As I am looking into my purchase of a Seawind to get to compete with, I am very curious to hear the thoughts of those with experience in the class. My concern is the class minimum weight which is a good thing to keep the boats on equal footing weight wise. I have read that those that have weighed in their newer ready set abs sea winds are defiantly heavier with little way to lighten them up when compared to the older abs kit boats and the class minimum weight is currently set to the older abs boats weight. I feel the newer abs boats may be at a slight disadvantage due to the extra weight in light air. In heavy air the new boat will have a minor advantage to be a bit more stable in the wave conditions but I doubt the less than one pound difference will be much of a factor.
I am feeling starting off with the lighter carbon ready set will be best as then you can add the extra weight to get to the class minimum and at least weight wise be on equal footing with the older abs boats. Than you all for any shared thoughts.
While it is true that the new Readyset comes in over the class minimum weight I don’t feel its weight makes it uncompetitive. It is well within the range of weights typically found in most regattas in which I have sailed. I have always sailed with a boat which is over class minimum, typically close to 7 lbs and feel that unless you are among the top world class skippers most races are won or lost by boat handling or tactics than by slight weight differences. However some skippers are more passionate about sailing at class minimums. Up to you whether you feel that the higher cost of a carbon boat is worthwhile to get the lower weight.
Either way I am sure you will enjoy the close racing that the one-design SeaWind class produces.
Good sailing!
Mike
Thank you Mike. I ask as while I have experience in full scale one design class boats like the Y-flyer, I know RC boats are different in how weight can effect them. I asked my questions for getting feedback from guys experienced in the boats to know if there was a difference. Right now I got a bid out for a ready set carbon Seawind that if it stay at or below my max bid it is worth the price I will pay as it will be under cost of an abs boat. But if it goes over my max I will be looking to the abs kits I am sure as the look of carbon fiber is not worth the cost to me. I know I got things to do to make either boat good to race with when I get it.
I had an opportunity to examine a carbon version Readyset over the weekend bought by one of our new skippers. It is very nicely finished in colors similar to the original SeaWind CE kit version. The hull appears exactly the same as the earlier version but I wasn’t able to determine if any additional reinforcement to the bow area had been done. The deck appeared to be stiffer than the previous version but was slightly convex resulting in there only being a couple of turns on the keel retaining rod available above the top of the blue slotted tube for the nut. Apparently Kyosho Customer Service told this skipper that the lengths of the keel retaining rod vary and they will send him a new longer one when they receive them. Personally I am skeptical about this. I think it is the convex deck causing the problem but we will see. Filing down the top of the blue slotted tube a bit was enough to secure the retaining nut.
After sailing for a few hours in fairly light winds the skipper found that the screws holding the jib pivot eye had almost pulled out of the deck. This may be a weak spot so watch out for problems here.
Overall the boat seems nicely built and with a 4-cell standard battery pack, ready to sail weighed in at 6 lbs 2.5 oz. A 5-AA cell battery (highly recommended, the servos are quite current hungry!) will add some weight but it will still require some correction weight for SeaWind Class competition.
Mike
Thanks for the feedback. so far mine seems to have no issues on the keel rod length. I will have it out with the Chattanooga club first weekend of June to run it and check for weaknesses that I will wise to reenforce. my hull with no batteries in the battery pack weighed in at 5lbs 8ozs with the keel and rudder laying on deck. I know I need to start makeing some rigging changes and that will come with time as I get a chance to make them.