SLI hulls any good?

Moderator: GreenLake

SLI hulls any good?

Postby SHSC » Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:49 am

Hello,

Tried searching but can't find anything about the different manufacturers. From what I can tell, the 1's are more desirable as better racers/faster hulls. Within the 1s, are the ones built by SLI in the early 90's any good, or are the original 1's made in the 50's/60's better/faster?

Thanks

- SHSC
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Re: SLI hulls any good?

Postby GreenLake » Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:49 pm

How competitive are you? And how well can you sail any boat to its potential?

Are you looking at purchasing an SLI for the purpose of primarily racing?

A bit more background would be interesting - if you haven't given up on following this forum...
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: SLI hulls any good?

Postby EBen » Sun Apr 22, 2018 11:42 am

I am an increasingly competitive sailor, and I own a 1994 SLI-built DS. I love the boat, and race it every chance I get. There is one other 1994/95? SLI DS in the fleet, and it was a new addition. We have found that these are fast boats, and they can win races. I understand that conventional wisdom is that the original DS1 boats are lighter and faster hulls. My community in Portland has not proven or disproven this in any way. Understand that we are local racers. We travel to one or two regional regattas per year. At the national level, I do not believe an SLI hull has ever won the annual championships. But just you wait! Every year those DS1 boats get older, and every year some of us newer sailors get a little faster!

Ben
DS Fleet 23
Portland, Oregon
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Re: SLI hulls any good?

Postby lemsteraak » Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:49 pm

I have the exact sister ship to Ben, even the same colors. I was at first a sceptic, now I really like the SLI boats. I don't know about weight but the hulls are very fair and seem to match the early DS1's in terms of speed on the Willamette River. Where they shine is that they are designed for self-rescue. I haven't had the honor to flip mine yet but I've noticed they have a great deal of buoyancy and will not scoop up so much water so would be great for open water. The self bailer is a plus and a minus. On the plus side, you don't have to bail, on the minus, they leak when they get old, like 25 years old. Don't rebuild, save up and buy a new one, they are expensive.

The foils (centerboard, rudder) are well shaped and low drag. I suspect that they are copies of Waterrat designs. There is one major difference between Ben's boat and mine, the mast. His is set on a tabernacle and mine is a Ballanger tapered keel stepped mast. For racing, I prefer mine, but for knocking about and trailering, Ben's boat wins the speed in setup race. These boats are rather new to our club so we will know more after the Al Morris regatta ...... those early DS1s are strong and fast boats.

Rich
Portland Oregon
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Re: SLI hulls any good?

Postby peterj » Thu May 02, 2019 12:03 am

My experience is a bit limited.

In my brief time sailing Daysailers, we raced an SLI Daysailer to win the Midwinters in Sarasota and the NA's in Eugene OR. I have no idea what year. Maybe 1992 or 1993? The keel stepped Superspar was very tune-able. We had speed on all points of sail in all conditions. The Cape Cod built boats are nearly identical and very nice too. The self-rescue-ability is very nice.

Am looking for an SLI built Daysailer for a friend and his son in Beaufort SC. Does anyone know of one available?
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