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[boghog]

I am currently contemplating a Phantom but they are in short supply in Scotland. There is one for sale up north which is wooden, low bouyancy version built in 2007 by M.Uher and has sail number 1285. It was measured by an R.L.Brown in 2009. I am attracted more by the price and proximity of this one as a 'plastic' boat would suit me better being a lazy sod. I wondered if anyone out there was familiar with the boat or the builder to give some insight as to how competitive it is likely to be. The other boats I am likely to come up against will mostly be pretty new and non-wood. From what I have read here the wooden boat would still be classed 'classic' and handicapped accordingly which is welcome. As I have not had to sail one in anger I am worried that if I subsequently decide the boat is not for me then I may have problems selling it on if it is perceived as being from a builder with no record of competitive boats. Any information and informed opinion therefore appreciated.

['One-Pint']

Hey Bog,

Sadly, I don't have the answer you want.  If a hand had two fingers you could count the number of professional builders who built anywhere near minimum weight on one hand.  Most amateur builds will be over by 10-20%.  However, there's more to boatspeed that the weight of the craft.  Look where the first woody came in the nationals last year - and that boat (by its owner's admission) was seriously overweight due to repairs if nothing else!
I get no favours with handicap but this will vary from club to club of course.
Re-sale value is one of the more salient points here.  You are already in a more limited market with the boat being wood; add to that the fact that however well-built it is it is still a one-off and therefore not tried and tested.  Sad really becuse, like so many dinghy designs, it was inteded to be built by the amateur.  You could take a punt - I can guarrantee you'll have a really enjoyable sail but it really wants to be as cheeky an offer as you can get away with.

Good luck!

[boghog]

Thanks, one pint. Think you answered my questions honestly which was the purpose of the post. Need to save more pennies as I think it will be worth waiting for the right boat than getting frustrated by a pretty but slow(er) boat. Too heavy for a Laser now so it's either a Rooster 8.1 rig or something else with more grunt.
Cheers.

[AlexOg]

I'm gonna have to go with one pint on this one. Unless you can get a test sail and make sure the whole boat is sound and seaworthy then it's definitely worth waiting for something better to come along. Whilst most woodies are good sound boats noone wants to take the chance that what they're actually buying is a 'one-off' piece of crap (see: my boat!).
Unless of course you're some kind of wood working genius in which case crack on!

Alex

[maxibuddah]

I think that some of the low buoyancy boats were actually composite, ie an epoxy hull with wooden top sides. a quick call to Roger Brown would confirm this. Roger is the memebership sec but also deals with the measurement stuff and measured that boat.

As a self confessed lazy sod, the low buoyancy may suit better. the full epoxy boats float quite high in the water and can be a bit of pain to get on the board again when you capsize. the low buoyancy ones float a lot lower and make it a lot easier to get upright.

don't dismiss it completely, find out a couple of things from Roger first. He should even be able to tell you the weight. It may be that it us completely wood and massively heavy, but at least you will have found out. the low buoyancy thing does appeal to a certain part of the market

[AlexOg]

...orrrrrr you could just save yourself the climb maxibuddah and stay in the boat? 

[maxibuddah]

Oh if it were always easy AlexOg, if only. With the best will in the world people fall in, and if it's difficult to get back in then it's race over, or worse....

[boghog]

My last boat was a Vortex. You didn't really get the option of staying aboard, you usually got catapulted off by the trapeze! You needed a step-ladder to get back over the gunnel if it was on it's side. Luckily it had two dagger-boards and therefore the lower was easy to reach and get on. Once upright it was easiest to get in over the stern, quickly before it started to take off again. 

[DonaldM]

Talking of difficult boats to get back into - RS100 in waves!!

[Norbas]

I can only offer my opinion as a non-owner, for what it's worth, as I looked into this particular boat too, it prompted my 'Woody or wait?' post in the General section.

I decided against this woody in particular for some of the reasons that One-pint raises. Resale value and potential uncompetitive hull weight (although I admit the helm ability has a bigger impact than anything else). I also ruled out a woody in general due to practicality of using it in winter and maintaining it in general.

So I'm currently saving for a plastic Phantom with a view to buying at the end of the year...

Dave