Advice on buying a H16

Hello all, I was hoping I could get some advice on purchasing a Hobie cat, I haven't had much experience in these so I wanted to check a few things with y'all.

I really appreciated the advice that was given to me here last time I bought one of these. It wasn't savable and I was talked out of trying to. I was able to sell it for what I paid to someone willing to use parts thankfully. If anyone is in the Brevard Florida area I'd really like to learn some more about these from people that know.


I looked at a Hobie today, the gentleman is selling it on consignment and while I was looking at it changed his price from $1800 down to $1300. It is a '81 if I read the serial number right, in white with a trailer. The trailer seems in fine condition (minor rusting on the surface) and includes a good long sail box.

The boat itself looks like it was painted white at one point instead of redoing the gelcoat an the paint is flaking in small areas. But I'm worried about the hulls, in the pictures below my hand shows where a soft spot starts in front of the forward pylon, this spot is the same on both hulls. Beyond that the starboard side does have some further soft spots up front of that though I wasn't able to push hard enough to hear any crunching so I think the fiberglass itself is probably fine? It is soft between the pylons on the side as well. And, oddly, the previous owner has affixed a length of woof the entire length of the keel on both sides. I assume it's to hold up when beaching, but I'd like y'alls advice on this.

The mast is straight, the sails seems used but still crisp with some very small rust looking stains on them. It has an Aussie something (This is where my knowledge of terms is running short) and a 6:1 3inch Hardken system.

It'll be about a month or so before I can make a purchase and it's right above where my budget stops, so I'd like some advice on it. There's another one I'll be looking at that is a bit cheaper in the next county over, if it seems good I'll be asking some more questions on here I'm sure.


Here's the serial on the hull, I glanced quick and it looked like the numbers on each matched.
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24 ... 7675_n.jpg

Here's my hand showing the start of a soft spot in front of the pylon.
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24 ... 1549_n.jpg

This is loose, I assume I can just tighten down if I buy the boat?
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24 ... 6381_n.jpg

Judging by stickers on the boat and trailer this cat has been sailed for a few seasons up in the NC area.
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24 ... 9664_n.jpg

Mast seems to be straight, and most the lines seem alright though I realize I'll want to get new rigging and probably a new tramp cloth, I would hope to be able to do that after this season.
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww24 ... 0769_n.jpg


If anyone is in Brevard Florida I would really appreciate some help in looking at my options as well as just learning how it all works.

In my humble opinion $1300 is way to much for a boat with soft spots. Maybe location and date is a factor, but I bought my '83 on an aluminum trailer for $1100 in 2008. No soft spots or other damage. I had to change some of the running lines but that was it. I have done some improvements, but the basic boat was sound. If the hulls are painted too, I would pass this one up and keep looking. There has got to be something better out there. Especially in an area like Florida. Just my 2 cents.

That was more my gut feeling on it, but I wasn't absolutely sure. I'll toss the gentleman business card and keep looking around. There's a sharp looking white one with white sails over in the next county for $1100 asking, I'll be asking about it in the next couple of weeks I hope.

It's really a bit painful for me to look, just yesterday I spotted one down a canal and I walked out to look at it. It looked like they had beached it and left it fully rigged. The sails were almost completely gone, I could barely recognize that they were the sails. To me it looked like the mast was probably fine and the trampoline frame could be used agains, but the hulls were completely gone and barnacle covered. For me looking for a boat, to see one just abandoned and destroyed that way sucks.

Soft spots on the decks in front of the forward pylons are very common on older boats and an indication that the hulls are at the end of their life. Plus you said there are other spots farther up the bow and between the pylons. Do you want to spend your time repairing a growing delamination problem, or do you want to sail?

I would keep shopping around.

sm

No way that's a $1300 boat unless it's the only one on a desert island or something! Sounds like waaay more delam than would be worth fixing even if you were to get her for next to nothing. In that price range, you should be able to come up with a sailable boat needing only minor rigging or line replacement. You might also watch e-bay. If you don't mind driving a ways, that widens the pool of available boats.

