Discovering some dishonesty

All,

I love this forum and all the great info I have recieved from it, and I feel I owe it to all to tell of my recent discovery. I bought my Hobie 14 on the 12th of september from a real cool guy in Florida. The boat, as I have said many times on this forum, is an '88 14 Turbo, even has the factory "Hobie Cat turbo" sticker on the hulls. After some reasearch on my own and with the help of this forum I have discovered that she's not an '88, she's an '83. The owner previous to the last changed the 83 on the transoms (at the end of the Hull Ident number) to 88. Real easy to do. I was kind of curious when I noticed that the production year numbers were 82, not 87.

The other give away was the sails, Blue Hawaii, they came out in '83 not '88. I guess I just want anyone that's looking to buy a old Hobie to do thier homework. Would the truth have stopped me from buying her? Absoulutley not. I just would have paid a little less. She's an awesome boat in mint condition and I am for sure not complaning, just felt like I should be honest with all of you guys about my discovery. Take care and...have a Hobie day!

_________________
Sean Wheeler
[email protected]
http://hobie-14.ning.com/profile/SeanWheeler
'83 Hobie 14 Turbo "Rio"
Blue Hawaii Sail #40954

That's pretty lame! I hate when people mess with the odometer for road trips to make cars seem like they have less mileage then they really do....people these days! Oh well I guess as long as your boat is solid who cares!

I have found in my experience buying and selling 14s and a few 16s that there is actually less dishonesty and more ignorance. Most people don't know what they have. Now, I have run into this before when a guy I bought a boat from thought it was an 80 and it was actually an 84. I don't know if the guy you bought your boat from was trying to screw anyone or not, but this is just what I have seen.

I went and looked at a boat that a guy had advertised on E-Bay as a 2001.

It was actually a 1982. He didn't know how to decode the HID # and had taken the year off of one of the course stickers that was on the crossbar.

Not intentional deceit, and after I advised him of his error, he went and modified the listing.

Sounds like yours was a case of intentional deceit.

Stephen

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

It's not only lame - it's illegal. Penalties vary by state - for example, tampering with a Hull Identification Number in Massachusetts is misdemeanor, punishable by either/both a $500 fine or a year in jail.

There is no end to the infinite expanse, that is Matt Bounds' brain.

Oh, and I've seen guys (lets call them dip shi#s) that didn't think that I knew what they were talking about and tried to bend me over on some stuff.

I was way less intelligent before the Internets. Thanks, Al Gore!

hmmm, I bought a boat that was sold to me as a 98, since then I noticed the sail chart and it came with sails from 88. I guess I better check the hull numbers a little closer.