Old vs New

I have been told the earlier Getaways had the Hobie 16 rudder system while the later ones have a new rudder system that is much improved. Can anyone give me details on this? How big a difference is this? What year was the change implemented? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Also what are the concerns of buying a 2002 boat? Where there any problems with the earlier year boats that were corrected in later years? Anything in particular I should look at when buying an older Getaway? Thanks for your help.

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Dave

I can't help you with the 2002 Getaway, but I've been a crew a dozen times or so on a 2009/10 Getaway. I can tell you it's a good boat and I do like the rudder system compared to what's on my '78 H16, but I guess it's not a good comparison, I need to rebuild my rudders.

While I'm new to Hobies (1 year experience as crew on a Getaway and skipper on my H16), I don't consider 2002 an old boat. But with anything used, it's good to go every inch of the boat.

Before buying, I'd want to see the boat rigged in order to check the rigging.

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Marc...
1978 Hobie 16 Keoke, sail# 36 84

The older boats used the H17/18/20 style castings.

The problem with the older system is the lock down cam. Works well when you understand how they work and they are working correctly.

The newer EZ LOC system is just that... EZ. Tiller up / rudder up. Tiller down / rudder down.

With any used boat look for visible cracks or damage. Make sure all of the parts are there.

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

I've been lurking, lookign for a used Getaway. I think I read that the first year had an issue - the back end of the hulls cracked?
In general, the front tramp seems to sag after not too many years, make sure you look at that. And there are some threads concerning the mast coming unglued - not sure if that's been fixed on newer boats.

Comtips in general can be a nuisance, just make sure you put lots of UV protection on it every year. I have had almost no trouble with mine (2006). I had a couple of defective rudders but Hobie looked after them for me. If you don't need the front tramp take it off, I find in larger waves it keeps dragin the front of the boat down. The kids like to lay up there on quiet days. They did have some cooking problems on the early boats but had an excellent replacement deal. I wish the boat was a little faster, I plan to try a larger jib this summer.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

I'm not familiar with the Comtip/UV protection thing. Can you give me more information on that?

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Dave

You can pretty much leave a CompTip in the sun for a decades with little problem. I have never seen on fail from UV... just looks bad, but covering when not in use or a UV protectant (even wax) will extend the cosmetic life.

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

Well it took 4 or 5 searches but I finally found this thread on the Old vs New Rudder Assemblies. Thanks for the info!

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'01 Getaway - Wetted Bliss

I have a 2002 Getaway that I bought last fall and like you I was concerned about buying an earlier model that could have hull problems. The hulls are simple to inspect, just look them over well for obvious cracks anywhere and particularly around the cross beams and rudders. I would think that a 10 year old boat would have already cracked if it had manufacturing defects, unless it was hardly used, or used on a small lake without to much load placed on the hulls.

I have the old rudder system and adjusted them once because of to much weather helm. I give them a shot of WD-40 every time I take it out and a good wash down when I get back to get the salt off and they work perfectly.

The new system sounds good. On my H16 (sold it years ago), the rudder system "locked". The downwind rudder was a hassle to lift (needed to lift it every ~10 minutes for seaweed to slide off - could not steer otherwise). Sometimes I had to crawl to that side of the tramp to unlock it, and with the heavy weeds in July and August, that got old FAST.