Thanks Bob, Martin - very useful info. I think I'll continue with my old stuff for another season but buy a new set of wires to keep handy just in case. It sounds like the newer, thicker stuff is proving very reliable.

Erling, You make a fair point in that a single supplier prevents "arms races" between suppliers who continually make tiny mods to the product each year and thus force competitive buyers to keep upgrading perfectly good gear - this is commonplace in the world of windsurfing and it's dead an...

The Cat-bitz one's not such a good deal if it doesn't include battens. Mine are all shot to bits so I wouldn't really want to re-use them. I'm assuming the class legal ones do include battens? Would a club really stop you from competing in a race? What's wrong with allowing an "illegal" bo...

Hi Steve, I'm surprised you get as many failures as you do. My cat is kept right by the sea and is left rigged from April to October, so it does get a fair bit of salt air. I try to minimise risk by adding a couple of loops of dynema in parallel with the forestay strop as advised in an artcle here. ...

I was wondering how often the regular sailors here renew their boat's bridle wires, forestay & shrouds. On your advice I changed all mine after I bought my boat as I didn't know the history of any of it. I've sailed with it all for two seasons now and am just unsure if I should trust my present ...

Bob - I do indeed see the benefits of supporting Brian and I'm sure that his support for the Dart is part of the reason so many are sailing out there. I've bought quite a few bits from Windsport and will continue to do so. I may end up buying a new one anyway but it's a lot of money for a boat that'...

Hi Bob,
Re. your last post , does that mean that there are in fact alternate sails out there that will fit the Dart 15 OK even though they're not "class-legal"?

Do Cat-bitz sell mainsails? I thought you did but can't find them on your website.

Just a quick update. If anyone's planning on visiting the Excel Boat Show, there are a couple of stands selling VHFs a very good prices. I was up there on Friday & Saturday and picked up a Cobra HH325 for £68 from the Fusion stand. Cheapest I could find them online was £85!! Saw an interesting n...

Do any of us take a VHF handheld out with them? Just curious.

Hi Martin,
Could you email me with the fixed username and password for accessing the members area please? I read your post to Mark earlier in the thread and looked at my original registration email from you but it only stated my forum username etc...
Thanks.
Regards,
J.

Hi Richard, I can thoroughly recommend Steve Sawford as a source of materials - I've bought a fair bit of gelcoat from him in the past and he always matches up the colour perfectly. I recently had to do a repair to my tail end after a collision and did just as Steve Willis suggests. Thouroughly clea...

Sounds like your "fly by wire" tagline is becoming very appropriate - you'll be pulling off body-drags next...

Well, after a season during which I sailed my Dart a fair bit more than last year, I'm now finished for the year and will be taking the mast down this week. One thing I need to look at before next year's sailing season is my sail - it's in a bit of a sorry state, having been pretty ropey when I boug...

Sounds good George. Is the DX rig available to buy yet, or is it still in development/testing?
You're right, a modern sail would be a good way of adding a new lease of life to an already great little boat.