Scarlattikvarten technically speaking

Modifications

Scarlattikvarten differs from the original Spyder design in a number of ways. Some changes were made when we built the boats and others have been introduced over the years. The following table is a summary of all this.

Scarlattikvarten vs a standard Spyder and some other 'progress':

When	What	Why
1986	Stretched aft-body of hulls	Longer and straighter run.
	Simplified cockpits	Ergonomics and building time.
	New dolphin striker and seagull striker	Stronger, lighter & easier to build.
	Aluminium mast.	No time to build wing & lighter.
	Dagger-board case reinforcements.	We could not imagine the original design to be strong enough.
1988	Beefier fore-beam.	Bent fore-beam.
1989	Totally new cross-beams and 0.5 m wider.	Bent fore-beam again. Sideways stability in better harmony with forward stability.
	New fully battened Mylar jib.	Due to changed sheeting geometry.
1991	Mast 1 m higher.	I had bought a good, second-hand Mylar main that high.
	Assym. spi. on bowsprit.	To fit new rig-height.
1996	Deeper dagger-boards.	Greed for windward speed.
1997	New jib.	The old one getting out of shape.
1998	New, fat-head main.	The old one getting out of shape.
	New alu mast.	Lighter, stronger and better shape.
2001	New rudder cassettes/tillers.	The old ones wore out.
2004	Dolphin striker replaced with beefed-up laminate on beam.	The dolphin striker was exposed at the mooring and a bit of a nuisance on the trailer.
2006	New jib.	The old one was going out of shape.
	New slab-reefing system for the main sail.	I finally gave up trying to master the old system when sailing single-handed.
2009	New, carbon main sail.	After ten seasons I thought it was about time for an up-grade.

Apart from this I have tinkered quite a bit with main-sheet and other sail controls. Some of this does a surprising difference to how sweet the handling of the boat is. The net effect of all this tinkering and re-engineering is that Scarlattikvarten has gained some 20 kg of all up weight, the up-wind sail area has increase little over 4 sqm and the down-wind area some 10 sqm. The rig is about one metre higher and the dagger-boards are some 25 cm deeper. Top speed is probably lower but average speed and windward capability is definitely better. And above all she is quite a bit sweeter to sail.

A friend of mine commented the other year that the only parts left from the original boat were the hulls. I had to point out that the boom, the rudder blades and the engine pod also are from 1986.

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