Since a recent rebuilding of a H17 I picked up here in Australia and sailing it afew times now I've been disappointed in the performance compared to my H16. I attribute this to my fantastically coloured old H17 mylar main. It still looks great but up close its just about had it and I feel there is more life in this old H17 yet.
As with all my Hobie's I would love to keep genuine but I'm not really happy with cost, time and colour. The 'Smoke' is close to white boring, the cost for a H17 main here in OZ is just under 3k ($2300 US) and it would take approx. 2 months to get here from the US as Australia currently has zero H17 mains.
Not really happy with all this. I've considered buying a custom coloured one but at that price I could rock out a H16 Euro sail set.
I've been watching the market closely here and in the US as well as messaging around but there really seems to be no good spares around.
What quality alternatives are out there? (with colour)
I've contacted Whirlwind but get no response and just read that the chap (Chip) works for another sail maker if that's right??? Not sure why the site is still up???
Is there anybody else out there who makes a good quality coloured H17 main?
Some recent pics taken