Laser Pico questions

[Avocet]

I don't know much about Lasers - other than that middle son sails one after school and likes it much better than our old Heron dinghy - which is reassuring and stable, but quite slow and it's a pain in the backside to set up its gunter rig each time we want to sail it.

I'm being offered a "racing" Laser Pico (not sure how old - probably around a decade though), ready to go, other than having a damaged rudder. Road trailer, mylar sails, cover, launching trolley, etc. Not sure what the damage is, but I'm quite handy with polyester and epoxy, and we're not bothered about racing it, so it doesn't need to be competitive or conform to any class regulations.

However, it struck me that the rudder might not be fibreglass? Not sure if it is the blade or the head that's damaged. It's my sister's boat and she's not very technical.

Does anyone know:
(a) anything about Laser Picos and what to look for and
(b) anything about what their rudders are made of and whether they can be fixed when damaged?

Thanks!

 

[Dan Tribe]

My daughter had one for a short while to teach her daughters to sail, but quickly got bored with it's pedestrian pace, but she is a keen racer.
I think the hulls are thermoplastic [polypropylene?] not GRP, so difficult to repair without special skills. I think the foils are aluminium filled with foam, but older ones may be GRP.
It seemed heavy, we managed to car-top it but it made 4 of us puff a bit.
They are popular with sailing schools, being tough and difficult to capsize.

 

[sgr143]

I have one - out of the water and down the side of the house now for a few years. When I bought it, it had a rather "used" rudder, that I was warned would be OK for a bit, but eventfully need attention (price adjusted to suit). After a couple of years, it failed. I sourced a replacement rudder and tiller from eBay I think, for not very much. The rudder construction is fiberglass over a core, I think a dense foam core, with inserts where the pivot points are (that's what failed). They are pretty bombproof. Just check that water doesn't leak into the hull-shell and that the spars and sails are OK, and you should be OK.