On the off chance that you haven't been paying attention, Rondar Raceboats is now building Viper 640s in the U-S-of-A in Peabody, Massachusetts (or as Texans refer to it, "South Canada"), to go along with the home of Viper 640 production for the past several years at Rondar Raceboats in the UK (or as Texans refer to it, "Southwest Norway"). The guys at Rondar USA rolled out the first U.S.-built Viper in many years for the 2012 North Americans, and have been getting orders ever since. As you can see in the video below, they have to walk very quickly to get everything done in a day, but as you can also see in the video, there's some magic involved in building the deck of a Viper 640. Rumor has it there will be more videos coming from these guys in the near future as epoxy fumes allow. If you have limited time, fast forward to the 0:25 mark when things really heat up (hint: watch the back of the boat at the top of the screen). And if you missed this video being posted a split second faster, consider liking the Viper 640 page on Facebook.
David Nickerson did a beautiful restoration of pre-Rondar boat #18
Here are the pictures of upgrade to:-
1. Rudder Post. All owners of Pre-Rondar boats, please check your rudder posts. They are prone to falling off. There is a safety factor, the lack of a rudder can be extremely troublesome in the open ocean.
2. Forward Footrests. Your forward crew will love you.
3. Gnav. A class requirement from June 2011 forward.
4. Reinforce the pole exit. Nice to have if the cracks appear.
The Class Rules require that all boats have safety lines installed under the gunwale, and the deadline was May for all boats to comply. That means you have to get it done before NAs next month! Here is the description to add safety lines to Pre-Rondar boats. See attached photos as well
The following is answers Christian posted in response to questions.
Can a carbon mast last as long as aluminum masts. Like a 30 year old Ensign mast?
There are 30 year old carbon masts around. What is required for them to last is that you have to keep UV from breaking down the resin matrix (what you would notice by the resin turning yellow and chalky).
