Hulls 70-79

[surfbob9]

The Viper used boat buyers guide mentions that Hulls 70-79 came out of the molds heavy. That the manufacturer "warrantied" the boats then re-sold them. What does "warranty" mean? Did they lighten them? Do we know how much over weight they were? Thanks!     

[Peter Beardsley]

They were warrantied as to the original owners of those boats only, who I believe got replacement hulls.  The heavier hulls from that batch are still out there and are generally at least 100 lbs overweight - no easy way to lighten those boats either.  That said, while there is a class minimum hull weight, we don't have a hull weigh-in (YET) at major class championships or a measurement certificate for hull weight, and it is more likely than not that even some new Vipers in the year 2023 come in 20-30 lbs over the Class minimum.  There aren't many hulls that are actually around 750 lbs.  It's just that the 70-79 batch are meaningfully heavier than the rest of the boats.  We still see some of them at regattas, but many of them are PHRF boats in areas outside of major one design racing. 

[Matt Rowlinson]

We bought 70 in 2007; it weighed an even 800 lbs rigged with sails as per the rules. It was the Rondar demo; not warrantied. The boat has some eccentricities (hem--toilet seat on the foredeck), but we had lots of fun with it.

[Technical Committee]

The Viper used boat buyers guide mentions that Hulls 70-79 came out of the molds heavy. That the manufacturer "warrantied" the boats then re-sold them. What does "warranty" mean? Did they lighten them? Do we know how much over weight they were? Thanks!     

70 was not heavy.
70 was actually a very carefully built boat.  Hand built component by component to keep the boat light because Rondar did not know what the boats would weigh until the built the first one.

The urban legend is Which came first, #70 or the minimum weight?

The foils were not even built by Rondar, they were cannibalized from a boat in the 60 series built by DaPonte. 

[Matt Rowlinson]

Agree that 70 was very well built, and light compared to other boats of that vintage. I don't know what it weighed as supplied; it came with the old keel, and we did the modification. After the keel mod. I weighed it on Brad Boston's load cell and it was 800#.