I have been sailing my monsoon consistently now some months and can give you some feedback.
The long term road test if you like to call it.
Sailability/performanceShe is very responsive, perhaps over responsive, to any joystick movement or wind changes. In other words twitchy.
You cannot take your eye off her for a second.
OK in the hands of an experienced sailor but will not be 'fun' for a beginner.
She is for light airs only. With a light breeze she does sail fairly well and looks good on the water. But this window of wind speed is very small. She has little heeling stability, so as the breeze picks up she will start to heel and get even more twitchy.
If you sail on waters that have consistent wind speeds she will be OK. Where I sail the wind can change in less than a minute or two. This is a problem.
ReliabilityThere have been too many annoying, sometimes heart stopping, problem that has almost left the boat stranded. I have nearly lost it on a number of occasions.
Lines got caught in deck furniture. This made the boat un-steerable, even wearing the boat (turning in the opposite direction to tacking) the lines did not always run free, and so evenmore deck furniture was removed.
The jib boom jamming itself on the deck, my fault for over extending the sheets, when the jib reversed itself. But is basically a design fault with the rigging. The result was that the boat was stranded and would not steer as the jib was now acting like a weather vain. She drifted off and luckily the collision with a bridge unjammed the jib boom.
Healing to far and taking on water. Last time out my Monsoon took on a some water and now I don't have a functioning RX. The wind picked up while I was out. The boat was just going around and around in the water and drifting down the canal, not getting closer to either bank. In the end I had to go over to the boat club. Lluckily somebody was there that afternoon, and somebody rescued her for me.
What I like about this boatFor me it was cheap, I paid much less than 200 dollars.
It looks good on the water when it sails in light airs.
The hull is fibreglass.
What I don't likeYou need to make too many changes just to make the boat seaworthy (see build log above).
You may have to change most of the RC gear like I did.
The window of sailable airs is too small.
Too many problems on the water.
Overall impressionI think it is safe to say I have given the monsoon a fair go, and I don't think I am criticizing out of hand.
Not really a pleasant feeling from this boat on most occasions. I have had too many problems, even on the water, for me to enjoy ownership. Unlike my other boats (Thunder Tiger Victoria and Victor Models Mary J Ward) which have been fun and much more reliable (every boat breaks BTW).
It really is light airs only, and even then not problem free.
Having said that, I now have a better idea on how not to design a boat and So when I work from plans in the future I will know which side of things to ere on.
So what will I do with the boat?I may put in a new RX and keep it as a third boat in case I have guests who want to sail. At least until I build another boat.
After that I may be giving it away, or cannibalising anything I can (not much).
As I do not race there is little point in completely re-rigging the hull, and I have not idea if the hull would comply with the rules.
I am not sure if adding more weight to the keel would fix the heeling problems as at some point she will be too low in the water.
Would I recommend the boat?What do you think?