Class boats: 49er, snipe...

Hi,
I have a doubt about the construction and selling of "standard" class boats, like 49er, snipe...
Can anyone build and sell this boats? Or any payment for the patent is needed?

Thanks.

 

Snipes can be built and sold by anyone. If you are planning on fiberglass production boats, the first has to be measured and certified.

 

I dont know the American legislation but, I guess, is not very different from Europe. In Europe, to get the CE mark, the first vessel of a series production, must be self-certified by the manufacturer, is fiberglass, any other fiber, metal, wood or any other material. Anyone could build whatever you want, not just snipes, but in the case of a designer / builder amateur difficulties are greater.

 

A boat is not a snipe unless SCIRA recognizes it. Most classes have regulations and official measurers.

 

Welcome to the forum.

If a class is still under copyright protection, you'll need to pay a royalty fee, which you'll work out with the plans holder. Most will offer a couple of ways to handle this, a limited production run and of course a more substantial production run. The fees are usually quite low and discussion with the plan holder or association, is the usual route to pursue this. The logical question is why build these designs? They're are plenty of them in limited production and many examples of them around the world. Though some what popular, they are dated designs. With excellent new designs available, why build antiques? The market, as slim as it is currently is looking for new stuff, not a rehashing of old.

 

I'm sure you will find the 49er requires a license to build and sell. I'm not sure if this is with the original designer Julian Bethwaite or the class association. In many cases the designer / class will want to vette potential builders for quality and reputation. They may want to regulate the price and have the final say over who you can sell the moulds to in the long run. As its an Olympic class they will want certainty that all boats built conform to the rules.

 

As far as I know, you can build any prototype boat and sail it in Europe with no restriction. It is exempt from any CE certification. You can also build one boat a year of any class (assuming it measures) and remain an amateur. At least in the UK, though other European countries may interpret 'amateur' differently.... Most classes get pretty tight about FRP/GRP moulds and these are normally measured by Class authorities, National authorities and even International ones depending on the type of boat.

You will also find that amateur built boats (racing dinghies) are exempt from the CE labelling except they are supposed to have a sticker dispalying that they are 'Meant for racing and otherwise exempt from CE standards, blah blah blah'.

As Tansl has said, if you wish top productionise a craft it will need CE certification. Nothing stops you developing new craft or designing inside a set of rules especially development classes. It would be a nightmare if that side of experimental design was blocked.

Again as PAR has pointed out, existing designs usually require a small royalty to be paid. However in development classes, if you design it, and not copying an existing design, no royalty is payable. If I may correct your original language - the design of a hull is usually (broadly speaking) termed Copyright and not Patent.