[quote=nacrasailing][quote=badfish][quote=ctcataman]I saw some reference in a post to certain models of F18s being part of the Dead Boat Society, and have seen a ton of Infusions for sale. What was the rule change or new tech driving this?[/quote]
Just my opinion but it appears as if locally for us F18 has seen a decrease in general. Add on top of that Nacra's subpar customer support in the US and I think that explains the Infusion's decline. Plus, the C2 is a better thought out boat and QA/QC seems better.[/quote]
I think this seems like a lot of speculation. I run Nacra and was also F18 Class President for 4 years. Is Nacra perfect in the US? No it's not...but I'm also only one person running the company because we don't sell a lot of boats. We rely on our dealers as partners and are constantly trying to improve, but it's not easy because most dealers aren't selling enough to support their Nacra efforts. We're doing our best... we're selling less than 20 boats a year, yet we still have a US Warehouse with boats and long parts ready to go, insurance (which is not cheap), they pay me, and an entire team and building in the Netherlands. I work also for 4 other companies to pay my bills but stay on top of Nacra needs... when we're selling 50+ again then we can dedicate more resources but the math with our current structure doesn't even work yet we're still chugging along as if it does, and we advertise on this site!
In the meantime you can contact myself, one of our dealers, or purchase directly from our online webstore.
If you have an issue with Nacra please contact me at Todd@Nacrasailing.com
As far as the C2 being better thought out and Quality... I've owned 4 Infusions, 2 C2's, and a Wildcat. They all have their pros and cons, a hybrid of all of them would be best. The factory parts of Nacra are definitely the highest quality and function, but the C2 has some clever design, where the Wildcat has very nice rigging.
But the C2 and the Infusion have been built in the same factory for 10 years (even changed from one factory to another together) and while there are some slight differences in construction both are very good now. I had problems with my 2009 Infusion, but I also had problems with my C2s and Wildcat.
I believe the nature of the decline in the F18 is due to the people in the class changing. In the Northeast, a bunch of us that were active in our 20's are now settling down and sailing less, others got older and etc. Each fleet has their transitions. The A Class is currently doing well because it's mostly a lot of older people with time on their hands.
Is some tech driving F18 used sales? No I don't think so. I don't know anyone selling their boats to buy an Epoxy boat or a boat with a decksweeper. Over time people have sold their MKIs with short boards to get newer boats with long boards, but that's a natural progression.
The great thing about the F18 Class is it addresses Catamaran sailors natural desire to evolve, our boats evolve slowly but it's by no means an arms race. A few thousand dollars every few years and you can have up to date kit, and it could probably be even long. Long boards came out 8 years ago and cost about 3K and Decksweeper came out last year and cost about 2K. So 2 major changes in 8 years.
As we go through ups and downs over the last 10 years, the common driving factors of the used boats is simply 1)Recreational F18s selling 2)People looking to get out of the class completely 3)Very occasional someone looking to upgrade
The F18 Class is hanging on in the Northeast, Southeast, Wisconsin, and SoCal. All 3 areas had good success a few years ago and are going through a slump but it's not over. Michigan is booming and has a solid F18 fleet and hosting this year's North Americans.
Bit of a rant but hopefully this answers some questions.
-Todd Riccardi
Nacra Sailing North America<!-- editby --><em>Edited by nacrasailing on Mar 21, 2019 - 06:16 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
