What is this thing?

So I bought a 91 H18 with sx wings about a week ago and it came with another boat for parts. I don't have room to store the mast or hulls so I stripped off everything I could today. I am not exactly sure this is a normal 18. Hoping you guys can help me out. The mast was about 29.5 ft (didnt get a perfect measurement). So that's about right for an sx. It had sx wings. The thing that confuses me is the hull ID# and the wildcat decals on it???












Thanks in advance

isn't this thing built for European class racing?

It's definitely an 18SX. The wildcat name/logo/decal must've been added by a previous owner (maybe it's what they named their boat?). It looks like you grabbed the crossbars? If not, I'd get back over there and at least take the wing mounting hardware off of them. You can't get it anywhere else anymore. They're the stainless steel plates riveted to the crossbars, complete with the hex head threaded screws and the slugs in the crossbar track that they thread into, and the bent SS tabs on the outer 4 bolts of the crossbar.

The rudder castings there are the newer style, a $500 upgrade from the stock system. Can't tell if the rudders are expensive EPO (fiberglass) blades or just black plastic/painted. It looks like the previous owner raced, so there's a good chance that they're EPO's. Besides, I doubt anyone would upgrade the steering system and not the rudder blades. All in all, good find! Lots of rare and expensive parts there!

The mast is also a very rare piece. Not many 18SX masts floating around anymore. It's a shame you couldn't store it. If anything happens to the one you've got, you'll probably have to downgrade to a standard H18 mast, as most others have done.

As far as the vintage, it's got the older style rudder gudgeons but the newer style shroud anchor plates. I'd guess it could be a late 80's boat. I'd have to look up the HIN decoder ring and figure out when the SX production run started, but I'm sure someone else on here could tell you for certain!

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Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

It was a stock Hobie 18 that someone may have upgraded to an 18SX. The ISAF sticker is proof that the International Class royalty was paid to the International Sailing Federation (they are on any sailboat class that is an "International Class" - which the Hobie 18 used to be).

The "Wildcat" graphics were added by a previous owner - it's just the name they gave to the boat and mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

The incomplete hull number is not that uncommon. Often, Hobie Cat made a run of hulls and stored them in inventory without putting a model year on them. Only when they were sold to dealers was the model year supposed to be engraved - and sometimes that didn't happen. I have the same situation on my Hobie 17. It was probably made in 2005, but not sold until 2007. There is no model year engraved on the boat.

Based on the hull stripe, that's a circa 1983 - 1984 boat, but the 18 didn't become an ISAF International Class until the late 1980's. 18SX's didn't appear until 1989. Grey trampolines didn't appear until 1989.

Best guess is that it's a 1989 or 1990 boat. Pretty rough for its age.

Thanks for all the info guys. I actually have a standard 18 with sx wings. I took all the parts off this to use some on my boat. The bad news is this stuff is probably all a foot longer? Although the hulls look pretty bad some of the parts are in surprisingly good shape. I'm guessing even the trap lines are longer as they are called as a different part# in the parts lists?

I did grab the crossbars and will prob have a full set of sx wings with mounting hardware for sale soon.

Oh I see! Not a bad idea, the SX rig isn't cheap to maintain. You won't be able to use the SX upper/lower forestay, shrouds, diamond wires, trap wires, sails or halyards, but everything else is the same. Standard 18 sails and rigging are still widely available, both new and used. SX rigging and sails are not. However, I hear that the extra 18" Really add a lot of power and thrill! Especially if you're able to get a spinnaker on there!

See the below guides for reference, when in doubt:

http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/site/ho ... eguide.doc
http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/site/ho ... eguide.doc

That hull stripping was used thru 1989 as it was on my new 18M (with SX wings) that year and 2 years later when I got rearended by a drunk driver and the hulls where going to replaced I requested from the dealer that he install the same stripes on it versus the ugly large Hobie 18 logo the came on the 1991 boats...that color of replacement stripe was also in the hobie accessories catalog at the time.

Tony, cant tell what color that tramp use to be....if it is a very faded out yellow it may have been my 89/91 boat which I sold to someone in Indiana in 2001 (I lived in eastern Iowa at the time) when I bought a new H18M.

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2001 H18 w/SX wings & spinnaker #16740 (purchased new)
1989 H18 w/SX wings #14565 (purchased new, sold 2000)
Would buy another if Hobie would build it.