Hi Eric,
Welcome to the forum. With all that snow and ice you talk about I wonder you do not have an ice boat.
Your comment about stored energy in flexy rear cross members/axles and stayed masts is interesting.
Most of our yachts tend to be the other way around having fairly stiff rear ends combined with flexible masts. The thinking here tends to be that the flexy masts "smooth out the gusts".
Stiff frames can give a rough ride at times. Some of the other guys who have built many yachts have done the science and experiments and would be more qualified to comment than myself.
If your photos are blurry you would need to go to a HIGHER resolution camera I believe.
If you have photos, please post plenty. We love them. Cheers Cisco.
P.S. I think a few of the guys here are finding that a well designed and built mini will give a class5 a good run for the money.
The rubber steering is actually Gizmo's idea.
