We're building an 18!

Well truthfully, we're rebuilding an 18 with brand new hulls and crossbars for one of our customers... And I have to say... Sexy! Don's going to have the best looking 18 around.

This is the part of my job I really love.

Brian C

Cool, We H-18 sailors will need pictures and details on what it takes ($$)
New rigging & sails also?
Wings too??

Way Cool

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

dale.vanlopik"at"att"dot"net

Don is keep his tramps and wings... They're not that old. Not sure how old the sail is. We're just doing new hulls, new crossbars, lots of new bolts/nuts and wing pivot points. Reusing the end castings and dolphin striker. His rudders and blades already looked good.

From what I'm told, this was the last pair of hulls. Seems like Hobie has one port hull left.

Don's original 18 was an '81.

Brian C

That information is consistent with a conversation I had with Matt Miller a couple of years ago.

And then there was one.

As the owner of the last new US Built Hobie 18 sold, I always took comfort that if something happened to one of my hulls I could still get a like quality replacement. I guess, now, that is only half right. or half left if you prefer.

My Opinion, the Hobie 18 was the finest , most versitle Catamaran ever conceived, designed, enginnered, built, sold and sailed. At the very least, it is a great utility cat, easily adaptable to many different uses. If I were in Managemnt @ Hobie Cat Company, I'd sure be looking for a way to do a limited run and keep a couple on the shelf.

It will be a sad day when the last one hits the boneyard.

It is nice to see that I am not the only one that loves the Hobie 18 enough to spend a few extra dollars. Actually, if you look at the cost of a Tiger, he is getting a "New Cat" at a bargain basement price.

Congratulations to Don on having the newest Hobie 18 in the fleet.

Just out of curiosity, what are the HID Numbers on the new hulls ???

Stephen
Hobie 18
Blue Bayou

_________________
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Pics?

_________________
Dave

Truth is treason in the empire of lies.

Campaign for Liberty

I've taken a few pincs since we got it on the trailer and remounted the wings.... But I don't have the cable here at work to transfer the images to the computer.

The ID number did not change. It is the same as it was in 1981. No, obviously the boat didn't come with wings when new - Aris added them for Don some time in the mid '80's. I think Don bought this boat new.

Things have been crazy here. I'll try to get the images up this week.

Brian C

I believe he is asking for the serial number engraved on the transom of the new hulls so he can determine when the hulls were made.

Yeah... But that's not something I'm going to give out in a public forum. I realize all someone has to do is walk up and read it... So that's what they're going to have to do. It's not my boat, so I'm not giving out serial numbers.

Brian C

What about it Matt??? Any chance that Hobie can or will continue making replacement parts (including hulls) for the 18? I have an 88 magnum that has been garaged its entire life and is in excellent condition but, you never know when something is going to happen. Just this last week while on vacation with my boat, I came close to crashing it in the rocks at a very challenging launch ramp. During the whole incident I was thinking to myself, "if I crater a hull I won't be able to get a decent replacement". I've seen an occasional hull come up on Ebay but nothing in really good condition. If I severely damaged one of my hulls, I would prefer to replace it as opposed to attempting a repair that would probably not only look bad but also add a significant amount of weight.

My vote is that Hobie should bring back the 18 or at the very least, continue to manufacture a limited amount of major replacement parts! What a great boat

Tom

My understanding is that Hobie USA has destroyed the molds for the H-18 Hulls, however Hobie AUS still has a set, or maybe Hobie USA sent the H-18 hull molds to Hobie AUS.

I know for a fact that in late 2004 Hobie AUS built Three Hobie 18's for the worlds held in January of 2005 in Melbourne.
Steve Fields (Hobie AUS) was quite proud of the quality of the H-18 hulls he had built, justifiably so, they were excellent boats. If anyone wants one, I also know for a fact that Jim Sohn, the Hobie Dealer in Des Moines, Iowa has the very last new one available, and it is the last of the 3 that were laid up in AUS.

