Advice please- Mooring and/or ease of use

I'd like to hear if anyone has kept an H16 on a mooring ball (in the bay - tidal) successfully or unsuccessfully, and if so what steps did you take to keep the boat from decaying?

Is there a way to re-engineer the boat so that the rudder assembly is quickly removable?

Any experience with anti-fouling paint?

A particular mooring line setup, or combination with anchors, that keeps the boat safe?

If we do this it would be in a very safe/calm harbor. We could buy another used boat every few years or so if that were the only way to do it, but would be really sad to destroy so many boats. Although perhaps not as sad as giving up on sailing altogether.

Backstory:
My wife are about ready to give up on our Hobie 16. It takes us four hours of trailer setup, trailering, de-trailering, boat setup, and rigging, from when we leave our home to when we're sailing. On the way home it takes a little bit less time, about 3.5 hours.

About a month ago we realized that we're spending more than 8 hours to collect our equipment, set it up, and then put it back. With the amount of daylight we have here, we might get two or three hours on the water. About a month ago we both realized the 8 hours to 3 hours ratio wasn't going to work.

Last year it was much worse. We've worked hard to optimize our time on each part of the process, but the time above is about the best we can do.

Our actual travel time to the water (without a boat) is one hour. We've been toying with the idea of keeping our H16 on a mooring ball in the bay. This would allow us to skip all of the trailering and trailer setup, as well as stepping the mast (I understand this is easy for some of you- it is quite difficult for us).

When we first purchased our boat, we were excited to keep it the way our friend with an H16 had taught us on Long Island: on land at a marina with the mast up and quickly transported to the water by catTrax.

No marina we have talked to, nor any yacht club I have asked, are willing/able to store the H16 on land.

Thanks in advance,
Jon
midcoast of Maine

A thought to add:

A friend of mine suggested diving docks, or pulling the H16 up onto an old pontoon boat or floating dock of some kind.

A platform would be required. We do not advise mooring cats. The two hulls set up a vibration that shakes the rig with any chop or ripples. The rig can get fatigued quickly. On a platform, it is better, but the rig and rudders need to be restrained to limit fatigue. Regular inspection is also key!

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

FWIW, my father had kept his 16 moored on a lake with lots of speedboat waves every year for over 30 years and never had a problem. He kept everything under tension though, so nothing was flopping around. The only thing he's replaced on the boat was one side shroud due to fraying. He had it connected to the mooring with the dolphin striker rod. I still have that boat and just retired it two years ago due to some delamination and soft spots. It seems like the frequent shock of a loose rig is what wears the boat out. I think you'd get the same fatigue on a floating dock, would probably need a dock which is anchored to the ground so it's not moving with the waves.

I'm curious to know what you are doing that takes so long to setup & tear down? Is the boat not road ready on the trailer? I can have my mast up and boat on the water in 20-30 minutes by myself. Add a few more minutes to gather trailer straps, park the vehicle, grab the beer, put on the harness and PFD, etc.....

I'm also wondering about why it's taking so long to set up. Do you have a cat box on your trailer so you don't have to hunt around to gather everything?

You asked about storage at yards and clubs with the mast up. Did you ask about storage with the mast down? If you've got a good routine it doesn't take long to put a mast up and down, especially if you're not traveling.

Since you're willing to spend some money, you might want to see if someone will let you pay to launch and store on their beach.

Jim Clark-Dawe

You might have a look at my old H16 rigging video. I made it to help people optimize the time required. I'd say 30-40 minutes by myself.

If you don't have it on a trailer and your have to collect the parts from storage... that is not ideal.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Will any marina let you store it in their lot on the trailer? That's how I started with my Getaway, mast up, rudders on, jib furled. Took me about 10 minutes to attach the mainsail and mainsheet, and back it down the ramp.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

I agree with the others, if it is taking you 3 hours to prep and rig your boat, you’re doing something wrong. It should generally be a 30-60 minute process. Raising the mast can be understandably difficult for some, but there is equipment available (winches, gin pole) to ease the process and they don’t add much time. You might want to share with the group some of the specific issues that are causing you trouble and there are likely things that can be done to streamline the process.

That said, if you do moore the boat, expect that the hulls are likely to become water logged and/or soft more quickly. I would look into an anti-fouling paint to prevent water absorption. Otherwise, make sure you drain the boat after every sail. Try to keep the hulls as dry as possible.

sm

It might help to say where you are located, as someone might know of a place to keep it. I have found many marinas and clubs fail at marketing themselves. Three hours seems a bit extreme and I would not use the boat either! But on the other hand it is no fun to be racing to get it put together.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

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1982 Hobie 16, she followed me home honest.

I'm curious about your "trailer setup". When I had my first Hobie 17 30 years ago, it wouldn't fit on the trailer in my garage, and of course, the mast was way too long. So...I kept the mast on a rack on the side of my house (shrouds disconnected from the boat and coiled up with the mast), and the boat suspended from the ceiling in my garage, using 4:1 pulleys at each corner. The trailer would then slide back and fit in the garage.

So, to sail, I lowered the boat onto the trailer and strapped it down. Rolled it forward and locked the rudders up with a safety rope tied to a wing. Hooked up the trailer, and drove from the alley to the front of my house, where I carried the mast from the rack to the trailer and strapped it down front and rear.
I could honestly do all that in about 10 minutes! The sail, boom, mainsheet and pfds all lived in a sail box on the trailer.

Now, I rent a storage garage with my Getaway on the trailer ready to go. I couldn't afford it then.

When we get to the launch site, I can set up the boat, stepping the mast with a Mast Stepper III, putting on the rudders and motor, hooking up the mainsail and all the trivial things that need to be done in about 45 minutes by myself. If I have strong help, it takes about 20 minutes (mostly because I don't have to mess around with the Mast Stepper.)

