The concept
Oppi aims, with its back to the roots concepts, not to dazzle and distract with trendy designs that take away from the sailing experience. The reason for this is that trendy designs make assumptions about the sailors and the experience they are looking for in the boat. For sailors, every sailboat has its own feel and the design often disappointedly comes at the cost of the overall sailing performance. Moreover, just because it appears beautiful in a folder, it does not mean that it performs that way.

The Hull
Around polyethylene sail boats an air of indestructibility hangs in the thoughts of people. This is partly out of place. Of course, it does not have the disadvantages of wood or grp in many respects, but polyethylene constructions have other restrictions.

For this reason the Rebel has unique aspects to its hull that have not been used in polyethylene construction before. Aspects that are traditionally found in proven grp or wooden constructions. The Rebel has merged the wet section with the cockpit, creating traditional reinforcement. The Rebel is the first polyethylene sailboat in the world that proves on the basis of this concept that the advantages of wood and grp can be built into polyethylene. The Rebel does not rely on the principle of more material for more strength. That would only lead to a strong, heavy plastic bag. The Rebel is rather similar to the construction of the Eiffel tower: minimum use of material, with a maximum degree of firmness. As a result, the weight of the hull has been restricted to 90kg of polyethylene. This is lesser than similar sized boats in polyethylene (using sandwich construction) or comparable with grp designs.

How a polyethylene sailboat looks after a short or long period is especially dependent on how one handles the sailboat on the dock and while putting it in the water. (I.e. no nails in the dock, no sharp edges on the trailer, no things that seem logical if one assumes the polyethylene is indestructible.)

The self-bailers
Two “super suck type” bailers can be installed on each side of the Rebel. In addition to the self-bailers, two tunnels have been created in the stern to compliment the release of water. These are handy for letting out water when the boat is on shore but they can also be used as self-bailers when the Rebel is sailed at pace.

Rudder and dagger board
The Rebel uses a grp retractable rudder and dagger board with wooden kern. The dagger board is mounted in a nicely finished grp dagger board case. The grp dagger board case has been chosen to eliminate the need to screw directly to the hull. Connection points in polyethylene are an object of worry, so we avoid them wherever possible.

Sailing
The surface of the sail of the Rebel is comparable to that of a 420. The Mainsail and spinnaker are exactly equal in terms of surface area and tailoring. The Jib is practically the same, but cut in such a way that it can be made self-turning for ease when sailing single-handed.

Mast, boom and blocks
The mainsheet can be used both in front of and behind the bridle or mainsheet block. Thus it can be handled by the helm or a (3rd) crewmember. The mast is non-tapered, there are no steel hoisting lines, a trapeze is standard, blocks are manufactured by Viadana and Harken.

Security
The Rebel is super safe. Besides double partitions in the floor, 250 liters of extra buoyancy have been introduced. After a capsize the Rebel is easy to be lifted rightside up by one-man’s weight on the dagger board. When the Rebel is up right again, the crewmembers can easily get themselves into the boat. The deck will not be a “mountain to high to climb” for youngsters.

Furthermore, you have the comfort that the Rebel is not a standard industrial product. When a Rebel is build, a boat is build. The work time spent to deliver Oppi products is certainly three times that of other producers, irrespective of the fact that prefabricated solutions can be cheaper. We admit that we are old-fashioned,  but we don’t see this as wrong, rather part of the value we deliver.