Yea I guess it came across a little harsh, (oops). I'm with Keith kinda wishing Hobie would come out with a liitle more hardened version of the TI for the excursion and offshore people. I'm not asking for the world here, just a slightly stronger design. With maybe foam filled AKA bars, built in safety lines, that overcome the very weak aka bar brace design, a slightly stronger rudder system, and an aluminum plate, (or some type of spacer) mounted behind the base of the mast holder to re-enforce that 1/4" stud in the hull bottom. Maybe a slightly improved front hatch, or at the very least supply a Hobie approved optional shower cap or insert to help with the front hatch leakage issues. Verses all of us needing to come up with all these fixes on our own.
Tony is correct, there is no chance I would trust my old sunfish, or a laser in some of the conditions I have been out in. It's not the mast or furlable mainsail that concerns me. Those are actually pretty impressive, and I will never own another boat without mirage drives. It's the other 5 or 6 little things that can go horribly wrong on these boats in rough conditions that concern me very much, (ie... Keiths Insta-capsize, broken rudder pins and gudgeions, etc, to name just a few) that most of us are aware of and talk about often, and expert sailers will catch and remedy (as most of us have). I just worry about the people who get these boats after watching all the crazy videos out there, (yea I'm also guilty as charged), and get themselves into real trouble out there not being aware of the weakness's because they don't follow the forum. I just strongly feel Hobie should at least offer a premium version of this amazing craft with all the little design fixes incorporated into what they could call the "EC special edition" for of course a premium price, doll it all up with decals and such, I would buy one in a heartbeat, (sort of like the Americas cup line of Waves, way cool). Some of the extra's from that line could be offered in their catalog as add-ons, with proven out and tested standardized fixes to all the obvious design issues that everyone may not be aware of, and nearly all have tried to remedy on their own with sometimes not so well thought out results, (ie... stainless rudder pins, and replacing the nylon sheer bolts with steel bolts to name a few). I'm not talking about a complete redesign here, all the existing designs are fine, (ie...the basic hull, AMA's, sail system, etc). Now Hobie has the fixed mast topper design (the key to everything in my opinion), as people gain experience they can purchase specialty add-ons to suite their needs, like an aluminum brace system and maybe a bowsprit along with a Hobie designed jib kit, (to be purchased as a package), spinnaker kit, etc. So as users become expert sailers they can configure their boats into really capable machines without needing to design and build all their own stuff from scratch, ( I got kind of tired of having to design all my own fixes). I strongly feel (for example only), a modified Island type boat configured similar to what I've been running now for 6-7 yrs is superior to even a Windrider 17, with the biggest key feature for me anyway is, It's a complex very capable sailboat that is car toppable, (and I have over 200k road miles on mine to prove it), and there is nothing on the market that comes even remotely close. Nobody, I mean nobody is going to put a 450lb Windrider on their roof ( just sayin). And near 50% of the time we leave all the sails and rigging back at our campsite, and use the boat as the best and fastest kayak we have ever owned, (hobie doesn't even promote that aspect), and we have owned a lot of different Hobies over the years. They will need to pry my mirage drives from my dead feet ( lol). I guess I'm just frustrated that Hobie invented this amazing craft but only brought it to 80% of it's capability in fear of infringing on the sales of it's cat line, ( obviously just my own opinions). I feel they invented a whole new category of craft here, but keep it handicapped, (for recreational beginners only)... Obviously I'm outspoken here because I love the craft and the concept so much, and of course all my opinions are strictly my own. FE Edit: yes I sold my 2012 TI, and need to lay off a while (health reasons, mostly my broken back problem, needs time to heal). And we don't sail much in the winter anyway, (sure I'm canadian, but anymore the water's too cold for me in the winter ( downside to living in Florida over time I guess). You can bet your bottom dollar I kept all my gadgets that take me about a day to install on any new TI I buy (would be our forth TI). However I'm hoping to be able to toss all that old crap, (most of it is over 7 yrs old now and looks like it all survived WW2). I'm holding out for a EC super TI special edition ( similar to what they did with the America's cup wave's, ( but real)), heck I might even offer to sail it in front of Mallory square weekly if asked, (Key West is the only cruise destination port in the US with on some days 2-3 cruise ships coming in, (my wife had a store there, right near the cruise ship docks for years). It would be the star and main attraction at any boat show on the planet, if they do it right. Would be a pretty awesome add campaign, showing highlights of 20 if these things dominating something like the EC, just sayin.
( note the water right there in the cruise ship channel is a nightmare, I don't recommend taking a stock TI there, just sayin). Oh well, I'm a dreamer, can't help myself, (lol)
|