My brother is in the process of restoring one for his grandchildren as a training boat. He has had it for years, his own kids learned on it. When he got it it had already been modified with a 14 main sail squared off at the top and 14 rudders, castings and modified steering. The upper gudgens were removed and the pins were just floating in the fiberglass, I repaired the hulls and gelcoated them for him this past summer. To make up for the missing gudgens, I used 1" long rudder casting bushings and glassed them in from the bottom side of the lip. I used a layer of kevlar topped with a couple layers of normal glass. So the bushings shouldn't be a problem. I used the longest my Hobie dealer had on hand, as I believe regular bushings are 1/2" in length. For rudders he had been using a pair from his 16 which broke off at the top and just shortened them and re-drilled them. For and updated sail, he now has a 14 main shorten from the bottom, which is shaped more like the original. The main traveler needs to be updated yet, and it needs a tramp. SLO canvas and sail out of CA makes an aftermarket tramp for these. His main complaint is the money that's going into it. But hopefully his grandchildren will appreciate it.
_________________ 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
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