I also believe that, according to the Hobie Catalogue, the boom extrusion is no longer available. However I have 3 extra complete H-18 boom assy's.

It would be interesting to hear the factory position on what it might take to get another set of replacement hulls should it be necessary or desireable.

How about it Matt ?????????

Stephen

_________________
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Besides sailing, I have an other hobby and it is old British sports cars. Those cars are no longer in production and parts are easy to get now. Part of the reason for this is something called British Motor Heritage (I think that is the correct name). From what I understand they salvaged some of the tooling and made it available to third parties for limited production runs etc. For example you can once again now get complete body shells for my car which went out of production in 1962 and the company went out of business in the late 70 (or there about I think).

It makes me sad to think the molds for the H18 were destroyed. I hope that is not the case. Perhaps Hobie could license a small shop to build hulls on demand for H18 owners who are willing to pay the price. I don't pretend to understand business and the affect this "competition" would have on Hobie and its current line, so I could be way off any reality here (not the first time according to my wife)

BTW if any of you are interested in my cars, just Google my name and you will find my web site.

It is often rumored that the moulds for the discontinued boats have been destroyed. I wonder where the source of this info comes from and if there's actually any verified proof.

I could see if Hobie had say 5 sets of hull moulds at one time for the 18 and they ended up destroying 4 of the 5 when production numbers dropped and that info eventually turned into "the moulds have been destroyed." But I can't imagine them actually destroying all the moulds. The moulds themselves aren't that much bigger than the actual hulls, so relatively speaking its not a lot of space. It wouldn't make much sense to me since there's always the "what if" factor.

...ok, now I'll go back to hoping that Pink Floyd get back together....

sm

Well said, Adrio, and yes, I too used to drive an Austin Mini 850 and Series II Land Rovers, so the 'find it where you can' parts game is a game we all learned to play.

What do other H18 owners think about this idea of 'small production runs'? My hull repairs are good so far, you fixed yours after last winter's wicked snow falls, but I suggest we all recognize that the H18 was such a good design, we'd all love to continue sailing for years to come. Our hulls may not last that long, and there are fewer and fewer available on eBay.

Next year, my son will be old/big/strong enough to crew actively. I'd love for us to campaign at the local regattas (Syracuse, Kingston, Toronto etc), but realistically, I'd need new hulls to be competitive. So what happens to dinosaurs like us? Can Hobie get hulls made in Australia, and have a container shipped once a year?

Chip at Whirlwind now does production runs of sails (not OEM, but this is better than nothing). Does he (or Matt or Jacques or Jeremy or Dog) have any 'buddies' in the business who could build a dozen sets of hulls a year (using original moulds)? Notice, I did not mention pricing. Market forces will dictate that number, and I know that the price of new hulls will likely be double what I paid for my used 1988 H18 plus trailer with catbox. So be it.

I will continue to sail Wave's and Getaways and H16's, and in Sept, I start crewing on my buddies' Tiger. Maybe I'll end up buying an FXOne or a Tiger. However, I still love the H18, and we want to keep sailing on it for as long as we can.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

for what it's worth, one of my other hobbies was old toyota 4runners. In case you've never seen one, they rust. alot.

A guy up in Canada actually hand-lays replacement body parts for these old trucks, and I know he does other stuff, too. The website is something like toyotafiberglass.com or some such. If you measured the cost of the new body parts in car terms, then the new quarter panels he made me were pretty good at $500. In boat terms, that's an absolute steal. I know he does kevlar and carbon fiber lay-ups too, so who knows what you could have made. I assume someone would have to front hte fee to make the molding plugs from an original set of hulls.

You and my boss should get together. He's got a MGB and a Sprite in running condition. He's got a Bugeye waiting for winter time and an engine. He's got another B that's probably going to be parted out. He's got an MGA that needs reassembly. And he's got an AH 3000 he picked up this Spring.




Brian C