Found me a cat----maybe

I found a 16 for sale near the house this is the description-----
16 ft hobie cat sail boat double gromlet trampoline with no tears in it. Trapez also included. has all rigging ** sail has no tears in it . Also has a cat walker for ease of moveing around on the beach. It has not been in the water due to illness in family. The cat walker has been sitting in the same spot for 2 years and has caused a slight soft spot in that area on both sides but not bad enoughf to replace. The tralier has new tires on both sides and is road ready. Their is 2 scuff marks on the port side that can be seen in the picture.All it needs is a good home and ready to give hours of fun in return
I am a novice with cats used to have a sunfish 25 years ago, wanna teach my grandson sailing whatdaya think 1200 dollars

The line, "The cat walker has been sitting in the same spot for 2 years and has caused a slight soft spot in that area on both sides .........", scares me a little. The 1200 bucks may be too high if it does in fact have soft on each hull. Need more info.

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'88 Nationals Blue
Hobie Alter Signature Model
Sail #11

Hobie Mirage Classic

Stay away from soft spots.... they grow... are hard to fix...
solid hulls are of number one importance.....

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•Present boat -1998 Hobie 16 Solana Sails furling jib[/size]

agreed. Fiber glass deteriorates over time, so the older the boat the more deterioration has occurred. So over time the soft spots will continue to deteriorate and I think having symmetrical soft spots in both hulls will worsen and cause more structural damage with use. I have looked at many hobies and just found one recently, the tramp and rigging were in ok condition and will need to be replaced soon. But the hulls were in perfect condition and solid which is why I bought it. All in all stay away from soft spots!!

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1984 H16

for 1200 bucks I think you could find a better one with no softspots. especially if the soft spots are on the sides, those are even worse.

I would fix the soft spots if they aren't gigantic and there is no structural damage. I fixed up the softspots on my hauls with west system epoxy and they are better than new. If the soft spots are forward of the front pylons, they will need a solid repair. If not, a bit of epoxy could really fix ya right up for years to come.

The repair can be tricky if the interior glass has perforated. Damage to this extent would require inspection ports to be installed to access the repair area. The only way to know is begin repairs and see if epoxy comes out of drilled vent holes or leaks into the inside of the hull.

My hulls are rock solid after the repairs with epoxy so don't let minor soft spots scare you away from a great boat. Materials for the repairs could cost up to $200 so I'd knock the price down to at least $1,000 or move on. If the sails aren't somewhat crisp I'd knock another $100 off. Can't hurt to make a reasonable offer if you decide a weekend of working on the cat is worth it.

If you do decide to go the repair route, another perk is a bonus project. You can glue your hobie cat rails together w/the same epoxy and some 404 filler. Take a few basic measurements, pop in 24 new stainless rivets, and bam basically a new hobie cat. After filling the soft spots you'll have plenty of materials left over to do this.

Finally, redrill/align the rudders and locking hardware, bam a hobie 16 that sails like new for ~$1200.