_________________
Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

When I had a H14T, I was able to get it to fit just barely in my garage with the mast and rudders while still on the trailer.

In 2007 when I upgraded to a H16, the mast was too long, so I sort of did like dorienc and unhooked the shrouds, but stretched the shrouds and forestay along the length of the mast and strapped them to the mast using six Star Brite 12" yellow ball sail ties and then separately placed the mast along the back wall of the garage.

In 2015 when I moved from Panama City Beach to Clearwater, FL my new garage was not as deep so I installed a 3" x 3" trailer tongue hinge so I could, when storing it, reduce the overall length. I was still planning on storing the H16 while on the trailer in the 1 car section of the garage and store the mast along the back wall (like my last garage). Unfortunately since the house was not finished when we bought it, the 8' wide garage door opening ended up 7' 11" which is slightly too narrow to fit a Hobie 16 through. As a result I have to pay to store my H16 at a boat/RV storage lot.

If I need to work on the boat (or a hurricane is coming), I bring the boat and trailer home and then carry the mast around to the backyard and with trailer's tongue hinge swung to the side, I can just barely get the boat (and rudders still on) and trailer into the 2 car section of the garage (with my wife's car also in). We are not allowed to keep boats outside in our neighborhood, so this is the best I could do.

With regards to the setup/take down process it takes me about 15 minutes from the time I get to the beach, to step the mast, back the trailer to the water's edge, launch and set it up, and move the trailer/car beyond the high tide mark. Since I usually sail a couple time a week, year round, you get into a routine and the process becomes almost automatic.

The worst part is it takes me about 30-35 minutes from my house to pickup the boat/trailer at the storage lot and then drive to the beach. On weekends, if you try to get there after 10:00 am, you can expect another 1-2 hours delay getting to the launch site on the Dunedin Causeway due to the backup of cars going to Honeymoon Island Beach, etc.

Even so, it is still worth it once you are out sailing with a good wind.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Thank you all for your replies.

Here are some answers to your questions.
1) we don't have a catbox, but we do have a 1ft diam, 12ft long tube that is attached to the trailer. We keep the sails, fenders, rudder stick in there.
2) mmiller, we learned to rig the hobie using that video.
3) When discussing boat storage we didn't specify mast up/down; we just asked if we could keep a boat parked there.
3b) We have not yet tried asking about a parking space for a boat; will pursue this.
4) Would like to rent a space on shore from a private party, yes. We've been working on trying to meet more people to broach the subject. Not courageous enough to post a craiglist ad yet, but we'll see.
5) We live in Maine, and out nearest water access is Searsport, ME. If we need protection from the wind, we launch at Stockton Springs, ME.
6) Raising the mast is very difficult for us. There aren't beaches here to park the boat on, so we have to do it on the trailer. On the beach we can hand raise it, but on the trailer we aren't strong enough. We use a winch on the trailer to assist, but it is so dangerous that it takes us a while to go through our safety checklist. We dropped the mast once (the link pin wasn't in) and it almost hit my father and several bystander children. Most of the boat launches here are busy and have very little room for setup (due to overhead power lines), so we are often forced to raise the mast on the launch ramp.
7) We follow Matt's video for rigging, but almost always have to do this on the water. We spend a considerable amount of time trying to get the boat positioned into the wind. We still have considerable difficulty raising the mainsail.
we have improved rigging time by adding quick shackles to the jib and the block-and-tackle to boom.
9) I'll try to estimate the time we spend on various tasks:
-Picking up the trailer and driving to the coast: 70-80 minutes including trailer safety checklist
-Disassembling the trailer ties, and preparing the stays/mast for raising: 30 minutes
-Raising the mast (including safety checklist): 15 minutes
-Applying sunscreen and changing into wetsuits: 20 minutes
-Getting and eating food: 20-30 minutes (This is usually necessary because the entire process takes so long. if we could shorten it, we won't need to eat in the middle)
-tying fenders up: 10 minutes (working on getting quick shackles for these)
-Final gear check, gear attachment to boat: 20 minutes. (we reorganized our system last month so that most gear stays in the same drybag/bin all the time. This used to take much longer. we're also working on various means of quickshackling the gear to the boat).
-Raising the sails: 15-20 minutes

10) what we use to secure the boat on the catHauler trailer: about 20 tarp-bungees for stays, two ratchet straps for hulls (reduced from 4 for time reduction), mast is secured by winch at front, and by block & tackle at back.

11) typical "gear" that we take in three or more dry bags: spare paddle, warm dry clothes bag ICoE. emergency phanny pack with neoprene gloves and hood, snacks, 4L water, clothing needed for today's weather, marine radio, high lumen flashlight (in case of night sailing), two lifeJackets, two throwable pfd squares, 3 fenders, boat tool bag, 1st aid kit, depth charts, cell phones, 15lb navy anchor, three sets of 3/8" rope.

I'll post our checklists and a photograph of the ready-for-trailering setup for reference.

checklists:
https://imgur.com/kstSSW9
https://imgur.com/NUkf6ol
https://imgur.com/624Yn6l
https://imgur.com/q6WOeUz

trailer readiness:
I'm having a hard time finding photographs to describe this. We put ratchet straps around the hulls that strap it to the trailer. We put about 20 tarp bungees that fasten the stays, ropes, uphauls, etc. to the mast, trampoline, and trailer. We use the winch to fasten the front of the mast, and we use the block & tackle to fasten the rear of the mast. We tie a foot of orange webbing to the tip of the mast as a sort of 'wide load' flag.

That’s a lot bungees. I coil my standing rigging on the trampoline and secure it with 3 zip ties.