Greetings Hobie forum!
First off I'd like to thank all the members who've contributed here, you guys and gals have quite a nice community going here. I've been scouring the forum, even used the search function!
Having fond memories of sailing Hobies in my youth (my how time sure does fly) and recently moving to the shores of Lake Isabella in the Sequoia's in southern California I've been keen to get back on the water. Lake Isabella is 17 square miles and more often than not the wind kicks up daily around noon, it's quite windy here almost all the time... with plenty of wind and being an active and quite adventurous guy I chose to get a Hobie, with a modest budget.
I picked up a 1985 H16 that had obviously been sitting inside for quite some time. I paid $600 to a guy selling it for a friend who moved to Montana. He didn't know anything about the boat and honestly, neither did I. However, after reading all the "should I buy this boat threads" I felt confident (with the help of a Kiwi lady friend with some solid large craft sailing experience) that I could make a blindly informed decision in a not so big purchase.
The boat was dirty, typical of anything that has been sitting in a dry location for years. The hulls appeared to be in good shape, no soft spots, no damage just a slight amount of markings on the bottom from the trailer. The mast and trampoline are in good shape, the sails looked like they hadn't been used much, excellent condition overall although he jib is missing 3 battons - replacements also on the way.
The trailer is solid with good tires, a spare and heck the lights even worked! After I put new bearings in it I won't think twice about trailering down to Baja to sail.
Some of the rigging wire ropes had kinks in it, the sheets and other ropes seemed just OK so I have all new rigging ordered and on the way.
A day of scrubbing, cleaning, lubricating, registering, more stickers and fees, etc. made the boat look much better and getting closer to being seaworthy.
We took the boat out after some how-to research, some youtube videos, etc two times so far, while waiting on new rigging... Just couldn't wait.
Anyways everything went fine, this isn't a horror story, but we did not use the jib either time. The maiden voyage was just a short 1 hour sail near sunset... in 15-20 mph winds. The second time was a full afternoon, starting with 10mph winds and building to 20 with gusts up to 25. Again, no jib.
Overall things went quite well considering it's been 30 years since I sailed, though the downwind runs got quite scary at times though. lol
The water in our lake is quite cold, and while I have righting lines and such I really didn't want anything more than some steady spray to help with the hot air temperature. I felt like I pushed the boat as far as I could while getting to know her and not capsizing.
Which brings me to my questions... I've read pages and pages of hull crack threads, but most of them seem to be more about major cracks, damage, rebuilding bottoms and so on.
My hulls now have cracks exclusively near the bow, all in front of the trampoline that weren't there when I bought the boat. There's no soft spots and no cracks in what seems to be more common areas, just the bow. I did end up somewhat gently on a sandy beach with some rocks imbedded, but didn't slam into anything. Today it was 110ºF outside with the boat kept covered, but this afternoon is when I really noticed the cracks and they seem to have gotten worse.
Here's a bunch of photos, hopefully all the helpful folks around here can help me move forward with this boat and give me some advice. I'm obviously feeling concerned and want to feel confident that the weakest link in the Hobie chain is just me.
Cheers!
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