Hobie 16 upgrades and questions

hi! i am new to the forum and to owning a hobie! i got a free hobie 16 from an organization called MYSail (check them out if you haven't heard of them) and was wondering if anyone had any solutions on these things:
1. the hulls have leaks around the pylons, two at the base and one at the top where the crossbar meets the pylon. i would like to know how to properly re-seal them, and what quick fixes i can do to get in a little bit of sailing to test the boat out.
2. if any of you have any suggestions (other than a scraper) for removing barnacles from the hull, i would love to hear them! the best method that i know of is let them bath in the sun for a few years, and they come off great! but that's a little time consuming...
3. i was also gifted a gin pole for solo mast stepping (part 3151) and want to use this as both a gin pole and a righting pole. any ideas? if you look in the manual it has instructions for using it for a hobie 17 mast, where the mast is rotated 90 degrees from straight in order to step it. i was thinking that i would fabricate a new bracket so that i could raise the mast, change brackets, and go sailing with a righting pole! any other ideas? the pole is about 6 feet long and i am 140 lbs. is this enough leverage to right the boat?
thank you!

1. At the pylon base, seal with silicone, 3M 5200, or such. There are (supposed to be) foam plugs inside the pylons. The forward plugs (are supposed to) have small vent tubes through them for ventilation. Your plug(s) may be leaking as well, but be aware that, at the forward pylons, some air is supposed to be able to pass back and forth from inside the hull, through the pylon plug vent tube and corner casting and to the outside. Accessing the inside of the pylon is a huge PITA, so if the leaks are small, I wouldn't worry much about them. Not much water is gonna get through there unless you capsize and the casting is submerged for some time. (See No. 3.)

2. Have never dealt with barnacles, but be aware that these boats were not meant to be left in the water like that. You will likely have osmotic blisters on the hulls as well and waterlogged foam inside the hull laminate. If so, the hulls will be heavy and their structure possibly compromised (check for soft spots). The extra weight will also make it harder to right. (See No. 3.) Considering all this, I wouldn't spend much time/effort cleaning it up...make sure it's safe then sail the crap out of it 'til it isn't.

3. I have a friend who made a ~8 foot righting pole for his H16, and he and his wife combined could not right the boat with it. They were skinny but weighed a lot more than you, so I'd say NO. At 140 lbs., I strongly recommend that you A) have crew in all but the lightest of air (preferably someone who weighs more than you do), and B) practice righting the boat in controlled conditions with help available so that you'll have some experience with the technique before the stuff hits the fan. (It will eventually hit the fan.)

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

thank you! i was wondering about the vents...
that hull is interesting because it is fairly light, even though it was evidently repaired multiple times, by the looks of it poorly. we speculate that it was left on the beach, with the sails flogging, and sailed from there. so my sails are junk.
one of the weirder things about that boat is that i can right it on land with just the mast up. haven't tried it with sails yet. I'm hoping to do that sometime this week. but even so, someone my weight is not supposed to be able to do that. i have a feeling if i carry 50 lbs. with me, i might be able to get it up... we'll see...

Totally different story righting boat on the water...it takes a LOT of moment just to spill the water off the sails. Good righting technique along with a stiff breeze helps, but even at 190 lbs., there's no way you'll be able to right the boat in all conditions unless you're about 15 feet tall or... a la My Cousin Vinny, the laws of physics fail to exist on your lake!

As a reference point, I'm only about 5'6", and, at 175 lbs. using the big Murrays' bag (w/5:1 tackle), I could just barely right my H16 with little wind to help. I'm a little heavier now.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

What Rattle said. He is a wealth of knowledge and great advice.

What Rattle said. He is a wealth of knowledge and great advice.