Hobie 16 - Good boat for me & kids?

I have done it a number of times by myself, but it's a lot easier with 4 people.

To do it by myself, it's necessary to do it in grass or sand, so the back end of the upper boat can rest on the ground without damage. If I'm loading up at home, the trailer is on the edge of the driveway; second boat is in the grass next to the driveway. The trailer is hooked up to the car so it won't move.

Push the lower boat as far forward as it will go. Rudders are removed for trailering anyway, so they aren't in the way (both boats). Back end of the lower boat / upper rack is padded with scraps of carpet. Pull the upper boat up behind the trailer, lift the bows up and rest them on the carpet. Usually, I do this from the front crossbar. Pull the upper boat as far forward as you can - until the bows are over the rollers on the rack.

Crawl out from underneath the boat, go to the rear, lift the back end up from the rear crossbar and roll forward (this is the tricky part - need to keep the boat straight as possible going foward so it lands on the forward rollers (that's why you pad around it in case you miss)). It's helpful to have another person guide the boat as it rolls forward.

Once the upper boat is on, move the bottom boat back to get the right tongue weight (about 10% of the load; about 80-100 lbs.)

I am neither tall (5'8") nor particularly strong. It's not that hard to do. It's even easier if you can park the trailer at the bottom of a slight incline. Of course, with 4 people, you can just lift the boat up and on to the upper rack - with the rudders on and no extra padding.

I have a 70 vintage Hobie 16 and my kids ages 9 and 7 enjoy going with me most of the time. They are not very interested in flying hulls, but they do enjoy sitting on the hulls while we are cruzing at a moderate pace. They sit on the hulls with their feet toward the bow and lean back and hang onto the tramp frame. They say they want a Getaway, but I'm not willing to put out the cash yet. Having more room in the front of the boat would be fun for them, and I wouldn't mind getting a seat to sit on. They are better than me at watching the mast. I have caught it in the head a few times, they are able to duck quicker than I am.

All in all the 16 has been great. My boat cost $800 and needed a new tramp and mainsail rigging. The tramp was not cheap to replace but I have less than $1500 dollars into a boat that is a ton of fun.

I asked myself the same question a few months ago, and I ended up buying the getaway. I was worry I got the wrong boat, until I took it out during a nice day, and the weather suddenly changed. Storm and rain came, wind started to push us offshore on the pacific, etc...

But I felt safe with the getaway. My kid enjoys sailing with us. Huge trampoline area to move around especially for the kids who have not much to do on the boat, and the wings prevent them from falling overboard.

The boat is easy, but still requires skill to tack efficiently, and balance to gain best speed. Eventhough I can't compare with the 16, the getaway is really fast. Faster than I anticipated, and best of all it feels safe, which was my priority.

At last, while the I thought a boomless main was not really necessary, in fact this is a wonderful feature, but as I realized, not that much to avoid the kids to get hurt, but really for yourself... As I learned the hard way, when your kids are on board, you (the dad) get distracted all the time by checking your kids are doing the right thing, and you forget about the boom and can easily get hurt...

So long story short, if safety is your #1 priority (and that depends on you skills and where you sail) the getaway is well worth the extra price, and still surprisingly performing.