Evening all,
 
About a year ago I bought an GRP NSM2 - 3346 which I have been sailing lots on order to get the best understanding of the boat and class. I have loved every second of it and have been upgrading the odd thing here and there however I have been checking and it does not have an up to date record meaning I cannot do any events.
 
So my question is how and where can I get it measured along with  how can I reduce the weight of the boat as I'm sure it is more than 100kg ? 
 
I am also looking into upgrading at Christmas with a present from dad ;) however the boat still needs these tings doing so any help would be much appreciated.
 
Regards  Alex

Alex,
If your boat was measured from new (which is highly likely) the RYA will have a record of this and can re-issue a replacement certificate, you shouldn't need to get the whole boat re-measured. If the sail plan / rig has changed then you will need to get just that done which is a lot simpler.
It's very hard to reduce the hull weight of an old boat. You can try getting it under cover, in a warm shed, turn it upside down and cover (seal) completely down to the floor in plastic, put a de-humidifier under the upturned hull and leave it running for several days which should remove moisture and dry out the boat. Make sure all the tank hatches are removed and the shed is kept warm. Carbon spars and such reduce your all up sailing weight but at a cost! Remove any unnecessary fittings and that's about all you can do realistically. 
Dave 

As well as carbon spars, not overly expensive if you buy second hand, the other big weight saving can be changing the centre board.

Mine is a wood and glass Winder one. Not sure whether it is original, but it is very heavy.

You can make a carbon/HD Foam board easily enough and you can get the weight very low.

I'm not sure that any of the early FRP hulls were down to weight from new.........
 
I'd go with Dave C on this, short of massive reconstruction and/or enormous expense  significant weight reduction is not going to happen. The board may seem quite heavy, but it's weight where you want it and what will you realistically save? 2 kilos? Pour two litres of water in the boat and you won't even see it!
 
Concentrate on better sailing. Weight does influence performance, but it doesn't dictate it. 
 
 

If you've been an RYA member for more than abut 5 years and have a Gold card then you can just email them for a certificate - gold members get one free per calendar year, which also reminds me I must get this year's one for Merlin 40!

Are you sure it's GRP? I'm pretty sure (and the yearbook would back up) that Galactic Gnu is wooden...
 
For an NSM2, you're most likely to be being competitive on inland / restricted waters, in which case I wouldn't worry too much about boards and masts; point it in the right direction, look for shifts, and if you're still worried about weight then try reduce all up crew weight.

Galactic Gnu is indeed one of very few fibreglass NSM2's with wooden decks IIRC.  It was the all plastic NSM2's from Wembley that particularly had the weight problem - Rob Heath lost all confidence in the previously quite satisfactory performance of Brain Salad Surgery 3519 after it tipped the scales at over 110kg at the Nationals.  3346 is unlikely to be vastly overweight and there are a lot of better ways of going quicker than taking small amounts of weight out of the boat - one less than perfect tack will lose you a lot more inland.

 Hi Alex,
I had Galactic Gnu from 2009 - 2012 before selling her to the owner in Southampton.
She was sailed at Banbury and on the Midland Circuit quite sucessfully and would have gone much faster with a younger/fitter/lighter/better helm!
She is a composite NSM2 and certainly had a full Measurment Certificate when I owned her.
By 2009 she was already deck stepped and, before I sold her, she had a full re-furbishment by Dirty Hands. The internal paint was completely stripped, she was dried, had the king post area re-inforced and a complete internal repaint. The jib sheeting system was modified, reinstating the fore and aft jib tracks and cutting down the forward transverse bulkhead.
If you would like some old photo's and more hsitory, please email me at [email protected].
Enjoy sailing her. We did
Ian
 

I thought the number rang a bell...............
 
In that case you will really struggle to reduce the weight much further. It was I that stripped the internal paint (All 5347 layers, a very, very unpleasant task you must buy me a drink sometime!!) off. It's a good solid boat though, and it can't be very much heavier than it was when new. Ian put the fit out back to a good standard and took all the weird stuff off. It's certainly a better boat than it was when he bought it.
 
Knowing Ian as I do it would definately have had a valid certificate when he owned it. While you really should have a valid certificate in your name, this doesn't preclude you from doing the odd open if you wanted to.

Can I take Gnu off the second hand list then?