Plastic Hulls

Buzzman2,

Do I understand you correctly, are you ugly (compared to a fiberglass boat)?

As far as I can tell, the Getaway is slower and heavier than a 16.
Although the Getaway will hold more people.

So I guess the plastic performance has not caught up with the fiberglass ones (yet). But (aside from unknown long term durability) the plastic type have some definite advantages.

Guess I've been sailing just long enough to highly respect Hobie and the 16, but not logged enough hours to curse something new.

I can hardly believe how many responses my initial post has generated.

As far as the aesthetics, a wooden boat guy would just laugh at the above quote. I think for them it would be like saying vinyl house siding is uglier than aluminum siding (while they'd be nailing up cedar shakes). Uh-oh, did I write that?

As someone who washes out and reuses his plastic sandwich bags until they have holes in them, and decries our throw-away culture, I appreciate the concerns re. disposability. But the term does not, I believe, apply in this case. The term "disposable" for manufactured items implies a once or twice use, or extremely short term. An item that is still in good shape after 10 years of vigorous use can hardly qualify.

Let me also say that we should all give Matt Miller a round of applause for the great restraint he's shown throughout this series of comments.

I agree

_________________
hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

Wow! A lot of emotion is some of the posts, I am almost 60 and have sailed almost every sailboat imaginable from sabots to 65' performance trimarans. I have owned Hobie cats since my first 16 in the early 70's. I bought a new getaway in the spring of 06, and although its not the sports car my 16 was its a really great ride, and will fly with a good breeze. I NEVER considered the boat "UGLY" Although i do think that cosmeticly the 16 is nicer looking boat. I also do believe that the plastic will last many many yrs and with less maintenance that the glass boats. I certainly don't miss the annual 5 or 6 hour job of cleaning and waxing the 16 every spring. Anyway Hobie has always been around when I needed them and i will support their products till i can no longer climb onto my cat.

I don't blame Matt for not speaking up. All the negative claims are unsubstantiated. In fact, I have not seen one person bring forward any examples of why a rotomolded boat is bad, but I sure have seen alot of post about why they are good. While I need the fix of hauling butt in my SX, I can truely say that when my son is old enough to go out on his own, we will probably buy an Escape or Getaway. I can also say that we will probably buy it used becuase it is cheaper and because I don't fear the boat falling apart because of UV.

While I think this thread has gone on much longer than it should have let me just say that I applaud Hobie for providing high tech, high speed boats and for providing user friendly, low cost, and still a blast to sail cats. I believe it is the latter that will continue to bring the most fresh blood into the sport.[/quote]

Jack wrote : While I think this thread has gone on much longer than it should have let me just say that I applaud Hobie for providing high tech, high speed boats and for providing user friendly, low cost, and still a blast to sail cats. I believe it is the latter that will continue to bring the most fresh blood into the sport.

Hi Jack,

I am proof of your assertion, as I have always sailed mono-hull boats until I bought my Hobie Wave from Brad. Look around on the Internet and see for yourself what is available out there for under $6,000 including a nice trailer. Not much !!! I think my Wave is one heck off a bargain, and I have no misgivings at all about having a plastic boat rather than a fiberglass boat. If I wanted a fiberglass boat, I would buy one. I have enough experience in 4 kayaks to expect my Wave to be bullet proof with little or no maintenance on the hulls for many, many years. And I have great confidence that Hobie is going to provide service and assistance whenever I might need it.

Cat sailors should be promoting catamarans. Who cares what they are built from as long as they perform as advertised and are seen to be a bargain by the buying public? I suspect many prospective buyers are much more interested in having fun on the water rather than being totally race oriented. Hobie seems to think so too, and I think it is smart of Hobie to get new people into sailing. Cats are very inexpensive compared to the whales I have poured money into over the last 2 decades.

Loren

I have owned both a Getaway and a 16. I owned the Getaway first and sold it because it was slow and heavy. Now, a lot depends on the location(s) you will be sailing. In this case, it was an inland lake with light winds. The boat was stored on a beach with some slope (it used to be a hillside). It's not a good matchup. Getaways need wind and are not easy to drag up a hill.

So I sold the Getaway and bought a 16. Muuuuuch better.




I don't think that we will see better performance using this type of plastic. It's just too heavy. A different plastic could work better.

