rowing a hobie cat?

Hellow world,

I would like to procure a hobie cat but have not yet. My concern is that I live on a canal and am not sure how to get a hobie down the canal to the open water. Is it possible to rig a set of oars? Is there a kit for this? Another possibility would be a trolling motor but I don't want the weight and complexity. Any advise is much appreciated!............carey

Rowing a cat is highly impractical (the oars would need to be huge to reach the water from a center position).

Paddling is worse: the boat goes in circles.

This leaves you with two solutions:
A small trolling motor (I just installed one on my Getaway, and I love it). It's not complex, but the Cheata brackets are expensive.

Sculling. Takes a bit of practice, but is extremely efficient (I've moved a 40' cruising monohull with no difficulty using a single sculling oar on the transom). And you get lots of stares from landlubbers who can't believe their eyes

How does one Scull? Is there some special hardware to allow this to be done of a Hobie?

I had good luck paddling my 17 as long as I bungeed the rudders into a neutral position. But it was a lot of work.

Brian C

This weekend I had to paddle my boat a few times. The best way I found to paddle on the 18, was to sit on one of the wings which would raise the hull on the opposite side to reduce drag. Then with the rudder half way kicked up, I put the tiller under one leg to hold in a slight turn to counterbalance the paddling. It wasn't fast, but it got me to where I was going.

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Jeff
Hobie 18 "Blue Jeanne"

We lay on the hulls in front of the crossbar and paddle like a surfboard. You can make good time that way. The rudders will track fairly straight.

Hobies don't scull that well. And, if you paddle them they definitely do not go in a circle. Once the water flows over the boards and hull, as long as the rudders are straight it will go pretty much straight. I like to send my crew forward on the hull and paddle it like a surfboard. Watch the harness hook! I've gotten 6 knots on a H18 this way coming in from the mile mark. I do this myself on an FX-one. I lay forward on the bow and steer with the tiller between my toes. It goes straight as long as I steer straight. Most people here in SC use the extendable paddle in the Hobie catalog. Hope this helps!

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Sail Revolution
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Sure looks like everyone seems to have had different experiences!

When I tried paddling on my old 16, I sure couldn't make it go straight, but that could be only me.

I never had any problem sculling, even a cat, but it does take some practice. It's my method of choice when I can rig an oarlock on the transom, because I can stand up and look forward. Describing sculling technique is beyond the scope of a thread like this and would require grahics to be effective, so I'll refer you to articles on the net such as http://www.woodenboat.net.nz/Stories/Sc ... llone.html

Note also that I was referring to the old original meaning of sculling as describe in the article above, not to the meaning it has taken lately: mordern competition rowing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculling, for example, redirects you to a page that describe this modern meaning (sports rowing).

Tryany of the techniques described in this thread, and find which one works best for you. Where there is a will, there is a way

Great site on the traditional sculling! So for your Hobie did you attach the long paddle to the rear crossbar? Send some pix!
When I think of sculling a modern boat, I think of using the rudder. I've sculled a Moore 24 up the harbor channel this way--by moving the rudder back and forth like a fish's fin. This is the method that I was referring to that doesn't work well for Hobies. Thanks for the info.

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Sail Revolution
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Ah! I had not even thought of that other meaning of sculling (i.e. moving the rudders back and forth). Yeah, that wouldn't be very efficient.

I don't have any pictures of sculling my Getaway, but I'd simply tie a line in a loop around the aft crossbar, close to the center (you have to lift the tiller out of the way). The loop must be not too big, but big enough so that you can comfortably position your oar in it perpendicular to the cross bar.

Then follow the instructions in the link above and off you go. Once you get the hang of it, it's quite efficient. You won't break any speed record but you can move very large boats where regular rowing or padling wouldn't do anything. Note that your oar must be fairly long as you use it standing up.

If you want to get very fancy, you can even scull from the front crossbar moving forward by using your shoulder instead of the crossbar as fulcrum. Not as efficient, but a quick way to nudge your boat where you want.

The sculling approach looks like a great solution - thanks for ALL of the various inputs from the hobie community! Now that I am assured that I can get the cat down my canal to the open water I think I will go buy a boat!

I'm a little late to join the party, but I move my H18 around by sitting on one of the hulls forward of the tramp, extend my hotstick so I can reach it from up there, and use my kayak paddle. It works well and the kayak paddle breaks down in half to facilitate storage.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Just to update this older thread, I am pleased to report that it is possible to effectively row a Wave (7-foot beam) with competitive sculling oars.

Thread on the Wave forum at http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=9842

Photos at http://picasaweb.google.ca/Norm742/HobieWaveRowing

Hey there's a thread on the WAVE site about rowing. You might find it interesting and possibly applicable

Did I not read that comment above or did it get posted a split second before mine?

Senior moment, I guess