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Why Topper? - Because it is car toppable, needing only a bit of muscle to get it on and off the roofrack you can then manage with a minimal launching trolley. There is nothing which suffers from salt water - the main consumable being the sail - unbattened, no windows etc, this is pretty durable ... Read review
Advantages: durable, affordable - simply fun to sail! Disadvantages: NOT suitable for honey monsters!
...new - get um from Topper International - second hand, they've been around for a long time, they hold their price well, but you should get a middle aged one for less than 500 pounds (sorry the pound sign doesn't work on my keyboard!)- an older one could set you back 2-300 with original sail, and still give years of fun - like an old Volvo, you will be able to sell it for the same money when the kids grow out of it.
Given a good blow - say around ... more
rotomoulded, weldable virtually maintenance free for a family - the ideal plaything for youngsters in their early to late teens, and smaller adults. This boat forms the backbone of many sailing schools' young person fleet, it is forgiving and hard to destroy - especially when working from a beach. Why Topper? - Because it is car toppable, needing only a bit of muscle to get it on and off the roofrack you can then manage with a minimal launching trolley. There is nothing which suffers from salt water - the main consumable being the sail - unbattened, no windows etc, this is pretty durable and in family sailing will last the life of the hull - just so long as you don't want to finish at the front of the fleet all the time. "Come on" I hear you say - "there must be some drawbacks!" OK I will come clean, we have a fleet of 42 Toppers, 12 on two trailers, and the rest at our main sailing base. For teaching use we take out the self-bailers - they tend to break and then work in reverse - rather like the way steam trains used to take on water! If they are run smack! into something else - usually something very solid - they do tend to split along the seam - especially on the nose - check this out if you are buying secondhand. If you have access to a hot air welder - rather like a psychopathic hair dryer - then you can quite easily fix it, or get it fixed. Oh, yes - tie the rudder assembly onto the boat - it doesn't float! That about sums it up - we regualrly push novices out on these (in favourable conditions) with the minimum intro ashore, then work through follow my leader exercises afloat - they can come having never sailed before, and go home having sailed - in charge of their own boat and gagging for more! Wot do they cost? We get um cheap, but you should be looking at well under 2K brand new - get um from Topper International - second hand, they've been around for a long time, they hold their price well, but you should get a middle aged one for less than 500 pounds (sorry the pound sign doesn't work on my keyboard!)- an older one could set you back 2-300 with original sail, and still give years of fun - like an old Volvo, you will be able to sell it for the same money when the kids grow out of it. Given a good blow - say around a F6, even lardy boys like me can have a really good blast. A boat for most of the people, most of the time - as long as you don't mind a wet bum.
Advantages: Sturdy for learning in, can be fun Disadvantages: Very little room to duck under the boom
...to attach these to the topper under instruction, and then we were given a short demonstration of how to use them, by an instructor on land. Then we had to go and practice the things which we had just been shown in our pairs before taking to the water. We were mainly practicing ducking under the boom without getting tangled up in the raopes that were attached to the sails.
My experience of these boats:
If you already know anything about topper you ... ...the day.
For potential Topper users/buyers:
If you are interested in sailing toppers but haven't done that much sailing, or any at all I would highly recommend trying it at some where like Tower Wood. I read one of the other reviews before writing mine, and saw just how expensive Toppers are. Also you will need, or at least I would highly recommend some sort of life jacket or bouyancy aid, and suitable clothing ie Wet suit (or as I myself wold ...
lynh17 19.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Topper junior single handed Sailing Dinghy
Advantages: Vertually indistructable Disadvantages: Hard to have more than one person on board unless you like getting wet
The Topper is an excellent youth boat. It is the perfect progression towards sailing larger single handed dingys when you get older. It is now even better than when I sailed it. You can now modify it to have a centre main sheet which again aids the transfer to more powerful boats in the future. It is great for people new to the sport and can take the battering of children or the not so in control sailors. I for one have had 12 people on it at once ... ...and help. Unlike on the Topper where my Dad has spent many days cramed under the kicker. Children can also go out together which can boost in some cases confidence. On the Topper you usually end up with one person on the nose of the boat, which can have some comical consequences of the boat nose diving as we call it, where it gets pushed under water. This in itself became a reason to want to go out on the Topper. My brother and I have managed to ...
Pyroclasticflow 15.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Topper junior single handed Sailing Dinghy
Advantages: easy way to get out on the water, 2nd hand can be picked up cheaply Disadvantages: not really a performance boat
...up a cheap second hand topper (approx £450). The boat requires little to no maintainence and is ready to sail whenever I am nearby and the wind is blowing (hopefully not too much). It has a plastic (technical term!!) hull and deck and one sail. The boat is easily transported on top of a car and can be easily stored down the side of a house. It really is a very adaptable boat. The title calls it a junior boat--this is a little misleading as it is ... ...onto more performance boats, the topper does have its own great racing circuit for juniors. The fact that the boat is used by so many sailing schools and holiday venues really does show how versatile and useful these little boats are. Other boats have come along in recent years as competitiors to the topper and maybe for some people they are more appropriate, realistically though I can't see the topper being beaten for value for money (certainly ...
bmth123 11.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Topper junior single handed Sailing Dinghy
Advantages: you dont need to know much to be able to sail a topper all you realey need to know is how to put the mast in and put the boom (wich is the horizontal pole) they are very boyant and made from a strong fibre glass hull the boat its self goes quite fast Disadvantages: they can capsize if not handeld properly
...are going in an your topper and you run aground or crash into something wich cracks or punctures the hull or ruptures any I have been on sailing lessons and the boat I was taught on was a topper. After I completed the course I went to the loch which rented them out from then on I go at least every second week in all types of weather so my dad finally decided to get me a topper. So he phoned the dinghy store and they ordered me one in. they can be ... ...are going in an your topper and you run aground or crash into something which cracks or punctures the hull or ruptures any part of the boat you wont need to take it to a repair store, you can just paste some fibre glass on it.
You can take the topper to the coast and sail there for free and you can also enter sailing competitions.
If these boats are looked after they will last for decades they also require very little maintenance, they are very ...
craig_stevenson 18.07.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Topper junior single handed Sailing Dinghy
