Second Hand Buyers’ Guide

Hull
The Laser 5000 hull is built very solidly and although some would argue it is too heavy compared to some of today’s designs, boats over 10 years old are still in very good condition if well looked after. Key areas to look out for:-

- shroud points – check under gunwhales that there is no stress cracking.
- centreboard case – check for stress cracks / leaks around case on bottom of hull (signs of an enthusiastic groundings at speed!)
- deck area around inboard end of pole – this often gets trodden on by the crew and can puncture the deck mould around here.
- mast foot area – check for signs of depression or stress cracking, especially in earlier boats (reinforced in newer ones).
general finish of hull – although relatively easy to fix, lots of scratches and dents affect the value. Also check for any signs of osmosis around the areas that are supported by the trolley supports, a common problem with most dinghies stored for long periods wet on a trolley.

Sails
The sails are built with relatively heavy sailcloth and remain competitive for much longer than other dinghies. The mainsail especially is bullet proof (unless you fall through it!). The jibs get a lot of wear, but this can be dramatically reduced by limiting furling and reducing flogging (heaving to) when waiting around. The spinnakers tend to loose their waterproofness fairly quickly like most spinnakers, but again careful care (washing salt off and folding) do wonders for longevity. Key areas to look out for:-

- mainsail – inboard end of the battens on the luff tape (often worn – good tip is to reinforce these even with a new sail), tack sliders (these plastic fittings often break even with a new sail so not a big concern).
- gennaker – excessive stretch on luff (caused by not having enough luff line tension) can cause the kite to get luff unstable.

Foils
Foils again are built very solidly to a unique Laser fomula! Key things to look out for:-

- centreboard – damaged tips (these often break off as they are the weakest part of the board not supported by the internal steel girders!)
- rudder – stress cracks at head of foil where it enters the stock – a sure sign that the foil is about to break off at an inopportune moment.

Spars
The spars are solidly built and rarely fail if properly looked after and checked. Key areas to look for:-

- mast – stress cracking around hounds and trazepeze wire points – this part of the mast gets the most abuse when the kite is up and is the most common point of breakage in a mast.
- Mast heel plug – this is put under a lot of pressure and can sometimes collapse – look out for stress cracking aorund the base.
- Spreaders – new spreaders (fully cast fitting) are preferred as they are much stronger – so if you’ve got a choice go for the new ones (can be retro fitted though).
- Boom – check for stress cracks around the kicker attachment point and excessive wear on the side of the boom where it would touch the shrouds when fully out.
- Pole – check for any cracks at the base where it meets the launcher fitting in its fully extended position – highly unusual for poles to fail though.

General
A well looked after boat won’t show too much signs of gelcoat degridation and too many bumps and scratches. Check all the running and fixed rigging for wear and tear, and have a look at all the fittings to make sure they’re working – changing all that lot could set you back quite a lot of money. In particular, look at the jib halyard wire, which gets worn, and look out for signs of wear especially at the wire loop. Try to find out the history – a lot of old boats haven’t been used for years when the class went through a dip in the late 90′s and as such can be a real bargain as fundamentally the design and equipment has not changed at all over the years.