Has anyone made a forestay crossbar for the hobie 18?

I like to sail my hobie 18 hard, and I’m always concerned that in a big blow, the forestay will pull the hulls towards each other to the point where they buckle inwards. With all our boats getting old, fatigue stress will be
getting to them. I’m considering building a crossbar that uses the same bolt pattern as the forestay connectors, and provides a bit of reinforcement up forward. The hobie Getaway has one up front for the forward tramp, but mine wouldn’t support a tramp, it would only be for resisting compressive loads as the two hulls try to tow in towards each other.

I’d love to hear people’s 2c.

Has anyone done this before?

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Jim

1984 Hobie 18 S#10570

Have you checked the security of the 'tabs' of fibreglass between the sides of the hulls and the deck, on the inside of the porthole?

If anything, beef that connection up, make it stronger.
As you may be aware, that is a known failure point on older H18's.

If you are really concerned, others (like the guys who sailed around Cape Horn) added stringers to the inside of the hulls, attached with fibreglass.

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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.'

Last season I reinforced the area under the forward cross bars, adding several layers of glass. I made a post about how to DIY the stainless steel reinforcement brackets under the crossbars. These have held up well now for two seasons, and I’m looking for additional methods to strengthen the hull.

I’ll have to give stringers a closer thought. I have stumbled across a write up someone did years ago on adding stringers, and it entailed cutting the deck in several places, which seems daunting.

If I come up with anything, I’ll be sure to post on this thread!

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Jim

1984 Hobie 18 S#10570

That was me…..

https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=49780&hilit=Stringer&start=0

sm