Originally Posted by tugboat2011

bdl, my initial thoughts are a cf or wooden dowel glued to the inside of spline to take any load off masts and maybe 3-4mm coreflute panels attached to inside of sides to give a bit more protection to sails. Not sure how attached they have to be. Would not glue as they may need replacing over time. Possibly just free floating would be fine. Unless you use a hard case box some damage can always occur but with those mods i think i will be happy with the affinity sail bag.

+1!!

Was just moving it and had another look. There is Velcro down the spline that holds the divider in place. Should be possible to attach the CF/dowel tube to that with some tabs of the loop (soft) Velcro tape. Probably only need about 6. The divider would still have plenty to grip to stay in place.

Hey folks,

I went between the affinity and a df65 for a while and ended up purchasing the Affinity. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase. I'm upgrading from a Westward 18 which ironically is more expensive but came pre-rigged. It took me a few hours and a lot of head scratching but I got it all rigged up with the A suit, although it still needs alot of tweaking. Hopefully I can get out soon, I live on the West end of Lake Superior and soon it'll be cold and windy.

I've also stripped the stickers and plan on painting the hull this winter in this scheme.

Originally Posted by cripple

Hey folks,

I went between the affinity and a df65 for a while and ended up purchasing the Affinity. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase. ...

I have both and while my Affinity hasn't been sailed yet, I would have a hard time picking one over the other! Quality on the DF65 is slightly better as parts have been upgraded on each version. But they are basically running the same gear. And the Affinity comes with the extra rig. With the Hydro-Pro Sailbag, I still came in a good bit cheaper than for my DF65. But my DF65 came with the Joysway radio that I couldn't even give away to Capn Hax lol!

I put my b-rig together first since I was building it as Irma was pounding us. Literally, I was assembling it at the kitchen table by lantern as the storm was raging around us! Probably REALLY bad luck to name a boat after a Hurricane, AND an ex girlfriend though...

I agree with you, the directions were not simple. Its why I haven't built the A-rig yet and put it in the water. For anyone else building it, it seems easier to use longer pieces of string. And use a Berkley Hot-Line Cutter.

The Affinity with all it's goodies falls short in one area. if you ever want to race - or sell it to a racer, the DF65 is the most popular of the two and is a One Design Class, Yes, you can race in the RG65 Class but at a handicap to start - sail area, weight and hull deign are not up to date with the current open, unrestricted racers. Usually you can "play" with the DF65 fleet locally, but combined racing is out for any major event.

Dick you bring up an EXCELLENT point that I always forget! I think my main obsession it to simply overrun my workshop and house with sailboats... Finished or not!

Funny you post this now though as I am writing to Craig about an order for a Round Ranger hull, or maybe two! So while the Affinity is unlikely to be competitive, how about its "parts"? I am really thinking of grabbing another one, just for those parts... Sails, mast, rigs etc. I am contemplating reusing the keelbox, fin, and rudder too. I suspect these of being excessively heavy compared to hand made bits though. I would suspect most of the overweight-ness of an Affinity or a DF65 is in these very parts. Sadly, they are what really add to the near bulletproof durability of these boats though.

All that is left to put my Affinity into the water is to finish the sheet lines and jib tension line. I may try to knock this out in an hour or two and try to put it in the water later this evening. It will be on the B-rig, but it is a little windy today.

We sail the affinity all the time we now have at least 4 in our club, we play with df65's but to encourage new skippers we have let people buy and use the affinity at its price point its hard to beat, and a great back up of parts, and at that price who cares if you resale it, wear it out !!! We have found the boat to be very competitive I bought one and have created a monster it is now my girlfriends boat lol oh and this boat is very fast in A+ conditions

Wow what fun! I was finally able to get the Affinity out on the water and was having a great time until it went out of range and I had to run 1/8 a mile out on a pier to catch up. Fortunately I caught up and was able to steer it home. I'm looking into a better rx/tx than the hobbyking one I purchased with it. and some kind of rescue craft

Originally Posted by cripple

Wow what fun! I was finally able to get the Affinity out on the water and was having a great time until it went out of range and I had to run 1/8 a mile out on a pier to catch up. Fortunately I caught up and was able to steer it home. I'm looking into a better rx/tx than the hobbyking one I purchased with it. and some kind of rescue craft

Thats the joy of 2.4ghz and water, small antenna, very close to water or even under it depending on the position. You could try an rx with dual antennas, mounted at right angleson the lip of the hatch

Best not to go too far out, as to rescue craft, by the time youve got it going, if its a strong wind it will probably be too far away

Pic of Affinity with a short keel from Radiosailing. It is much shorter if you sail in the shallows, or tbe weeds.

how does the boat behave with a short keel?

Originally Posted by Eiffelmtl

how does the boat behave with a short keel?

Roughly the same, although with less weight it keels over more in stronger wind when using A or A+ sails, don't forget the short keel is meant for the B / C sails

Apparently easier to put behind the back seat in the car, downside it looks silly on the stand

Affinity now re-listed but 'Out of stock!' in 'other warehouse' for French IPs
It disappeared from listings but it is now back on ; I wonder whether availability is IP dependent!

Originally Posted by mallettron

Roughly the same, although with less weight it keels over more in stronger wind when using A or A+ sails, don't forget the short keel is meant for the B / C sails

Apparently easier to put behind the back seat in the car, downside it looks silly on the stand

The short fin is actually for shallow water not the smaller rigs

Originally Posted by mark dicks

The short fin is actually for shallow water not the smaller rigs

Can be both, but I sit corrected 😁