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I would try to weigh with the board in. It is a hassle to remove, unless you have the boat in the water to put it down. I would presume you will be mainly looking at boats on dry land on trailers.
The handbook gives the weight of the board. The all-up weight with the board is what you will sail anyway.
Look inland, where boats are often stored in barns, and the metal parts have seen mainly fresh water.
Phil
You can tell by tapping with the handle of a screwdriver if the balsa is wet or soft. Age is not a reliable indicator for soft balsa. There are many old boats that were dry sailed and wintered indoors. There are also many newish boats that have been left outdoors, full of water in freeze/thaw conditions.
If you want to weight the boat you need a hoist and you need to remove the rigging. When they measure at NACs the boats are empty.
Phil
Scots are built very sturdy and don’t tend to get soft over time as much as more lightly constructed boats. Only the first few years were in need of reinforcement.
In general the Douglass and FSInc boats are very consistent. The Customflex boats vary a little more, but many are fast.
For the price range you are considering you can probably find a 3000 or early 4000 series boat in good shape. Fishing Bay is a great club. You may also want to check with Harry at FS and Dave Neff at Selby Bay in Annapolis.
Floor, finish, trailer, hardware and sails are the order I would use for selecting. The last three are easy to upgrade, the first two, not so much.
I upgrade a little bit each year.
There are lots of good Scots that can be found, and the condition is more of an indicator than the number or age. You are right that you can buy a less tricked out boat for less money.
Don’t underestimate how much it can cost to do a lot of upgrades. Sometimes a decently rigged boat is cheaper, and you can spend your time practicing instead of tinkering.
Sails are a consumable if you are really serious about racing, but if you have a decent set, the time with the tiller in hand, racing, is what will make you better.
Success equals:
25% boat
25% sails
50% driver and crewHook up with a good local fleet, and they usually know of good boats that are for sale.
We have boats in our fleet from the sixties, 520 and 570 and they are generally in the hunt. We also have 58xx and 59xx boats and they do well also. Find a boat with a clean gelcoat finish, solid bottom, decent hardware and trailer, and buy a set of sails once you can feel the difference.
Where are you located?
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086
Fleet 163. Lake NockamixonYou may get better info if you contact the local fleet directly. See the fleet listing on the home page.
Phil
Do you have the bow flotation bag, that is now required for racing?
Also, the float for the head of the sail can help prevent turtling. If the boat stays on it’s side, and you right it, you can avoid a lot of bailing.
The swim ladder option allows you to get back in the boat more easily.
These items can be gotten, along with great advice from Flying Scot Inc.
Phil
I repainted mine with Petit enamel from the local marine store. The green “frog” masking tape seems to do a good job of preventing bleeding under the tape.
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086You are correct. For snug and tight rig, it is pegged to one side. The headstay holds the tension, and the jib halyard adjusts the tension of the jib luff, but not the rig tension.
All boats were originally loose rigged, and the toggle under the bow would balance the jib halyard and forestay.
A tighter rig is generally better in higher winds, so I would imagine that tight rig came about to make the boat more manageable in coastal winds.
Tight rig is a job to set up, and likely puts more strain on the boat and standing rigging. Snug has enough tension to keep the rig from flopping around, and can be tweaked up or down to suit the wind.
It seems like a pretty good compromise, and most new sails are sold for the snug setup.
I think the spin halyards originally had a hook on both ends. When sailing with three, the hook would be taken off the ring and connected to a ring on the head of the spinnaker.
The forward crew would unhook the other end when it was time to hoist, and then they would cleat on the wood cleat on the stanchion.
Then came fancy cleats on the coaming, and then all the lines led aft as we see today.
This largely came about as two-up racing became more common.
Phil
They are in the handbook at:
http://www.fssa.com/documents/Official_sail_rigging.pdf
They can be purchased pre-made from Flying Scot Inc.
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086The taper goes toward the luff. You want the leech to be straight. Also the batten cap for the luff and should have a fork in it to center the elastic band. The leech end should be smooth.
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086There are several good fleets at the shore, from Red Bank all the way down to Cape May. Tom’s River and Stone harbor are pretty active. Monmouth Boat Club is Red Bank is a great fleet.
Our fleet goes down to a regatta in Avalon each year. This year it’s in Aug, I think.
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086Hot Wheels is right. Where are you located? Fleet nearby? If you are near eastern PA, we have a great fleet at Lake Nockamixon. Saturday racing gets in off the water between 2 and 3. See you tomorrow?
You can check out boats in a fleet and find the best setup.
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086Your boat is set up for cross-sheeting. You are right, the jib sheet comes across. You can bow-string the sheet to get jib tension,but it is not the best angle to pull. My boat was like this when I got it. If you are going to race seriously I would go right to seat cleats for the jib.
The other cleat is multipurpose. I took mine off, as I sit near that area and got them under a hip enough to get bruises. If you have three and it’s windy someone will be sitting on those. You have to cut them off. The screws will be corroded fast in the cleat. You have to cut down through them with a hacksaw almost down to the boat. When the saw is almost down the boat, hit the cleat and it will break. Then spin the screws out using the two halves of the cleat as a lever. Confused, call Harry.
The second mast step is for the old way of raising the mast. Before the mast hinge, you would stick the butt of the mast in the stanchion and raise it, and attach the forestay. Then on the LOOSE rig, you would lift the mast up onto the higher step. The mast hinge eliminated all that and the snug and tight rigs of today can’t be done this way.
Have fun.
Phil Scheetz
FS 4086
