John
We
sold the Contour because I wanted to
cruise, not because of any 'hearsay' about Aka weakness. By the way, both the Contour and Corsair have developed 'problems' (beam fractures) because of their manner of sail (fast and often hard) and foldability. I've heard of more
rudder then Aka failures. These rare potential failures can be averted with proper operation,
inspection and
maintenance. Plus they tend to happen over some time, so can be found and repaired.
Now to 'why the F-24?' To understand why we went from a Contour 30 to a Corsair 24 I have to provide some background. I wanted to
cruise. My wife had some cruising requirements: it had to be as fast as the Contour; it had to have a
shower; it had to be built by a 'factory/contractor'; it couldn't be any older then 1990. We decided to look for tri's (for speed over cats) in the ~35' to 40' range, non-folding (If we were going to move the tri it would be under sail, not over the road). All we were finding in our
price range were 'home made' tri's. One was almost perfect, but my wife wanted a 'production' boat. We had almost decided to keep the Contour (both of us loved the boat) and just day sail, but our boat sold before we could make that decision (good condition/priced right). Now we had no tri, and all production cruising tri's were way out of our
budget, because it shrunk with the stock market decline. So good by cruising/ hello daysailing (again)! For a daysailor I don't need a 30'er. I could easily live with a 27, or even 24 or 22. Contour didn't make anything smaller then the 30. Windrider doesn't make anything larger then the 17. Other production tri's are not
USA built. Contour was built in
Canada, almost as good. Older Corsairs were US built (now some are built in Vietnam). Corsair is the next logical choice.
Price and availablity resulted in the F-24 MK I. The MK I is much less expensive then the MK II, it's fast, easy to sail single-handed, and I like the swing keel over dagger board for ease of use.