by Capt. Flak » Thu Aug 19, 2004 11:16 am
An observation from one who has sailed against most of these builders. Reichard Kahle, Mike Zellanack, Mark Rinehart, and David Brawner build exceptional boats that are ready to win races the minute they hit the water. Although it is my understanding that Brawner has backed away from building, I may be wrong.
Others like Pete Kremlick build great boats that are definately at the top of the fleet. And there are many guys around the country that build very nice boats. It all depends on the level of performance you seek and the size of your wallet.
That is a very dangerous statement to make about a one-design class, so I need to be clear that I am talking about the skill level of the builders and attention to detail. All the hulls and parts start out on an equal footing, it is how well they put them together that can make the difference.
The best thing about this class is while all these talented builders would love to make you a boat, all of them are always willing to share advice if you want to build it yourself.
Perhaps we should add a list of builders to the suppliers list.
On a more personal note, I built my own boat and I must have made a hundred calls to all of the names above seeking help and advice, and all of them were very supportive. I also read the EC-12 Manual from cover to cover several times before I ever started. After all that I began to build and it was much harder and more time consuming than I ever expected. The result, I feel, was a very cometitive boat. But if I was to start building boats for other people, I would be charging twice as much as they do. My hats off to all of them. It may look like a lot of money, but trust me it's a steal.
Joe Walter #24