Laser 2000 - A Nice Little Boat

MadforSailing tested the Laser 2000 and found her a pleasant, all-round club racer

Designed by Phil Morrison, the Laser 2000 sits a little further up the product range from the basic training boat market. The boat offers racing, cruising and general recreational sailing, all in one modern package. More than five hundred of these general purpose boats have sold in the last two years. Anyone who has completed a week's basic sailing course will feel at home in the Laser 2000. Indeed, the class is fast replacing more traditional designs such as the GP14 and Enterprise at sailing schools and holiday centres, both in the UK and abroad.

MadforSailing’s reviewer was Peter Bentley, who tested the performance of the Laser 2000 in frustratingly light winds and a short choppy sea. To its credit, the boat showed some snappy acceleration in the occasional spells of decent breeze.

The Laser 2000 is a modern, scooped-out looking two-crew dinghy with a simple and well-detailed deck layout. The asymmetric kite enhances performance, yet the ability to furl the jib and reef the mainsail is an encouragement to more cautious sailors.

In the MadforSailing ratings, the Laser 2000 scored well throughout. The steering is light, the big rudder and well-balanced design ensuring perfect control even at large angles of heel. Tacking is comfortable with plenty of room to move across the spacious cockpit. Motion through waves is smooth, the main and jib trim easily. Overall, the Laser 2000 is very forgiving to sail.

In other areas, the fittings are well chosen and placed, the rig stands up nicely and the sails are carefully constructed. The boat is tough and thoughtfully built, in terms of both layout and weight compromise. Rigging and launching could not be simpler. Stability was a priority at design stage and this is evident in that the crew can stand on the side decks with no ill effect. Should you manage to over-egg it, righting from a capsize is reasonably straightforward. The centreboard is low enough to be easy to climb on to, and elasticated righting lines are provided under both gunwales.

On the down side (although perhaps a relief to the less adventurous), striking the right balance for the bigger marketplace has compromised any chance of explosive speed or adrenaline rush performance. These are popular features of other boats in the new breed of racing dinghies - but you can’t have everything.

There is no doubt that the Laser 2000 will continue to achieve sales success, filling the substantial market that has been awaiting it. While interest remains strong from families and corporate users, keen club racers can expect a return from tweaking this chameleon of a boat. A healthy open meeting circuit is expanding and more than 50 will be expected at the 2000 National Championship in August. The Laser 2000 conforms almost perfectly to her design brief, an excellent modern incarnation of the general purpose dinghy.

Rants Which one was the 2000?
Raves Solid Laser quality

Photo by Peter Bentley

The Nitty Gritty

Ease of Sailing

You can tell a lot about a boat the moment you slip the trolley away and she has to float alone for the first time. The Laser 2000 immediately displays a tendency towards good behaviour. Designed by Phil Morrison to be forgiving to sail, the hull boasts a substantial skeg to provide directional and dynamic roll stability. Both at rest and in motion, basic form stability is excellent. Our test crews regularly stood on the side tanks with no ill effects during changeovers. Once sailing upwind, the loads are all light, with an easy feeling of well established control right from the start. The helm is fingertip-light and while the boat shows good directional stability, she is far from unresponsive.

Morrison has achieved his goal, and unlike many more racing-orientated designs, the 2000 is very forgiving. The well-balanced water planes and a large rudder ensure good directional control at quite large angles of heel. Similarly, bad fore and aft trim simply slows the boat rather than rendering it uncontrollable. This works downwind as well, with the big rudder ensuring perfect control even in situations that would spell disaster in other boats. For those not totally enamoured with blast-reaching around all the time, it is quite possible to run off square, rolling the kite out to windward to go deep, albeit at much slower speeds.

The sails are from Hyde, comprising a Mylar mainsail, polyester jib and nylon spinnaker. Carefully constructed and well shaped, all three sails proved easy to trim, with the spinnaker particularly forgiving. Fitted with two full length and two short battens, the mainsail is a good compromise between the ease of handling of a soft sail, and the stability and longevity of a fully battened sail. For the jib, both ease of handling and longevity are enhanced by the neatly concealed furling system.

Capsizing isn’t easy, given the boat's excellent stability, but need hold no fears. It's perfectly possible to right her with the spinnaker still up, but most of us will probably want to get the kite down first. The boat is simply recovered from inverted, and remains on her side with just one person on the centreboard while the other clears up. The centreboard is low enough to be easy to climb onto and elasticated righting lines are provided under both gunwales. Once back upright, the majority of the water flows out through two stern tubes, with the remainder running quickly away through the built-in scoop type bailer fitted just aft of the mainsheet.

Systems and Layout

It would have to be said that rigging and launching does not come much simpler. All the fittings appeared well chosen and nicely placed and, much as one might expect from such an experienced builder, it all seemed to work perfectly. After sailing the boat for an hour or two, it becomes clear that the relative positions of the various elements in the cockpit have also been very carefully arranged. The heights and lateral locations of the gunwales, side-tanks, thwart, cockpit floor and centreboard case are all located in such a way as to make the boat both easy and comfortable to sail.

Boats used to have to make do with a straight thwart set amidships. But the Laser 2000 has a carefully sculptured three-dimensional moulding that optimises space for both helm and crew, while still performing the twin roles of structural support and light airs seating. The gunwales are wide and well rounded, offering the twin benefits of comfy hiking (if there is such a thing) and excellent spray deflection. The rudder and centreboard swing down easily, with an excellent 2:1 purchase on the rudder retainer and adjustable friction pads on the centreboard. Simple systems, superb layout, it all makes the Laser 2000 a pleasure to helm or crew.

Performance

Although stability and ease of handling had to be key priorities, Laser were determined that the boat should offer sufficient performance to keep all but the most committed racers happy. And though we had mostly light air for the test, the spells of decent breeze gave the Laser 2000 the opportunity to show off some pretty impressive acceleration. While lacking the explosive speed potential of her bigger trapeze-rigged sisters, the 2000 still provides a genuine introduction to apparent wind sailing. Even the more experienced will find her performance lacks little; either as a boat for club racing, or trips round the bay.

Build Quality

The hull construction follows well-established Laser practice, with a simple glass and polyester lay-up. It's not the lightest way to produce a dinghy, but it is tough. The addition of foam sandwich decks help to keep the weight within sensible limits. What is something of a first for Laser, is that the entire rig and fittings package has been sourced from Holt. As well as offering a substantial cost benefit to the manufacturer, the set-up offers advantages for the sailor, with no difficulties in identifying the supplier when replacement parts are required.

Anticipated Durability

Solidly built as described above, with some nice detail that will also help. The built-in bailer has the scoop fitted to the side rather than the bottom of the skeg, to prevent damage.

Quality of Race Circuit

With over five hundred sold in the UK, fifty boats are expected at the 2000 Nationals in August. The 2000 races on the regular Laser circuit, but perhaps the boat is a bit too much of a club racer for it to become a massive hit for this format.

Value for Money

A nice all-rounder, becoming a strong club boat, as well as popular with organizations ranging from the armed forces to sailing school companies like Neilson and Minorca. It’ll be around for a while, and looks like being a sound buy.