Hull Covers

Made some 'banana peel' style hull covers. I have been going year to year on cheap tarps but wanted to get something better after I got a solid 14 to replace my old delaminated one. This is my 14, also have a 16 to cover this winter. Both boats sit year round mast up on the beach and the sun here can be fierce. I cover the tramp with a simple heavy duty truck tarp. The beach wheels usually sit under the tramp. I used sunbrella marine grade fabric, the 46" width was perfect to go round the hull at its widest point. I just trimmed it at the front and rear, made slits to slide it over where the pylons are then hemmed all round and added buckles/webbing and velcro at the pylon slits. Sailrite have an offer on so it was only $16 a yard instead of $22. 10 yards of fabric, webbing, buckles and basting tape all came in at under $200. Not too much fuss to put on - if you do it before it comes off the wheels. I'm a sewing novice but made a decent job of it as there really isn't much complicated in it. Hardest part was reinforcing the area around the pylons. Still have enough material to add a couple of simple rudder covers too.
Here is my sketch up of dimensions (Hobie 14) and a couple of photos.

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Hobie Wave 2004
Hobie 14 1991 Plum 40525
Hobie 16 1985 Nationals White Prism 91964
Hobie 16 1985 European Championships Palma 114072

Did you happen to make plans for your 16. Id love to try this for mine.

Very nice - good work. I was wondering what approach to take on my own boat and will follow this one.

Thanks for sharing!

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ChuckC
H21SE- 408

I don't worry about protecting the fibreglass hulls at all. I do keep the tramp wrapped under a tarp as I know the UV will damage it.

I didn't make any plan for the 16. I tried a different approach with them by also adding a tramp cover in the design. It ended up being more trouble to use than separate covers and a tarp to cover the tramp so I reworked it. That said I am working on new covers for my new to me 16 at the moment. I just used the old 16 covers as a template but will try and measure and edit the 14 cover design above for you. One obvious difference is you need an opening for the shroud connections to the hulls. I used a different fabric this time as sunbrella has gone up on price at Sailrite where I bought it from. I'm in Japan and the yen has really dropped in value too which made it a bit more expensive than previously. I used a fabric called Top Gun or Top Notch, will have to check but cheaper than the sunbrella. Definitely worth the investment for me in time and money spent. The sun here can be fierce and I had really bad delam in my first 14 which had sat out uncovered for years before I got it.

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Hobie Wave 2004
Hobie 14 1991 Plum 40525
Hobie 16 1985 Nationals White Prism 91964
Hobie 16 1985 European Championships Palma 114072

16 hull cover dimensions. I used a material called "Top Notch" from Sailrite and you'll need to order the 60" width to allow for the widest part of the hull. I have 5 cam buckles on each cover running from the bow down the hull length, one of which is used to close the flap that I made so the covers can slip over the shrouds. The first covers I made I used an off white color thinking it would be better for reflecting the sun which it was but soon started to look very grotty with bird poop, rotted leave debris etc so this time I've gone with forest green which though not good for reflecting heat should be better to hide or blend the muck! Will try and get some photos of the finished covers on the boat next time I'm at the beach.

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Hobie Wave 2004
Hobie 14 1991 Plum 40525
Hobie 16 1985 Nationals White Prism 91964
Hobie 16 1985 European Championships Palma 114072