New to me Hobie 18 magum

Just picked up my first Hobie cat. It's a 86 Hobie 18 magnum. It came with a trailer with sailbox, and a 3hp yamaha outboard. I paid $1800, I though that was a pretty good deal. Hulls, sails, were in excellent condition. It was owned by an experienced sailor who is busy with his 34' Gemin and had no time for the Hobiei. Tramps and wing seats could use an update, but it appears to be just cosmetic. I'm thinking of going with Hobiemill on Ebay. Thoughts? When I fold down the wing seats, it takes a lot of pressure to line them up and insert the pins. Is this normal? Anything else I should check before the maiden voyage. I have read, check the hulls for leaks with a vacuum and soapy water.

Your Magnum wings are not installed "as correctly as possible". In my limited experience (two different sets of Mag wings) I have found that the wings run slightly to moderately short in the fore-aft direction, compared to the span of the crossbar mounting locations fore and aft.

You will likely find that you are bending the support struts (small diameter tube) fore or aft as you press down in order to get the wings to "line up & pin". You can actually watch the tube deflect as you do it. If done enough times with enough deflection you will crack out the welds that hold these small support tubes on...not good and not fixable ever to original strength. I would suggest shimming and / or filing material in the fore - aft direction as needed in order to get the wings to "sit" down with a minimum of effort / torque needed to preserve their structural lifespan. Also may require a bit of work on the stainless pin brackets. Probably better off tensioning or compressing the entire wing assembly fore / aft as needed (with the mounting hardware after shimming as needed) since this directs the loads to the welds on the large diameter tubing - with a much greater surface area to bear them.

You will find that installing / tensioning the tramps (especially if you get them tight) will also change the "length" of the wings in the fore / aft direction, too. And so will the temperature of the day...they actually get measurably smaller here in Michigan on a 50 degree day versus a 90 degree day in direct sun...

The wings are off only slightly in the fore-aft direction. The support struts are off more side to side. The aft support struts sit perfectly. The front struts come up short, and have to be pulled outward. I checked the hulls and they are perfectly square at just under 81'. Does the mounting location of the wing slide in the track along the crossbar?

Thanks,

The mounting studs do slide inside the track on the cross bars. The gap in the track (slot) on the cross bars may have been widened slightly where the stud attaches to a cylindrical slide inside the track. There should be a jam nut on the stud against the cross bar and a retaining nut holding the wind leg to the stud. With the wings in the outboard position loosen (or remove) the outside retaining nut. Holding the stud with an allen wrench (hex key) loosen the jam nut and adjust the position of the wings until the support legs rests easily on the bracket. Retighten the jam nut and the retaining nut. I remove my wings several time a year for racing and it doesn’t take much movement of the hinge-stud to align (or misalign) the wing legs.

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John Latimer
'79 Hobie18 - Magnum
Sail#4854