I often get asked what I would do to improve the 49er, and my answer is always to look at the 29er. Whereas the 49er is performance based, the 29er is value based. Both are quality products. We have chosen to use a polyester resin system for a number of reasons, including cost, repeatability in isolated regions where we are expecting the boat to be built and also, being a small boat, the loads are exponentially smaller, the skins heavier and therefore well within polyester's ability to handle the loads. The boat is fully cored and the construction procedures are novel enough so as to dramatically reduce the overall cost and also to ensure that each boat is as similar to another as is practically possible.
Alloy foils .
They are difficult to build, they are a poor value in relation to their size, they are difficult to repeat, easily damaged and yet they are critical to performance. Alloy foils overcome just about every one of these issues and, add to this the alloy rudder stock, and you end up with foils that are virtually unbreakable, very tough and, if you have a major problem, you can fix it with a hammer. This is a youth training boat which will be used for teaching. Kids love to grab things and their confidence grows far more quickly if they feel secure. Added to that we had to give people something with which to pull themselves back into the boat after a capsize.