Bill,
You're right. My USA-1, powered by a Magnum 53 was a touch over 52oz and flew quite well. I had hoped that jacking up the wing area to something near 770 square inches would allow the plane above (along with a big, pipe engine) to carry a bit of extra weight. As it turned out, even with the extra squares and power, 64oz was just too much. Had I gone with a thicker airfoil, I could probably carried the additional ounces, but as it was, it just wallowed.
So, the new one is based on the Slider aerodynamics and I have high hopes that it will be as good a plane as it's predecessor. We'll see.
As for the Novi, some additional inspection and there is probably nothing for it but to strip it down, rebuild the outboard wing and refinish it. To bad, too. It was a pretty good flying plane.