Laser Shell or similar sought
Ed Hughes
of life, I want to get a single handed skulling boat to use mainly on
estuaries, occasionally at sea when it is flat. I am based in Exmouth,
Devon, England.
Some years ago, Performance Sailcraft, manufacturers of the Laser, made a
boat called a Laser Shell, that seems to be pretty much what I think I am
after - i.e. reasonably light, but robust, glass-fibre, ergo no maintenance,
and car-topable, or in my case, puttable on the roof of an ancient
Land-Rover that services my various boating interests. Performance Sailcraft
no longer make these (and in any event I would probably seek a second-hand
boat) and if anyone on this group has one to dispose of, or knows of one for
sale, I would be grateful if they could kindly share that knowledge with me
either via the group, or direct at edhu...@stanex.globalnet.co.uk
If anyone out there has had experience of the Laser Shell, I would be
interested to hear - I guess weight/size is an issue, I am around 75kg, and
just over six foot(184cms). Also, is there another similar type of thing
around I could seek, and if looking, where, other than this group, might I
consider looking?
Lots of questions - be grateful for any answers.
Ed. Hughes
Kevin Burt
Dart Tones Rowing Club (just down the road...) still has one (or had one
when I was last there...Edgar).
I started sculling in one - I'm 2m tall and ~96kg so you should be okay in
terms of weight and height. I've tried a web search and can't find any
information on a UK dealer - though there seems to be Canadian ones who
might be able to help with a UK contact
http://www.reach.net/~powell/index.html
Try speaking nicely to Edgar Cove (regular newsgroup poster)about getting a
go in it if you want to try one out (sorry Edgar!).
Hope this helps
Kevin
Ed Hughes <EDHu...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:t9t2hco...@xo.supernews.co.uk...
edgar cove
<k...@irow.com> writes
>Hi Ed,
>
>Dart Tones Rowing Club (just down the road...) still has one (or had one
>when I was last there...Edgar).
>
>I started sculling in one - I'm 2m tall and ~96kg so you should be okay in
>terms of weight and height. I've tried a web search and can't find any
>information on a UK dealer - though there seems to be Canadian ones who
>might be able to help with a UK contact
>
>http://www.reach.net/~powell/index.html
>
>Try speaking nicely to Edgar Cove (regular newsgroup poster)about getting a
>go in it if you want to try one out (sorry Edgar!).
>
>Hope this helps
>
>Kevin
>
>Ed Hughes <EDHu...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:t9t2hco...@xo.supernews.co.uk...
>> I sail, water-ski, windsurf, and occasionally canoe. Variety being the
>spice
>> of life, I want to get a single handed skulling boat to use mainly on
>> estuaries, occasionally at sea when it is flat. I am based in Exmouth,
>> Devon, England.
Hi Kevin! Yes, we do still have one here and I will be happy to show it
to Ed if he comes down this way. It is quite comfortable and stable to
scull, unsinkable and pretty seaworthy but I am not sure it meets the
requirement of being 'reasonably light'. Certainly two people can carry
it and once I saw a person pick it up single-handed but he soon put it
down again. I also have a Land Rover and since the roof rack is over
six feet above the ground I think even two people would find it a bit of
a struggle to get a Laser Shell up there. But Ed is welcome to come and
try it out and judge for himself.
Regards
--
edgar (remove nospam from return address for e-mail reply)
MElsen
First, mine was a bit old so may have been waterlogged, but it weighed 40 kg
(90 lbs.) which made it (after a good workout) less than easily cartoppable
(for a 50+ lightweight). An 18 kg (40 lb) new or used Maas Aero, Maas 24 or
the like is much better for an open water, cartoppable rec boat.
Second, rowing a LaserShell in open water makes for very wet feet. Once the
cockpit is filled with water, the water just keeps on coming. Mine didn't have
a bailer, you might get a LS with one. I just found the LS too unresponsive in
a seaway (lower Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, US)
Unless you will keep it on the dock, or use a cart (which I did) to launch it,
most of your workout will be the heavy lifting before and after rowing.
Try as many boats as possible to find the right fit. Try clubs, dealers,
friends. Getting your butt in a boat is far preferable to word of mouth.
Laser makes a fine little sailboat --- the LaserShell is just too heavy for a
shell.
