Hobie 14 to a Hobie 18 HELP

I have just acquired a new (to me)Hobie 18. I have previously sailed a Hobie 14 turbo. Are there any significant differences in how you sail the boat? anything I need to know and what is the righting weight ? I am about 190 lbs. Any help is appreciated.

I did the same last year. I've owned an H14T since 2003 and got an H18 last year. I love the furling jib on both. The basic controls (jibsheet, mainsheet, traveler, tiller, downhaul, furler) for the H14T are the same on the H18. The H18 adds several more adjustable controls to further tweak and optimize things. Many of them can be set reasonable and left for the sailing session. (or you can mess with and tweak them while on the water).
New items and controls:
- Daggerboards
- mast rotation adjustment
- jib halyard (tension)
- jib traveler position
- outhaul adjustment
- diamond wires
- second trapeze and/or wings

The rudder castings on your H18 might be the old style that may not be as adjustable as the H14 rudder castings. The old style cams will probably need to be greased so that it's possible to pull the rudders up. The upgrade kit for the new castings is still available but the only place I found that sold it for less than $1000 was a shop in Florida.

I'm still learning how to sail the H18. The H18 does not have the H14's (or H16's) tendency to pitchpole. So, keeping weight aft is not required. The H18 seems to sail fastest when the water is about halfway up the leeward bow, the leeward transom is just out of the water, and the windward hull is just skimming the water. That probably is pretty easy to do with around 350lb of crew weight. The crew weight tends to be pretty close to the front crossbar. I usually have quite a bit more weight (with the whole family on board) so I haven't gotten my H18 to really scream.
The H18 mast does not need to be raked like the H14 or H16.

I haven't flipped my H18 yet. So I don't know how easy it would be to right. I'm also pretty big and tall, so I'm not expecting it to be too difficult for me.

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Sam

'84 Hobie 14 Turbo
'84 Hobie 18 Magnum

Thank you very much for the information. Anything I can learn helps me out a ton.

As mentioned, the basics of how the boats are sailed are generally the same and the main controls are also the same - tiller, main sheet, traveler, jib.

After that, the boats are quite different. The 18 is much more bouyant, it’s faster, more powerful, and much less sensitive to weight placement. Keep in mind that the 18 was also intended as a double handed boat. At 190 Lbs, you will start to become overpowered in around 15 MPH of wind. It is also unlikely that you will be able to right the 18 from capsize at your weight without a righting aid of some sort. You generally need around 280-300 Lbs to right the 18.

sm

The point I was trying to make was that an H14T is usually run single-handed (even with the extra jib controls) and enough of the controls are similar on the H18 that it can also be single-handed (though there will be less tuning on the fly). The one major thing I noticed was that the H18 wasn't twitchy like the H14T. In that respect it can be more forgiving than the H14. Adding another crew member or two allows more adjustment of the main and additional controls.

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Sam

'84 Hobie 14 Turbo
'84 Hobie 18 Magnum

Thank you for all the help I cant wait to get out and sail. Have a great day.

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Leo Doerger,
Aspiring Beach Bum
Ninnescah Yacht Club KS