Hi Russ, Many conratulations to Topper International and yourself on producing such an attractive looking new boat. The improvements are very significant and I hope that it's a great commercial success. As you say in your video, the new boat will be a noticeable improvement to the old Topper. The hull looks very smooth and seems to have a more consistent shape than the old boat. Hopefully, it will keep it's shape better than the old topper. The improvements to the bailer, toe straps and traveller will be very welcome. I suspect that the hatches are more to do with fitting out the boat but I'm sure the storage will be welcome. Also flattening the transom (by increasing the waterline length by around 20mm) will stop the mainsheet catching. All these changes to the hull will very likely improve laminar flow and performance compared to the old Topper. As you say in the video, the new boat is stiffer as it's a one-piece moulding and now made out of polyethylene. I assume that the new boat will have a stiffer mast step and daggerboard casing which together with the hull stiffness will help pointing and tacking. One thing that you haven't mentioned in the video is if the weight of the new boat is within the same range as the old Topper and how consistently the rota molded boat can be produced to a small weight tolerance. It would be interesting to find out. Also is the bow line attachment point any stronger? All the best, Richard Glynn.
Great to see the Topper still going, I remember mine in the 80's with great pleasure ideally suited to those of us without the weight or muscle even for the Laser Radial, had lots of fun in it and so easy to look after. Hope it's a success but suspect it might need a bit more looking after than the old model to keep it looking good.
I refer to it as the New boat because despite the new materials, one-piece mould and greater stiffness, the New boat doesn't comply with the current World Sailing ITCA (world) class rules and therefore can't be called a Topper or raced against the old Topper
Hi Russ,
Many conratulations to Topper International and yourself on producing such an attractive looking new boat. The improvements are very significant and I hope that it's a great commercial success. As you say in your video, the new boat will be a noticeable improvement to the old Topper. The hull looks very smooth and seems to have a more consistent shape than the old boat. Hopefully, it will keep it's shape better than the old topper. The improvements to the bailer, toe straps and traveller will be very welcome. I suspect that the hatches are more to do with fitting out the boat but I'm sure the storage will be welcome. Also flattening the transom (by increasing the waterline length by around 20mm) will stop the mainsheet catching. All these changes to the hull will very likely improve laminar flow and performance compared to the old Topper. As you say in the video, the new boat is stiffer as it's a one-piece moulding and now made out of polyethylene. I assume that the new boat will have a stiffer mast step and daggerboard casing which together with the hull stiffness will help pointing and tacking. One thing that you haven't mentioned in the video is if the weight of the new boat is within the same range as the old Topper and how consistently the rota molded boat can be produced to a small weight tolerance. It would be interesting to find out. Also is the bow line attachment point any stronger? All the best,
Richard Glynn.
Great to see the Topper still going, I remember mine in the 80's with great pleasure ideally suited to those of us without the weight or muscle even for the Laser Radial, had lots of fun in it and so easy to look after. Hope it's a success but suspect it might need a bit more looking after than the old model to keep it looking good.
Clearly that is a class in itself.
I like it.
I refer to it as the New boat because despite the new materials, one-piece mould and greater stiffness, the New boat doesn't comply with the current World Sailing ITCA (world) class rules and therefore can't be called a Topper or raced against the old Topper
Should be counted as a separate class, would be a disgrace going against the old model