Major hull damage by a car :(

Hello all,

I am new here and hope someone can help me. I bought my husband a Hobie for father's day. He had one years ago and has wanted another for a long time. Two years ago I bought him an Aqua Cat as a temporary fix, now he has his Hobie. He was able to take it out twice and fell in love again, having a ball at Hueston Woods State Park in Ohio. Now the bad news, after pulling it out of the water on Friday the 13th, we were heading back home when we were hit by a car. Majorly damaging the (remember I am not a sailor, he is...lol) drivers side hull. He does not use it for racing so our friends that took the Aqua Cat think it can be repaired, but I think a replacement hull would be better. If anyone has one for sale, please contact me. I love my husband, and I know how relaxed he is when he is on the water. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Tammy

Where were you when I was single?!?!

What type boat is it? 16, 17, 18? Color?

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If the other person hit you, make them pay for a brand new hull. That's what I would do.

The car that hit us kept going. Hit and run, we did not get a tag number. I was driving and feel guilty that I did not avoid the collision, but my husband says I at least kept the car from getting hit. I just want to fix this boat as soon as possible. I am not looking for a handout, I am willing to pay for the parts, I just don't know where to look. I have been on ebay today looking at other boats and just can't afford a whole boat after just buying this one, but I will fix it for him.

The boat is a 1980 Hobie 16, it is light blue with rainbow sails. I have pictures of the damage on imageshack. The front of the hull bent in toward the center when it was hit, cracking the inside, and making a small crack on the outside.

If I did this right, this is the link to the pics

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/tammyiam/

Again if anyone has a hull for a hobie 16 for sale let us know. I can have them painted to match.

Thank you,
Tammy

That abosolutely stinks, Tammy! The hull looks like it's done for, and, unfortunately, decent used hulls are hard to come by. I know it's not what you want to hear, but y'all would probably be better off buying a whole different rig and keeping the old one for spares (or selling the parts). Have you talked to your insurance agent to see if your insurance (collision, comprehensive, or uninsured) covers what you tow (I'm pretty sure mine does)?

Good luck!

Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi

Odd enough. You might be able to part the boat out, and get more money than what you actually paid for it. Possibly...... But at least you could recoup some of your loss, and be able by another boat. You already have a trailer, so that opens some options as well.

Tammy,

I may be able to help. I have a 1980 16, light faded blue, that I am parting out. The hulls are a little soft with no guarantees, but would probably be fine for that lake. I am about a hour north of you in Columbus. I have the boat at our cat club on Hoover in NE Columbus. Give me a call I could maybe even help you change it out. Bring it up in the morning, I'll change it out at lunch, and you'll be back home before your husband gets home. This sort of seems like a karma thing.

Buzz
614 313-5678
P.S. To others, I have already sold mast, sails, boom, rudders, and assembly.

Tammy,

Definitely talk to your insurance agent. If the accident happened while the boat was being towed, it should be covered in your auto insurance. You may be able to get about $1000 for replacing the boat since that is what it is worth. Talk to them and see what would happen. You pay all that money each month for insurance, might as well get some of it back.

_________________
Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Dan and I would like to thank Buzz for his offer. We are driving to Columbus this afternoon to get the hull. Dan and his friends think they can fix the soft spots a whole lot easier than they can fix ours...well duh.

Thank you again Buzz, we love you.
Tammy and Dan

We picked up the hulls this afternoon from buzzman. It was definitely some sort of karma, they are the same year and color right down to the stripes, as the ones we already have. Dan and his buddies are going to do some waxing on both hulls, before replacing the damaged hull. Then they will decide if the undamaged hull we already had or the new one is the better one, to see if we need to replace both. This work will hopefully be done this week in the evenings, and we hope he will be back on the water by next weekend.

The real clincher here is, I am scared to death of being on the water. This is just something my husband loves, and he hopes I can learn to tolerate. Wish us luck.

I want you all to know that joining this group would have to be one of the smartest and best things I have done lately. Thank you so much for coming to a wife's rescue...and helping to keep a mans dream alive. You all, especially you Buzz, are wonderful. Please let us know if we can help anyone out.

Tammy

Great Job Buzzman!

My wife started out as my crew and gravitated to hanging out on the beach with the other wives drinking wine. I guess that's why we've got kids. Don't worry, it'll all work out.

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Tammy, My wife gets sea-sick, plane sick, car sick but she will still sail or race with me on an inland lake. A real trooper as I know she really dosn't like to sail that much. He should take it easy if your scared and get you used to sailing on a cat, (if you want to).

With that said, I made a deal with my wife when I crew on the mono-slugs across Lake Michigan. She will take me to the marina & pick me up as long as I don't make her get on the boat.

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1989 Hobie 18 Worlds Boat, Magnum Wings & Spinnaker
1987 Hobie Holder 20 #273

dale.vanlopik"at"att"dot"net