works.
Look forward to seeing you all again soon
Rover
