Hobie 16 Max Crew Weight

Hello All,

I'm new to the forum and have a quick "real-world" question. My brother and I are looking at buying a used Hobie to get us out on the water. We want a 16 because we don't want to deal with the boards on an 18 and don't have the budget for a Getaway.

I weigh about 250 and my brother goes about 190 I think. Online I've heard people imply that the true max weight for a 16 is far less than the 800 pounds stated by Hobie. Could our combined 440 pounds really be too much weight for a 16? That's barely over half of the stated max weight. We're young guys who are raring to go and very comfortable with the water so we'll probably be pushing the envelope from time to time. Will we have to worry about the lee hull submerging in high winds?

Saturday I took a friend out on my H-16 in pretty strong winds. I weigh about 180 and he weighs 300 lbs. That is more the total of you and your brother. We had a good day and were flying a hull. You have to be careful about weight distribution but it is not too much for the boat. The difficulty might be more in your ability to move around on the tramp, getting under the boom as you come about. There is not much difference between 2 heavyweights and three moderate weight people. I wouldn't hesitate to take out 2 people, say, 180 and 130 lbs in addition to my weight. I have had 4 adults out with no problem.

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Howard

Matt or someone else can verify this, but I think the "design" weight limit is somewhere around 390, give or take.

I'm ~195 and my wife is ~140, so combined we're theoretically perfect. Then I add my twin 8 y.o. girls at ~50 each and we still move at a pretty good clip.

Of course, I have heard of people taking out more and as hrtsailor points out you can still have fun.

The few really hard core sailors and racers I know won't go out on their 16's when the weight gets much north of 350#. One other racing skipper I crewed with even switched boats from his 16 to his 20 for that exact reason.

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

800lb is so far beyond the ideal weight for a Hobie 16 it's absurd. Maybe that's the max bouyancy of the hulls, but to be able to actually sail the boat, forget it. The top racing teams are in the 300lb range. At 440lb you should definitely be looking towards an 18. Much more bouyancy and much more suited towards your weight. Really, if the dagger boards are the only thing holding you back, get over it. Dagger boards are no big deal. Even a sunfish has a daggerboard.

sm

To me the 16 feels heavy with more than one person on it period. I love going out single hand and feeling the boat instantly accelerate while gliding across the water. I sail a lot with my 160lb partner, together we total about 320lbs. On the heavy wind days I'm happy to have an additional partner but a lot of times it ends up being a double edged sword. While it is easier to control the boat and keep it from flipping over backwards or sideways, pitchpoling becomes a real problem with 300lbs on the boat. It is also very easy to break the boat with two guys on a trapeze and every sail powered all the way up. I find single handed and trapped out I still travel out during heavy blows quite a bit. I have yet to break anything single handed but with extra weight on the boat we always manage to push her to the limit. You can work around all this but let me leave you with one last point.

Get the 18! Bikini clad women can't fit on a 16 with 450lbs worth of dude!

I am at 200 and with my 215 lb son in law we do great. GPS verified 21 mph. I sail solo much more often, but am limited in the wind range when I am by myself (I'm getting smarter with age). I have not experience the increase in breakage mentioned above. I have had myself and 4 youth ages 16-18 out on my H16. It is definitely doggy, but still great sailing and a good experience for the kids. The acceleration is much slower, but the top speed will eventually get there, or close. You of course have more drag as more hull is in the water, but still great fun.

I'm 180 my son in law 210 - we sail together a lot. So that's the 390 someone said is good general max weight? We fly a hull a lot etc. I hang out - he skippers.

We do have to watch it - when hauling - and Im' hanging - I have to be quite far back behind him typically - to keep the hull in the water from digging in. but it's fun and FAST and though not ideal - surely works for us. In lesser winds we each sail our own boat.

When I was a teen we had 4 guys on a 16 - each (skinny and young - averaged about 125 lbs each so - that's 500lbs? it was windy and wavey (big lake mi). When we raised a hull the weight would sink the hull in the water and we'd start to cartwheel. Being small and nimble we always scurried around nad never did flip. Was great fun as well - though surely over weighted. = )