How important is weight?

[Dave Pickett]

I reckon that with the no 1 rig I will be up to 100 grams over the 4kg min weight, my thinking is that this is only 2.5% and at my skill level (begginer!) it is of little consequence, is my thinking correct?

[Barry Fox CAN262]

Your assumption is likely very close to right. If you are a beginner (sometimes even with some years of experience) you will gain more by getting good starts and making the right tactical decisions than 100 gm will cost you. It may all be quite beside the point if you can't find a way to get the extra weight out down the road anyway. Sometimes we just end up (not necessarily by choice) building a "beginners" boat that is not as spot on as you would like.

[Dave Pickett]

Thanks Barry, as my first IOM and with so little detailed info on the build of the boats I am erring on the side of caution and adding strength as I think it is required. I also think more weight "may" be better in light winds as there is more momentum when tacking, but whatever it is going to be really marginal......

(thanks for taking the trouble to reply, loads of others must have experience of an overweight boat, or at least an opinion, yet they dont bother to post. I am beginning to feel that the IOM community isnt especially helpful or welcoming to newcomers, and there is comparatively little detailed information available - makes actually getting in to the hobby very difficult. Combined with the lack of practical skills youngsters have these days I am beginning to wonder if IOM's will survive long term.)

[Barry Fox CAN262]

Generally (and there are a good number of exceptions) you will find that you need to go to "the pond" and mix in with your local (or other) club(s). When you are there you will meet an almost endless line of expertise who will be more than happy to take you through your growing experience.

Where I am we had a big growth spurt a few years ago and that has tapered off some now but we get new folks every year and teh fleet seems to be maintaining itself now.

You will generally do a lot better locally than on "the world stage" as far as getting answers to questions but keep on asking and usually someone will pipe in.

[RoyL]

Years ago, when I was first learning to shoot, my instructor told me that it was more important for a beginner rather than an expert to have the best equipment possible. He said it was hard enough to learn to shoot right; to learn with a gun with faulty sights was almost impossible.

Weight is important.

[Bruce Andersen]

the same excess weight that may glide you through tacks will also slow your acceleration and mobility. Most IOM's are wearing 10s of grams of corrector weights in the bilge - to be 100 gms overweight is quite a bit. You may not be able to notice a performance degrade, but it's there.

[Dave Pickett]

Been weighing again, actually may be pretty close..........can always cut some of the deck out and put patches on, and use a 900 mah battery and just change it more regularly. Also have a savox 256 servo (12 grams) there are a few options left!!!!

Has anyone actually got an overweight IOM and is it a real life problem as opposed to a theorectical one?

Maybe someone could bung an extra 100 grams on a boat for a heat and see if it is an issue?

[Nathaniel Deverell]

you wont realy notice performance differance when your racing since you focus more on were you want to go and were the next gust is and were the other boats are ect but there IS a difference and having a light fast boat makes the whole race a lot easier. You haveto be confident that the equipment you are using will win races. A Confident relaxed happy skipper will no doubt do very very well.