Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

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ent228
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Location: Stoke Gabriel, On the Dart, South Devon

Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by ent228 »

Came across this by accident, maybe of some interest.

https://moodle.fp.tul.cz/mod/page/view.php?id=11755
LASERTOURIST
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Location: France

Re: Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by LASERTOURIST »

Link seems to lead nowhere?

I Think Toppers were first built in classical GRP molding before JW Dunhill invested in a mammoth injection tool mold to cranck cheap boats in polypropylène .

There is an attempt to do something like this in France (The Albatros by JM Finot)...but

Finot (who designed fairly good ocean going boats ) seems to be somewhat less lucky with anything under 16 Ft (yes he was the one who designed the infamous Wizz)


The production tool seems to suffer teething troubles.

It is really a pity because there is a potential market (Sit on top rotomolded kayaks sell like scones and muffins and are the cheapest way to get people on the water, and possibly a good number of kayakers may get tired of paddling and want to go for some reallty cheap sailing boat)
clibb
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Re: Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by clibb »

A footnote to the Topper. Martin Treadway, who is a member of Frensham Pond Sailability, was a marketing consultant to Topper when the ubiquitous Topper was launched, and he told us that the material cost for the polyprop on launch was £7.50. The launch price for the boat was £249 complete, and this amount was chosen, not in relation to the material cost, or the rig, but to the amount that was permitted to be sold on a credit card without authorisation from the credit card company. The launch was at a boat show - not sure which one - and therefore they did not want to lose time having to get credit card authorisation at the show. How long it remained at £249 I don't know.

Nick
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Re: Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by LASERTOURIST »

On the other end ...what was the cost of the mould (a gigantic thing machined out f a block of solid aluminium alloy) and how many boats had to be cranked out to recoup the mold cost???


It is a leap into real industry as opposed to cottage industry
ent228
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Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 11:32 pm
Location: Stoke Gabriel, On the Dart, South Devon

Re: Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by ent228 »

Hi LT,

try this link, it is the same article:

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-m ... ection-6.4
LASERTOURIST
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Re: Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by LASERTOURIST »

Very interesting piece of information...shows how narrow the margin is betwen succes and failure.

You have to be very catreful in the details (where ,as they say is where the devil lies) and carefully think of all the possible snags (the cetreboard "crash plate" for example) before launching a cjheap popu boat with narrow profit margins
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trebor
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Re: Interesting article on material choice for the Topper

Post by trebor »

I believe their is a video on minisail.org.uk , showing the machines in action and the boat being presented at the boat show.
Robert
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