New Hobie Cat Owner

A safety note. I know you're doing this on the cheap, but buy new side stays and forward shroud. I've been dismasted, it's scary as hell watching the mast fall towards your son. Luckily my son has quick reflexes! And I would bet that those shrouds are toast.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

noldana

These and the previous pictures tell the story of this "classic" 16
Although it's obviously set outside for a long time, and hasn't been cleaned Look at the wear points
The mast base/step and the intersection at rudder castings show this boat has seen very little use.

Fix that transom, and your soft spots on deck, then do a leak check of both hulls and fix them.
Look over the standing rigging carefully for broken strands and replace if necessary.
Replace any rotten lines/sheets and go sail the boat.

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1984 H16 "Mister Rogers"
1984 H14 "Sundays"
2000 H20 "Jet"
Sheet In, Max Out

Guys, we still haven't seen the sails btw.

The boat actually came with 2 sets of sails. Between the 2 sets, I should have 1 set decent enough to go sailing with even though the colors wouldn't match. Maybe get a season or 2 out of them. They will probably have to be replaced sooner or later. If the weather cooperates and stays dry long enough for me to roll them out on the lawn and snap some pictures of them, I will do that and post them.

I have looked over the wires, and they seem fine with the exception of the main halyard wire (knew this at time a purchase) and found the trap wires were starting to get some broken strands. I got a new main halyard wire, new trap wires, and a few other parts ordered. Most of the lines were kept in a garage and look in good condition. The ones which were left on the boat (tramp lines, jib sheets, jib halyard line) are all moldy and probably bad. I plan on replacing those pretty soon too.

Here are the sails. I know the orange mainsail is totally messed up, and the blue jib probably isn't usable. I figure I can get by for a short while using the blue mailsail and the orange jib.

If one stern is trashed you know the other is close behind. Serious repair for a pro. She sure was rode hard and put away wet, literally. Do you own a pistol? They shoot horses don't they?

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UK Wildcats have 8 now!

1976 H16 27640
1985 H16 89112

I would say, thoroughly scrub the boat completely from bow to stern, top to bottom. Pressure test the hulls to to see where any leaks may be and make notes of the locations. Thoroughly inspect all hardware and attachment points. I'm not a big fan of painting over fiberglass, but the paint can always be sanded down and the hulls gel coated when the glass work is done. I also am not a big fan of adding inspection ports either, the water in your hulls could be from rain leaking in from around bad seals in those added ports. As for sails, I'd probably see if that orange main could be sewn up and run with it. Looks like you have yourself a project for sure, hope you can restore it and post pics of the restoration.

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

It would seem silly to put a grand into restoring this boat, when you can spend that and have something ready to sail. As for removing paint from hulls and gel-coating you are talking about a lot of labor hours spent. Looks more like a parts boat to me.

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JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring