The following is a selection of tips & comments from over the past year or so. The messages are more or less as they appeared originally, though I have taken the liberty of editing out some of the irrelevant byplay. Where they are useful parts of the originating questions are included italicized & in (brackets). Editor’s notes within messages are enclosed in <brackets>.
COST
Dale Sampson (2000)
(on cost…)
Just finished one. It's best not to calculate it. If your wife asks, about $45.00US give or take. As Nike says, just do it. You'll be glad ya did.
FIREBALL MANUFACTURERS
Phil (May 7, 2001)
(Looking for Current Fireball Manufacturers)
If you're looking for one in ready-to-sail condition, you'll have to import it from the UK/Europe/Australia. Sorry. A good time to import one would be with the European containers coming in for the Worlds in March 2002 (Tampa Florida)
But if you feel handy with tools (and want to save a lot of money) Derek Griffiths (voodoo@interlog.com ) in Toronto can make you a foam-cored fibreglass hull "shell" that you then put the bulkheads in and deck it yourself. There's also a hull mold out in California somewhere (Steve Smith) but I don't think he's too interested in making Fireballs at the moment.
FIREBALL PLANS
Phil Locker (2000)
Follow the link from "The Boat" to "Specifications" and you'll find an address for Mike McEvoy, and the price of the plans. This brings up another point however - Mike has been selling a few plans lately. The stock plans are for the classic "narrow bow" boat. When does FI intend to issue new plans that incorporate the more popular "wide bow" style? As an aside, when Gary Van Tassell designed his new boat, he started with a set of stock plans, working right down the middle of the measurement tolerances, then just widened the bow a whole lot between the front two measurement stations.
Mike (Jan. 17, 2001)
(…where can I get plans?)
Contact Andrew Davies at Fireball International Andrew.Davies@Fireball.onyxnet.co.uk
WIDE-BOW VARIATION
gary van tassel II (2000)
Anyway to comment on the home-made wide-bow thing. (I have to comment because I think i'm the only one to do it recently).....Well its a bitch! Phil was right when he said that we went straight down the numbers. That was our first mistake but keep in mind we started building before we knew ANYTHING about fireballs. Your best plan to copy the delange is come visit me or Henry and measure ours. (Risky Business) Follow her measurements and torture your wood from there. This method worked quite well for Bobby when he built that mad machine Dances With Waves. (Remember that boat Kingston guys) Boomer turned out fast but Risky and Dances are still faster. Cheers and good luck
Phil Locker (2000)
Re: wide bow boats (and building in general). Read: http://www.magma.ca/~locker/ofa/SpeedSecrets.html And remember, given the close tolerances of the Fireball class rules, the difference between wide-bow and classic shapes is only a few mm. The standard plans will give a wide-bow shape if you max the tolerances in the front sections. Don't get carried away or it won't measure.