I thought I'd carry on here a bit with this Dobbelman DB2. There is bound to be some teeny minority that have sustained interest..

A few shots here of the inside, the work to be done and the hole in the deck tidied up ready for repair.

The board is 5mm divinycell with a kevlar skin both sides, a gelcoat finish. The workmanship and finish inside is erhem... a bit rough. Although it seems to be holding up fine.
There was the one significant hole in the deck, and a few other smaller ones. The opening join at the bow, there is also some movement showing pretty much all around the join so I'll probably run some narrow 45/45 tape right around. A new centreboard is needed and I need to sort out the mast track.

The mast track has been removed and dismantled, It's all there and seems to be re-usable. It's an old windrush track and the mechanism is a bit less than smooth so I'm thinking of replacing it with an alternative. Any ideas anyone? I find the RS:X tracks online at $200. Can somebody vouch for the quality of this track? and perhaps even offer outside dimensions of the unit?

What are the latest thoughts on best gripcoat? My distant past remembers a polyester finish resin covered in sugar which was then washed out after cure. Has anything better been discovered since the '90's?


Lastly, I've been sailing around on the '83 Mistral Competition with the IMCO 7.4 and think it's a fine combination indeed! Wish there was a race nearby to me that I could join. Any other Pittwater based sailors interested? I'd like to see a whole series run without restriction except that the whole series is to be sailed on one board and one sail taking all winds as they come. Some morning races some afternoon and some twilight to ensure and mixed bag of conditions.

Hi Mikey,
In one of your previous post, you showed a Lechner shape in what looks like a "Freeship" model.
If it is the case, would you mind sending me the file ?
Best Regards
Eric

Hi Eric, yes you are correct about that and yes I can send it to you.
I sourced the file from the 'documents' section of the Open Division 2 Facebook page. I'm not sure of it's source and can't vouch for the accuracy although looking at it I'd hazard a guess that it is very good indeed.

Perhaps PM me an email address that I can bounce it back to.

Thanks Mikey and sorry for the delay, I am interstate.
I have downloaded the file from the Facebook page.
Eric

Well, i have Freeship 3.13 (the last freeware version) and the file was produced by a more recent version. I can't open it.
I have heard it is complicated to export a model to be opened by an old software.
Are you familiar with that, Mikey ?
I send you my email address by PM.
cheers. Eric

Hi Eric, that's no worries and I got your PM. I can sort that out for you, it won't be today though, I have one seriously busy day ahead of me.
ps I sailed the DB2 yesterday and the day before and it is thoroughly Freaking Awesome. Full report coming soon!

SO.... I've sailed the DB2 three times this week!

The first sail was in 5-8 knots of breeze, the second in 15 knots, and just now the third sail in 20 knots gusting to 25. Each time with the 1995 IMCO 7.4. The DB2 is fabulous! I obviously have a lot of learning to do about what the board wants from me, however I'm not finding it too challenging compared to a 'flat' board. Except - gybing today in 20 -25, that's kind of tricky. I think about half my gybes were a sort of controlled dump holding the rig clear of the water, gybing the sail from in the water and then waterstarting on the new tack. Hahaha! Does anyone have some high wind D2 gybing tips?


ps I reckon I've found my one board one sail combination. A D2 and a 7.5. I'll likely get some experience on the DB2 and sweet talk my way onto as many other D2 boards as I can before making myself a dedicated to me and my desires, cold molded D2 to my own design, no doubt leaning very heavily on that which has come before and that I've gained time with. I'll likely upgrade the 7.5 at some stage too.

Good news Mikey, I was out today as well with the Formula guys and the Equipe was fast but they were extremely fast. Since no one wants to race longboards up here I'm not far off trading up unfortunately....

Ah... That's a bummer to hear Steve. I would love to be doing tight triangle racing, revisiting my dinghy racing childhood except on longboards. It doesn't look like that will be happening anytime soon either! I even asked my local sailing club if I could join in their 'open' division. They said their only open division was yachts and that I obviously couldn't join their race. Hmmmm. Nevermind, it is what it is and I'm having a blast all the same.

Wow this thread is a blast from the past, I haven't thought of theses boards for 30 years or so. As I remember the DB2's where brought to OZ in anticipation of them becoming the Olympic board but the Lechner got the nod instead, as usual with the Olympics the DB2 was supposed to be the better board.

I also wonder where the Div 2 boards are hidding, many trashed I guess, would love to chase down the last one I had a Elvstrom Div 2. It was bigger than most Div 2's, great for heavyweight sailors, with big open class sails and stronger winds, a wide transom and flat by Div 2 standards, so with a big fin you could get back on a reach and it planed smoothly. I sold it to a guy that worked in or owned a shop in Canberra in about 1986.

I still have a very early Div 2, it's fibreglass fully foamed an Alpha Phantom, made under licence? in Melbourne way back in the early eighties. Fairly low on volume by later standards with a narrow by Div 2 standards transom, no sliding mast track or retractable centreboards in those days. I rescued it out of my dads shed a while back, you guys have inspired me to see if I can get it back on the water, need to find something for a centreboard and fix a uni on to the deck.