Also, there has been some discussion of the durability of the plastic boats. The Getaway was stored in the sun, and I never saw any indication of deterioration. Given the effect of the sun on plastic milk jugs, this is surprising. I think that Hobie uses a different type of plastic, or uses an additive to prevent sun damage. The Getaway has its strengths and its weaknesses, but durability seems to be one of its strengths.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to step off of my SX and jump on a Getaway with a newbie. The wind was steady 15 knots with gust to 18, the waves past the surf were 6-7 foot (trough to crest). Going out the GPS says the Getaway was about 2 knots off the pace of the SX, but I have to say, the Getaway made easy work of the waves and was a much more comfortable ride. It was actually nice to get on a boat that had only three control lines. Sometimes you have to sit back and ejoy simplicity. The back supports were nice too. Performance wise the boat handled the conditions with ease, it couldn't point like my SX but then again, not much can. The speeds were still fast and you could feel the acceleration in the gust. If I had to make one change to the boat it would have been to put some angled risers underneath the jib cleats to make it easier to cleat. If I had to make a second change it would be to make the cleat on the mainsheet adjustable. The cleating angle made it difficult to uncleat with the sheet was in tight. Personally I liked the ride and could see myself owning one when my kiddo gets a little older. NOT as a replacment, but as an addition to the family.

Now that is my review of the boat, but let me tell you the most important aspect of what I saw. This was the maiden voyage for the owner, who had only sailed sunfish some time ago. In other words, he probably would not have bought a cat if not for the simplicity of this boat. His son spent quite a bit of time riding on the front tramp and getting splashed by waves and I have to tell you, you could not wipe the ear to ear grin off of his face. When we got back to the beach, the sons comment was "Wow, this is better than motorcycles".

Well done Hobie. There are now two new sailors in the mix thanks to your product diversity.

Nice!

That is the reason we are selling so many boats these days.





The cleat angle is adjustable, just a bit different from the Harken system. It has small screws that have to be removed to make adjustments.

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

I didn't take that close of a look at them but that is good. Seriously though, the jib fairleads need to be angled up a bit. If you are sitting in the back of the boat you have to use your foot to get the jib sheet low enough to cleat. I know they make risers that are the shape of a wedge that would do just that yet still allow for easy uncleating. I have to say, while the Getaway certainly will not fufill the performance aspects of say a Tiger, it more than fits the bill for entry level or stability with its ease of use and simplicity.

I concur with JackFlash but the jibs are only a pain to set (pressing your foot on the line to set it), while the main sheet is a pain to release in stronger winds; which is nastier issue.

Setting the main on my Getaway is always reasonably easy. Releasing it in a gust can be hairy and often requires stepping on the sheet (not an easy move when you're trying to move off the tramp onto the wing).

I tried reversing the cleat and fairlead on the main sheet lower block, but that doesn't work well on the Getaway hardware. Has anyone tried a different lower block with adjustable cleat and fairlead?

It one case where the increased flexibility in the block to traveler junction is probably detrimental to the functionality of the block cleat.

Matt, have you got more reports on this or are we just perfectionists?

Yes... they are adjustable. There is an allen screw in the side plates to loosen. In older sets there was a set of three small phillips screws, but yes, all Getaway mainsheet systems have adjustable jaw angles.

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

Indeed, I tried varying the angle of the cleat, but the entire assembly bends down when you pull out and down to release the sheet.

I typically snap the sheet, as I would a whip, in order to release it. It works... some times... and when it doesn't I put my foot down on the line to release it from the cleat then pay out. In gusty winds, I use the traveler to release quickly.

I have seen a few main sheet lower blocks with cleats that release upward, instead of downwards, but they seem to be in the minority. I never tried one so I don't know whether it is less convenient for other reasons (I suspect that if it was a better arrangement, more sailors would be using it).

The National Catamaran Safety Board recently divulged they had covertly funded a project with the U.S. boat makers for the past 5 years, whereby the boat makers were installing black box voice recorders in fiberglass and rotomolded catamarans in an effort to determine in accidents, the circumstances in the last 15 seconds before the crash.

They were surprised to find in 41 of the 50 accidents involving fiberglass hulls the recorded last words of drivers in 61.2 percent of crashes were, "Oh (censored) !"

Only the recordings of Rotomolded boats, Waves, Getaways, and the newest Adventure Island Kayaks, were different, where 89.3 percent of the final words were:
"Hold my beer, I'm gonna try somethin."

_________________
2003 Tiger - Don Atchley

I find this thread searching UV effects on plastic hulls (since they affect the fiberglass hulls). I own a “plasticâ€