Dave

Well, the boat I was planning to look at was no longer listed by the time I could plan to drive out to it, but a few new ones have just been listed and I'm messaging them to learn more. They're all a bit of a drive for me, but they're in my price range.

The first is about a 2.5 hour drive but it looks pretty good in the picture. I've already asked about soft spots and condition of everything. The picture of the sail looks bad to me.

https://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/boa/5479186584.html

The next doesn't look as promising, but it's much cheaper. Pictures show two different hull colors, I'm not sure about the picture of the guy with the trampoline, and of course anything listed is repaired could be an issue in the future (Though I imagine all the boats in my price range should be either repaired or soon needing it).

And it's probably about 4 hours away.

https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/chl/bo ... 99076.html

This is probably the closest, but to me the least promising. Even under a roof having it sit for a long time doesn't fill me with trust as I know it hasn't been tested in who knows how long. I'm also fairly sure I recognize this boat from a previous add that did not include a mast, so I may have to add that cost into my view of it.

https://treasure.craigslist.org/boa/5474085006.html

Any chance there's any friendly folk around these areas that could lend me a hand in checking them out?

The first looks to be your best bet. It's a 1990's boat (based off of the hull graphics). The sail is trashed. But if the rest of the boat is in good condition, plan on dropping $1k for a new set of sails and you will have a good boat with a lot of the features found on newer H16s.

The other postings are for much older boats. The second posting, it isn't even clear what's being sold. There are two different boats shown, they are missing lots of parts and they're from the 1970's or early 80's. It looks like they are from a rental operation and I wouldn't even consider purchasing them. The third posting is also a late 70's or early 80's boat that may be in ok condition, but it's old and it would really need to be looked over closely in person before making any decision. Even if it is in decent shape, it is going to have a lot of the original H16 equipment that has since been improved on the newer boats.

Again, I would go for the first one. If the hulls are solid and the spars and tramp are in decent shape, it should be a good boat. It just needs a new sail.

sm

The second one hasn't replied back to me at all, so no loss in ignoring it. The third option was able to confirm that there were soft spots in the hulls and that the boat was a 1974, so I will ignore it as well.

The best bet, being the first boat, the gentleman contacted me back immediately and requested I call him to talk. So already a plus to my mind. He said the hulls are fine, just need polish to bring the gelcoat back to shine and that it's ready to go other than the sail which he said needed new patches. He confirmed that the sail cloth was soft and the way he said it makes me figure it's very soft. But he did say he would be more than happy to work with me on price because he hates seeing it sit unused and, as he has a lot of back problems, he's not able to rig it and use it often.

He'll send me more pictures which I'll share here and hopefully I'll drive down there on Thursday or Friday of this week.


For replacing the sails, I understand that very soft means I probably shouldn't use them in this season or any season, but I do see sails online for between $250 and thousands of dollars for these. Other than checking for damage and being soft, what else should I be looking at for these so I don't break my budget so horribly bad?

Since I was the first to call he made sure to tell me someone else wanted to look at it shortly after I called. He also said he has a set of g-cat sails that will work for that are in much better condition, though I said I'd need to feel them and make sure to rig it up before I buy to make sure it'll work.

Hopefully he'll hold other offers back and let me look it over on thursday or friday so I can at least make a offer.

The Miami boat looks good, I wonder why the guy spread the sail out and hosed it down. Makes me wonder how he stored it.
Sails should be stored high and dry, inside, not left to mildew.
The 2nd boats show the sails raised without battens, so it's hard to tell how blown out they are.
Online on ebay you get what you pay for. There are salvage guys selling soft blown out sails for 300+. Right now there are some that are priced at twice their worth.
I would steer clear of buying sails from coastal areas were they have a long sailing season.
Repairs and battens can be expensive.
The honest way to show a set of sails is hoisted with battens and a slight breeze. That way you can see if the sails are pillowing out, or stretched between the battens.
The salvage guys always show their sails on the ground in the shade, so you can't tell how faded they are.
You can still sail with soft or blown out sails, but the boat will not perform as well. Of course if they are rotting apart that's different.

_________________
JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring