I can’t keep my big mouth shut and I ended up being volunteered to start a sticky thread on the specifications of the various kit and ready-to-run sailing boats on the market as a guide to newcomers to the hobby. Thanks are due to a friend of Pompebled’s, Arjan, in the Netherlands from whom the following list was blatantly copied. A major omission are boats made in the USA, and if anyone would like to add the details of the offerings from Victor, Northwind, Sanibel etc., plus the various offerings from China, please feel free to do so.


What would be interesting would be to have comments from owners on the ease of assembly/ construction, sailing impressions, necessary mods to make the boat seaworthy etc.
The figures in the table above are based on the information available and my typing skills. Actual figures may and probably do vary.
Sorry about having to attach the table as a word file. If any computer gurus want to try to get the table to show on screen, feel free.
For the time being, here are some links to several of the boats that have web sites devoted to them:
Thunder Tiger Victoria: http://www.okanaganmodelsailboat.org/Index1.html http://victoriaclass.info

Thunder Tiger Voyager: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Marina/
Thunder Tiger ETNZ: http://etnz1m.org/
Kyosho Fairwind: http://home.comcast.net/~fairwind900/
Kyosho Seawind: http://www.seawindrc.com/
Graupner Micro Magic: http://www.magicmicro.org/news.php
Graupner Saphir: http://www.modelzeilen.nl/forum/index.php (In Dutch)
And here are some threads with hints on other boats:
Nirvana: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=794969
Victor V32: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=806071
Northwind 36: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2961047/tm.htm
Thunder Tiger ETNZ https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=841620
User reviews, various boats: http://www.rcuniverse.com/product_gu...rchresults.cfm

Hi Martin..

Great initiative. I've added some stuff on there. Hope the other guys will join in and fill in the blanks huh?

Also, maybe we can figure out a way to save the file in an open format? *.doc only works for those of us who have MSWord and maybe we should use a more open file format so everybody can open and edit the file.

What say?

Darth

Here it is in PDF, with a date stamp (essential for multiauthor stuff). Put it up in any format that's convenient and I'll convert and repost periodically. And please don't forget the date/time stamp :-)

Cheers,

Earl

To get a waterline length as Arjan mentiones (970), I'd have to ballast my Voyager until she nearly sinks.
830 is more to the point...

BTW, I'd be happy to add my Voyager mods to this list, but have no idea if this would be desireable, or how I would have to do that.

Regards, Jan.

Jan, at this stage perhaps your mods to the Voyager should be limited to the sails and mast, which you have always indicated as the real weak points.
Updated file attached for the Saphir.
Another point that could be mentioned is the sail servo. Something more powerful is generally required than standard, especially for any boat over 65 cm (2' approx length). Economy offerings such as the MG995 or the GWSS04 are better for the larger boats, plus of course the high torque servos from Futaba and Hitec.

i'd add the paradise, but it really is not a good option as a first sailboat. mine is going onto evil bay. i want a victoria, and a racing rig for it. sailed one. loved it.

OK, here's 1A. Let's shift to the "email to Earl" mode now.

Cheers,

Earl

Let me once again bring this great little entry boat to light. At 32" she is one of the smaller ones but a pretty good starting point at under $200.00 ready to sail radio and all.

One fleet alone is now at 82 Nirvana II boats. The rules are being finalized for submission to AMYA. The class is soon to be an official AMYA class of boats.

Here are the specs.

Hull
Length overall: 32 inches

Height
Bottom of keel to top of mast: 64 inches

Beam
maximum width: 7.75 inches

Weight
Sailing weight w/batteries: 5.5 pounds

Draft
Depth of water needed to sail: 13"

Sail Area
Total of main and jib: 525 square inches

Needed to sail
12 ea "AA " alkaline or rechargeable batteries

Included
All sails and rigging, all electronics installed, wooden display stand.

Special Features:

Easy on/off keel and rudder

"Quik rig" system allows easy unrigging for transport or storage

Lead ballasted fin keel for greater stability and performance

Deep balanced rudder design for performance control

Carbon fiber mast and booms for strength and lightness

2- channel FM radio system allows steering and sail control independently
(now 18 frequencies)

Three hull colors now available (Red, Yellow, Blue)

95% ready-to-sail out of box (no glue, no tools)

Polyester sails that will outlast and out perform all others

Can be bought at Tower Hobbies and a lot of other places too.


Commodore Slick

(Photos from this past weekend) Visit our club for more info: http://www.orgsites.com/al/montgomer...lub/index.html

Hogshappy in particular, USA posters in general, do you think we should maintain imperial units for the Nirvana and the other boats mentioned in post #1 that are rarely sold outside the USA? Maybe with a separate table or one tacked on the bottom for them to avoid confusion.

i will agree with the nirvana post i like mine and have pushed it hard in the texas wind with no failures so far.but lack any time with other boats in this class.

The latest update now we're open for business again
I've deleted some of the posts that were a bit off topic. No ofense meant to anybody.

Here's the Voyager material.

Cheers,

Earl

It`s added as a p.s. to the text of the Voyager mods, but Jan (pompebled) did emphasise that if anyone wants photos of the Voyager mods, to send him an e-mail or a pm.

Martin, Thanks for getting this going! It may be too much work, but you can continually edit your first post to add new boat links. Then the newcomers won't have to read each post and open all of the .pdf and .doc attachments.

You could add these links for Victoria's
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/victoriayc for Vic message board and photos
http://www.victoriarc.org for the official class website with rules, regattas and rankings

It's not that much work Hew565, especially as Earl is doing the file transfer to pdf to ensure that non-Windows users can read the docs. The list is far from complete, though, with only the Nirvana among the "American" boats so far. There are now also some commercially available footies, such as the Lajabless, 507 and Kittiwake, and maybe they should also be listed. However, as their makers all post here, I'll leave that up to them
I think it may have been lost in some editing of off-topic posts, but if anyone wants to add information or boats, then all they have to do is pm or e-mail me the ammended file and I'll get it posted. It would be better, for the purpose of this exercise, for comments to come from those with hands-on experience of the boats.