Woohoo! Get that plank out and give it a splash.

I am thrilled with my DB2. And contrary to the typical 'great up to 12 knots' kind of vibe regarding D2 boards - I have to say that I think that the board is fabulous well over that threshold.

I googled the Elvstrom board. Not surprisingly there's almost nothing on the web about it. I'm very interested in the last of the D2 boards, a little hint of which direction(s) might have been taken with the form. If you have any old photo's Twicebitten I'd really love to see a few.

Cheers.

This one ?

Interesting. Have you got a picture of the rest of it NelsonFoils?

hi TwiceBitten, i remember your board, a bit different to the one in the image above(?).
it was wide with the width carrying all the way to the stern.
you sold it to Brian R who raced it every week for a few years before finishing his cat and heading off around the world.
i saw the Elvstrom a few years later at a 2nd hand furniture shop, i should have grabbed it.

i have a centreboard from an Alpha you are welcome to have.
it's from a Blitz and the same as what i had in my Alpha Professional 30yrs ago, i think it was common to the Melbourne Alphas.
its black plastic and very flexible, there is also a dacron Alpha regatta sail to go with it!

I didn't think the transom of the Nelson Foils Elvstrom looked right and fjdoug is on the money it was wider. I did some digging in a old filing cabinet (Oh the memories ) and found a Elvstrom brochure it only has artist plan drawings, but I will scan it Monday and see if I can post it.

The brochure covers all the Elvstrom models available at the time 1985/86, they actualy did two Div2 models a 280lt which I guess is the one pictured by Nelson Foils and the 320lt which was the only Div2 brought to Australia in my time (I was selling them for the importer).

Thanks very much for the offer of the centreboard and sail fjdoug, I think you are right the same gear was used on the Alpha Blitz (I sold a few of them as well) as the Alpha Phantom, but I had something stiffer in mind for the centreboard, hoping to use the one out of an old Jim French (Arthur Brett Custom) Funboard and will use my modern rig, but still have some Div 2 race sails in my dads shed I think.

So who is up for an Australian D2 regatta?

Two of us are in Canberra. Firey is in the 'Gong and he may have two D2s. I think there are one or two still at Dobroyd.

We could perhaps do Dobroyd one Saturday, using 7.4s and 7.5s. They do about three races a day, with a lot of reaching in a southerly but we could modify the course.

If we did it in February we would have sufficient lead-up time and people would be clear of Christmas and nationals obligations.

Sure! I'm up for that. Count me in. With 7 sails in the past 10 days I'm making up for lost time.

Salty there's a D2 board on the rack at Marmong Formula Club I saw ityesterday in the flesh, they look like a wild ride.

Awesome! What is it Steve? Snap a pic and post it here if you have time.
Better yet, drag it out and stick a sail on it and take it for a spin!

I'll try next Saturday

man u dudes are teasing the rest of us longboarders

can we get action shots in pics, videos and reviews ?
please
pretty please

Here's the scan of the Elvstrom Catalogue page that has the Div 2's on it.

Interesting. Thanks TwiceBitten!

OK, this thread and a bit of Div 2 googling has got me fired up, I think I need a good Div 2 again, anybody know where there is one that might be for sale? Preferably ACT or Melbourne.

It's a long time ago, but if I remember rightly there is nothing like the feeling of a Div 2 on the rail upwind.

Yes! It's true - you need one!

I'm certainly loving mine. I love it in that marginal sub 10 knots range, coaxing it onto the rail and then feeling the apparent wind pick up as the board accelerates. I love it in 12-15 where it just hums along. the feeling reminds me of flying a hull on a beach cat. I love it in 20 where the game upwind is to not let the railing get out of hand and the board starts to really move off the breeze. And contrary to all that I'd been led to believe about division 2, I love it in over 20 - It takes some commitment to drive the board downwind with no straps, rear foot on the leeward side trimming the board with a very subtle heel to toe motion.
I didn't really understand until I'd had more than a few sails what guys meant when they say that D2 is 'more technical' to sail. I understand now. Moving my foot just an inch can make the world of difference. Raking the daggerboard that same little inch can be the difference between being comfortably on the edge and toppling over it in grand style. I've just lengthened my harness lines (to 34") and the positive improvement is hard to believe.

ps TwiceBitten, if your search is particularly fruitful and you come across an abundance of D2 boards, I'm keeping my eye out for an a390...

Nice thread guys!

I have a couple of lechners in the shed and keen to get together with other D2 nuts. I have a bit of maintenance required on the boards though - a mast track replacement in one and a centreboard for the other.....

I haven't sailed these for a few years, but I really enjoyed them when they were in one piece .

Hi Bushfire, Great! Where are you my friend? Can you piece together one functional board with what you have or are they different model boards?

Hey guys,
I have a couple of pic of the Elvstrom D2...Don't be confused by the Wayler DII skins that were added by board owner.

Really nice to see you restarting D2 momentum guys
Go, go , go...

Awesome thanks for the photo's of the Elvstrom Div 2 320lt, they bring back some memories, the ones in OZ may have been a bit later though, with different mast base I think, but the shape is right.