Charlie, perhaps the previous owner had already replaced it? I was told the boat was 2 years old when I bought it and while it presents as such (in excellent condition) I have no way of knowing if this is the case. It could well have been sitting in the Australian distributors warehouse for a while before being sold. Any way it's water under the bridge (or keel
) now. As you pointed out it would be good if Hobie could put this info out there for any mods/updates because of known weakness in design. I guess this forum is a good start, not many companies out there that provide a forum where you can reveal this type of stuff and have the problem acknowledged and advice given.
Imagine if the automobile industry did this sort of thing! I have read through the posts on this list and cant seem to find anything else to keep an eye on.
I had an awesome sail in 20-25 knot winds (gusts to 32 knots) yesterday and was very thankful for the ability to reef the sail
A friend commented after watching from the beach how much the mast bowed, this boat is certainly a lot of fun and is sailable in almost any conditions..and after that sail I am happy nothing else is likely to bend/break any time soon.