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Hi all, Had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night. He has just purchased a new Laser in the UK. I asked where he bought it ...
Sorry, for all the questions but was wondering:
Would boats made for the worlds have greater potential for quality issues? I'm assuming hey have to lay up a large number in a relatively short amount of time, and the boats only need to make it through that event... Not saying anyone has any malicious intent or the boat is going to fall to bits but they may rush through it and that is a concern.
Also do ex-charter boats come with warranties?
If one was to buy direct from the ILCA, do they offer a warranty?
Does any one have an example of a new laser warranty?
Given the high new laser prices, and going concerns I'm also starting to wonder if it's worth investing more in the class... am I overreacting?
Thanks
Hi all, Had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last night. He has just purchased a new Laser in the UK. I asked where he bought it ...
If you go to the US section of the LP website, the boats are advertised as "Made in the UK". From what I've read on here, I don't think they have made Laser hulls at the old Vanguard facility in RI for a couple of years (though they do continue to make other boats like Sunfish).
FWIW, the "Made in the UK" is irrelevent to current fiasco. LP owns the Laser trademark in both countries, and BK is due royalties in both countries. I figure they consolidated production in one location when the economy tanked.
This has to be impacting the reputation of the class and will undoubtedly cause others to selected other classes. I think the situation needs resolving and ironically the rule change the ILCA could not make gives them (with Kirby) the power to resolve the situation.
Please provide some arguments for this statement.He did confirm that the serial number did imply that it was a UK built hull as well. Look like Laser Performance is well and truly dead in all but name.....
From a common sense and business point of view, that makes sense
Not necessarily. There has to be a huge disparity in operating costs in order to justify shipping what are essentially 130 lb. irregularly shaped containers full of air across the Atlantic. Cargo density is everything in the shipping industry and doing this seems questionable. That being said, New England has, in the last 60 years become very unfriendly to manufacturers. I think it was probably a combination of reasons.
There are currently 2 dealers in the UK so some spares are available.
420's, Flying Juniors and Lasers were the standard in the States 25 years ago. Did something change?Good to hear that they have enough going on the keep some working stiff like us on the payroll. I am not surprised by the 420s. From what my daughter tells me, they are becoming the defacto standard high school and college sailing dighny.
Just because there are "dealers" does not mean there are spares available. Does not mean there are not either.
Trouble is that when you need "spares" you tend to need specific spares. So a broken bailer means a dealer having a spare mainsheet block is not a lot of help. So a badly broken bailer with no replacements available means no sailing (as prevented me from sailing not that long ago - for far far too long as well). And I was finding that even where an online site was saying "In stock" it did not necessarily mean they had any "In Stock" to send you (but could get some in within a few days from a supplier until they found out the supplier had none "In Stock" either ...).
Ian
Many thanks but I got one in the end (had to wait and wait and wait and eventually stock arrived - maybe somebody paid their bills so more orders were released by a manufacturer ...).If you need a bailer Ian drop me a PM, I have a few kicking around and some servicing kits (my toolbox is always popular at the club for small things like this).
Nothing changed.420's, Flying Juniors and Lasers were the standard in the States 25 years ago. Did something change?
Dumbest move was choosing the Pacer as the national high school team racing boat. Its a poor design and cheaply built. Taser's would be great but they are a bit pricy for high school. The club 420 keeps the price down and kites aren't useful in team racing, unless you want to use it as a sea anchor to block the windward mark.Despite sailing collapsing as a sport in the Australian Universities for other reasons to do with all student associations and clubs funding, the best move we did here was introducing the Laser and dumping the 420 for the Taser. Off the shelf boats made life so much simpler for those running the clubs.
Just because there are "dealers" does not mean there are spares available. Does not mean there are not either.
Ian
As Wavedancer said, nothing has really changed except that we have seen a number of programs migrating to the 420 from older designs like Cape Cod Mercurys, etc. but more significantly from boats like FJs and Larks.420's, Flying Juniors and Lasers were the standard in the States 25 years ago. Did something change?
This has to be impacting the reputation of the class and will undoubtedly cause others to selected other classes. I think the situation needs resolving and ironically the rule change the ILCA could not make gives them (with Kirby) the power to resolve the situation.