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Doing as much research as I can prior to buying a Sprint, I noticed on the price guide that the Out of Africa boats seem to be worth less than the model that preceeded them. Is there a reason for this, or is it just an anomaly caused by there being so few of them?
Hi Derik, The South African made boats were somewhat problematic for a number of reasons so have not proved so popular on the second hand market. They came with a number of defects that Windsport did their best to rectify. These included replacing the rudder blades as the original ones had a different cross section and proved to be very twitchy when steering, the masts were replaced because the wall thickness was too thin and they bent very easily in a capsize, they were a bit on the heavy side and they had a tendency to take in water. I owned 2002 and it was quite normal to take on a gallon or so in each hull after a heavy days sailing in strong winds. This leaking was hard to fix. Leakage around the hatch covers was easy to address and most of the owners fixed that but most of the leaking occurred around the beam sockets where there were structural problems. Windsport did repair a few boats at their own expense but it was a complex repair involving taking off the decks and putting reinforcement around the beam sockets before replacing the decks. The net effect was to add quite a bit of weight to the boat. I elected not to have the reinforcement done to 2002. It was generally an OK boat but just took on a bit of water. For a first boat or a club knock-about it was perfectly adequate and took on less water in lighter winds. If you are a hot sailor hoping the win races it is better to go for a UK built boat.
Regards
Bob Carter
PS The performance was not hopeless. My best result in the boat was a close 2nd place (out of 46 entries) in the Inland Championships at the 2006 Grafham Cat Open. I was beaten by Robin Leather who was a better sailor....
Interesting... So apart from the fact that they leak, are difficult to steer, have masts that tend to bend and crack at the beam fittings - they're good boats?
Bob is spot on here & essentially if you are after a Dart 15 (sorry, Sprint 15) for cruising then the Africa boats will be OK on the assumption the leaky hulls are fixed.
If you are intending to race then just avoid them totally!
