Transom Markings w/Photos

Good morning. I am hoping the board can help make sense of the "non-traditional" HID markings on my newly purchased H18. I believe this is an '82 boat, but I'm not 100% certain and the reason for this is there appears to be either an "R" or a "B" directly to the right of the year designation on my right hull. What's more, there are markings on the left hull above the HID that appear to read "87R (or B). Here are photos of the left and right hulls....

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And the left hull.....



Thank you in advance for your thoughts. I do believe the two hulls to be of the same vintage (identical hardware, wear, etc.) but I wouldn't be hung up on if they weren't. I'm just curious is all. If it's any help, I have the same Prism sails as Bama on page #3.

Finally, while I'm here, these "filthy hull" photos where shot when I inspected the boat last fall and I was delighted by how well they cleaned up by hand simply using green Scotch-Brite pads and concentrated mix or H2O and all-purpose pressure washer solution. After using a 1" painters razor blade to remove the chalky old decal stripes (a time consuming endeavor) , I just spent a couple of hours scrubbing the hell out of the thing. The old girl shined up pretty darn good (photos to follow).

Judging from your photo's and my personal knowledge re HID #'s, I'd guess that those are indeed 1982 hulls that were laid up and serial numbered in February of 1982.
All HID Numbers were engraved rather than cast or moulded into the hulls.
It looks to me like someone tried to "clarify" the engraving on the port hull.

A= January,
B= February
C= March and so on.

Matt Miller will have the definitive correct answer to your question.

Also, you might want to look in FAQ's for a HID # Decoder.

Congratulations on a successful H-18 "Rescue". She will give you many great memories over the coming years.

Stephen

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

If the 2 was a 7... (87?) 1987 construction would be the current HIN system, but reading the 878... would be 1978. The middle number is the decade. (http://www.hobiecat.com/support/warranty/sailserial.html)

Based on the color of the deck.... 1982. We didn't build two color hulls in 87.

Yep... 1982.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Stephen and Matt, Thank you! 1982 it is then. I actually like the look of the two-toned boats. That said, the color contrast on those decks when you compare the "always shaded" lip underneath the tramp to the the rest of deck is significant, thanks to decades of sun exposure (I don't have any pictures yet). She needs some heavy buffing to bring that faded "sky" blue back to the original color, and I'm going to give it a go this coming spring.

Two more questions while I'm here:

1. I noticed the previous owner has a bungie chord tied from the furler to the mast. Is this to prevent the jib from catching?

2. What is the purpose of the two eyes you see rivited to the front cross bar? (look directly below the left jib line in the picture and you should see what I'm talking about) The previous owner used similar hardware to tie off the daggerboard bungies as well, and the other boats on my beach aren't set up this way.



Take care,

Brian

In the "old" numbering scheme, the number would appear as:
CCM H 6546 M82B

CCM - Manufacturer - Coast Catamaran (Hobie Cat)
H - Model H = Hobie 18
6546 - Serial number
M82B - made in the second (B) production month of the 1982 model year - September 1981.

A = August, B=September, etc. (not as Stephen indicates)

Another dead give away is the black "Hobie Cat" graphic on the side. Those were changed to a different style in 1984.

Sowwy, all those years spent in the automotive repair business showed up in my answer.
I DID qualify my answer by saying that others would have the Definitive correct answer.
I SHOULD have mentioned BOTH Matt's.

At the risk of offending one or both of you, in the future, I may just cover all my bases by saying that One of the "Matt Twins" will have the correct answer.
(or maybe I can refer to both of you collectively by the handle "CataMatt's")

Stephen

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

You can "freshen up the smooth portion of the tops of the hulls by hitting them with some 600 grit wet/dry, but you will never get the original color back. If you try you will end up sanding all the way thru the Gel to the fiberglass (don't ask me how I know)
Once you have gotten off the top layer of oxidization, hit it with a power buffer and some polishing compound and then some wax.

No clue on the bungee from the mast to the furler.
Most 18 guys rig a "preventer" from the rod of the dolphin striker up thru the diamond wires and back down to the dolphin striker to keep the jib sheets from getting caught under the mast.

The "eyes" or "straps" may be for anchoring the preventer altho I usually just tie mine about the same distance from the base of the mast and on to the bar of the dolphin striker.
The only other use that I can imagine would be to secure gear or gear bags to the trampoline while sailing.

Good luck with your new boat. Other Hobie 18 owners will be delighted to help you and will be your best resource as you get your boat up to speed.

Stephen

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

More questions from an over-enthusiastic newbie (Apologies if I am getting annoying). I am grateful for all of the help you nice folks have provided......

I located some more scribed markings, this time directly underneath the rear crossbars. The left hull (pictured) reads "228" while the right hull reads "9". Any idea what these might mean? I assume the small blocks you see were used for a righting system or something?



Also, my rudder "swivel adjusters" don't look like any of the others on my beach. Does anybody know if these are Hobie brand? They do seem to be solid but I will replace if so advised....



Finally, I believe this is the older style rudder system, correct? These should in theory kick up when I hit the beach? I can tell you the cams are metal and rivets that connect the rudder arms are all extremely loose. The final picture shows a broken plastic "delrin screw" (plunger spring adjuster?). I assume I need to replace most of this stuff but how important is this delrin screw item if the rudders are working when I pull up on the rudder arm by hand? I do plan on ordering new white plastic rudder spacer discs. Lots and lots of work to do to make the old gal seaworthy. Thanks again for your help....

Not sure what the engravings are on the hulls. I've seen them before on other boats, but don't know what their purpose is.

As far as your rudder questions...

Those look like TLC II tiller connectors. They were considered the top of the line tiller connectors in their day because they used a ball joint connection with virtually zero slop. I'd hang onto them. I guess the company went out of business or just stopped making them about the same time that the Hobie 20 style connector came out. The only real advantage of the 20 style connector is ease of rudder disassembly. Otherwise, these are just as good if not better.

You have the old-style rudder castings. Yes, they should and will kick up if properly adjusted and maintained. Here is a quote from a previous post I made. I've been using this system for many years successfully. The nice thing about the old-style castings is that the cams don't wear out and they never get stuck in the "wrong" position.



If the cam (actually hook) tension is set ok, then you don't need to worry about the plastic tensioner screw. I definitely recommend carefully putting a small amount of grease on the contact surfaces of the cam and the pin. It makes a huge difference.

To correct loose tiller arms, you'll need to drill out the rivets that hold the arm in place. You can go ahead and just install new rivets, but it's likely to loosen up again. The correct way to tighten the arm would be to install a shim between the arm and the casting before reinstalling the arm. I've used a cut up soda bottle wrapped around the arm to eliminate all the slop. After that, you can actually re-install with aluminum rivets since at that point all the rivet is doing is keeping the arm from sliding out of the casting.

Last, you have the old style gudgeons. You may consider upgrading to the new style, they're stronger. I'd check to make sure you can get the screws out first though.

sm

Thanks, srm, I like the idea of using a soda bottle to help eliminate the slop.