I finally did it!!!!!!

Well today I finally put the boat out on the water and I had a blast. The forecast for today was 5 to 10 mph from the southeast. Well guess what, the wind quit after I got out in the middle of the lake. There was no wind for 2 hours! So I just sat there and bobbed around. Now Lake Eufaula in alabama is a pretty big lake and I was more than a mile from any land. Makes ya feel a little small Then I got a little breeze from the north an increased to about 12. After that it was a blast. It was my first time to single hand a Hobie so I was a little nervous. It all came back to me.

The best part though.................I heard the hum again!!!!!!!!





Thanks,
Joshua

Nice, and well deserved I might add! I can't wait to get back out on the water myself ( been since october)... and this time on my new to me H16. Think I might go out on the H14T once more for old times sake before I pass it on to a new owner.

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'95 H16 sail #101148
'89 H18 SX/ sail #1053 w/ Yellow hulls

That's a nice looking 16! Is it new?

I went out today too after a not so long winter here in Austin. After a screaming downwind leg in 15-20kts, we turned to head back up toward the yacht club. Unfortunately for us, after a couple of tacks we heard a Pop!, followed by flapping jib. The jib halyard broke

Wasn't too bad though. After a couple of blown tacks with the main only we finally got our (censored) together and made it back to the yacht club for a few well deserved cold beers.

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Todd
H21 SC

Joshua - glad you made it to the water - I've watched your restoration on other posts and it's been a great inspiration for my own restoration (still in progress). I hope to have my own H16 back in the water in another month or two (and yours started in much worse shape).

Thanks for the inspiration - and glad you got it in the water!

benning: My boat is not new. Do a search in the Hobie 16 forum for my name and you will find the post.

Thanks guys it was a great feeling to get it out on the water. By the way I broke my jib halyard cleat when I was taking the jib down. It was the rivet so no big deal. Cant wait for Friday.

Joshua

Joshua,

I too have watched your progress on the Forum. Congratulations on a fantastic looking boat! Your project was instrumental in influencing me to try spraying gelcoat for the first time. I'm just hitting the bottoms where the gel has worn a little thin. Prep work is about 50% through, should finish sanding on Monday night and spray gel later in the week. Wish me luck. Below is the scene from my garage today.
I wouldn't consider this a tough job, but new to me. Since I'm working on the bottom where no one should notice, I didn't sweat getting the tape straigt and won't be concered about color matching. It's a good first project. Thanks to all who have made contributions about spraying gelcoat. I feel pretty confident.

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Mark Van Doren
H16 Seabreeze #112205 (Richard Petty Signature Edition)
H14T Fantasia #47787
San Juan 28

After you spray those huls w/ gellcoat .... take them outside and place them in direct sunlight ... my experience has proven to me that exposure to UV rays can really help in curing gelcoat ... it helps w/ making the gell coat "kick", even if it is a slightly chilly day.

Do you have a "random orbit" compressed air sander???? They work very well when used w/ wet/dry sandpaper. I sand up to 2000grit myself and have considered going to 2500 grit .... but that maybe a little "over-kill" .... I would go up to 1200 grit minimum though. The best place to get the wet/dry sandpaper is a "auto body supply" store .... 3M is the best and lasts the longest, Norton doesn't last as long and clogs up ....

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

Spraying the gel right up to the tape will leave a hard edge that you'll need to feather down. It's difficult to make that edge blend in.

A better way is to mask off further down on the hull and not spray to the edge of the tape and/or use a loose edge - wide masking paper put on the "wrong way" - with the non-adhesive edge facing the spray. This way, you get a more natural feather that's easy to blend in.