That's my 2p worth,
Morris
Catherine McInerney
MElsen wrote:
I would tend to agree. We have a Laser rowing shell at LRC and it gets almost no
use because it is too heavy for most of the recreational rowers to drag down the
steps to the water and then back up after practice. Also , the number of
adjustments
that you can make ( footstops, riggers) so it is a painful calve cutting row for
anyone who is overly short or tall.
Catherine McInerney
Luke Howells
Not entirely sure what sort of craft the Laser Shell is, but you may like to
have a look at the Virus Yole (website:
http://www.virusuk.demon.co.uk/yole/index.html) to see what it has to offer -
we (TTRC) have one for use by our novices and they find it very stable and
easy to manoeuvre on the water and light and easy to man-handle off the
water.
The website claims that "they are lightweight so can easily be handled by
their crew (single or double) and are ideal for transporting on roof racks
or, if you prefer, trailers.".
Hope this helps,
Luke
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Kevin Burt
Catherine McInerney <cmci...@julian.uwo.ca> wrote in message
news:3A9FC1F7...@julian.uwo.ca...
> I would tend to agree. We have a Laser rowing shell at LRC and it gets
almost no
> use because it is too heavy for most of the recreational rowers to drag
down the
> steps to the water and then back up after practice. Also , the number of
> adjustments
> that you can make ( footstops, riggers) so it is a painful calve cutting
row for
> anyone who is overly short or tall.
Two metres isn't overly tall?
I just shove the feet (in every boat I've rowed - except one coastal one) as
far forward as it will go. No problem. No problem with slide bites or
anything. True that you can't adjust much, but you (generally) don't need
to.
Yes it is heavy, but it is possible to lift one personed to and from the
water if the person is strong enough and motivated enough (or in my case had
no friends).
I recommend trying to find if the newer ones are lighter and go down to
Tones. Not all of them are wierd Totnes hippies.
Kevin
Ed Hughes
I think I can rule out the Laser shell on the basis of weight. Not so much
from the point of view of getting it on/off the Landies roof - I used to get
a Laser up there single handed when a little younger and fitter. Just a
matter of technique really. Weight is more relevant when it comes to
handle-ability from the landie to the water and back. And I don't want to be
pushing too much weight around on the water either. One of my canoes - a
Chinook - weighs 24kg, which is O.K., though you don't want to walk too far
with it for sure.
Length is also an issue to some extent - the Landie is SWB, not LWB, and I
guess is about twelve foot six long. The Chinook is 4.88 metres long, and
overhangs about as much as I can reasonably get away with. At least it (or a
shell) is highly visible - which is more than can be said for the five metre
carbon fibre windsurfer mast that has given me one or two nervous moments
over the years....
The Virus Yole Mr. Luke Howells suggested looked interesting, but too big
and heavy for my purposes - but the Turbo on the same site, or something
like it seems to offer potential. But spending the thick end of a grand on
something that is a secondary interest does make me develop a nervous tick.
The more so untried. Where the Laser shells are older, I figured they would
be cheaper, and my midset was down that line rather than a second mortgage,
and subsequently having to syphon petrol out of next door's lawnmower
anytime I wanted to drive to the beach. Self-draining is a good feature -
and thank you to Morris Elson for making that point. I suppose Turbos come
up second-hand from time to time, and if anyone has any idea where I might
look for "pre-owned" boats of such or similar type, I would be grateful for
that information.
Maas Aero/24 sound pretty good at 18kg - unless that makes them too unstable
for a novice sculler, if not novice boater in the broader context. Finally,
thank you also to Edgar Cove for offering a paddle in the Totnes Laser
Shell. If it wasn't for the weight of evidence going against that craft I
would have been very grateful for that offer - but I don't now think that I
should use the kindly offered time on something that probably wouldn't work
out.
Ed. H.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ed Hughes <EDHu...@globalnet.co.uk>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.rowing
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2001 5:38 PM
Subject: Laser Shell or similar sought
Ed Hughes <EDHu...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:t9t2hco...@xo.supernews.co.uk...
peter.v...@gmail.com
Henry Law
> On Thursday, March 1, 2001 12:43:10 PM UTC-5, Ed Hughes wrote:
>> of life, I want to get a single handed skulling boat to use mainly on
>> estuaries, occasionally at sea when it is flat. I am based in Exmouth,
>> Devon, England.
>
> I happen to have one and I am putting it on the market
>
old? I suspect he may have got a boat, or changed his mind or something
by now.
--
Henry Law Manchester, England