Ice boat hobie?

Staring at our frozen lake the other day, I had a strange thought...has anyone ever converted a Hobie catamaran to an ice boat? Admittedly, I don't know a lot about ice boats, but in my crazy head it seems like it wouldn't be a hard conversion...put some skates on the transoms and something for steering up front. I am not serious about building one, just wondered if this has ever been attempted before (or if it is possible). Thoughts?

It's been discussed here before. You would be much better off building a dedicated ice boat rather than trying to adapt a Hobie to the ice.

sm

Alright, i did a quick search but didn't see a discussion on it. Thanks srm

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . .

A buddy of mine and I sailed my family's Hobie 16 on the ice. It was on the Chesapeake Bay, and the ice only extended a hundred yards or so from shore. We launched in a place where the ice wasn't, and we would gain speed in the water before "mounting" the ice. We would go for a 50 yard or so uncontrolled skid across the ice before we stopped. We'd hop off, turn the boat around by hand, then sail downwind off the ice to do it all over again. It was great fun, but then again, we were 17 or 18 years old at the time.

That sounds awesome!...however, the abuse to the hulls makes me cringe

I don't remember it doing any significant damage to the hulls, but the ice was soft and not terribly thick (it was springtime - probably sometime in early March?). Not like we left orange streaks across the ice (hulls were orange).

We'd also get our weight back just as we got to the edge of the ice so we would ride up onto it better.

We were just being young and stupid - no wetsuits, no drysuits and 35 degree water. It wasn't very windy and we were in a fairly protected area.

I am also young and stupid...but (arguably) not that crazy! Sounds like it was a good time though, thanks for sharing!