Looking into Buying a New Hobie 16

It would be helpful if you told us where you live.

well, i found my boat on craigslist.org you can click on the city nearest to yourself on the right and do a search in the "sales/wanted" good luck

Go to Hobie Cat's site - Hobie Cat - and use the dealer locator.

My advice: If you can afford it, buying a brand new boat is the best value for your money.

Good advice Bob.I did just that this weekend.The new boats are really nice(only problem is it looks so nice I,m almost afraid to use it).The new boats come stock with some really great gear.

Tom Korz. impressions

Here are my impressions of the new 16.

Remember I got my 1st 16 in 1975, actually my dad's but we sailed together, and have had ten or more 16's over the years.

Fiberglass work and finish
-very nice, probably the best yet. There is still a slight indent, just above the keel line on the outside of the hulls. I think this must have something to do with the molds cause most boats I have seen have some evidence of this. Susan's 2004 has a very pronounced dimple there but it doesn't seem to affect performance.

Set up/controls
-Best layout ever. I really like the traveler cleats-Ronstan vs those little lance cleats. The new jib cars are great the uncleat from every angle. This will be important cause I will be racing with my 10 yr old daughter this year.

The jib halyard is in the front of the mast, makes on the water adjusment a little tougher but is probably better for rotation.

Low stretch jib halyard comes with the boat-Niiiice Wink

very low profile mainsheet blocks. The top is the tiny carbo and the bottom is the standard Harken low profile. I think this is the optimal set-up. At the Worlds in Mex they had the small top and the small carbo bottom, caused some weird jumping of the sheeves and adjustment of the bottom carbo is a Twisted Evil PITA

I don't buy any of the reasoning for the luff tensioner at the top, just a personal peeve.

Line quality is excellent and the sizing has gone down, which the right thing to do. Jib sheet is right length, main sheet 4-6' too long

As usual the jib traveller lines are about 12 inches too short. Never fiqured out why this is a skimp but.....read the above and make your own conclusions.

Rudders, I got the white racing rudders, straight and nice, they are not far enough under the boat. I find the stock drill pattern in the rudders a bit helmy. I will have that fixed by MCXXX or I will just take my wifes rudders and redrill mine when I have the time. A fleet member has a jig that makes the helm oh so sweet Cool Cool

All in all I think that Hobie US is doing a GREAT job on the production of the 16. This is far and away the best most complete boat I/we have taken position of.

Boatworks did a great job of assembly, thanks Rob & Timmay. I barely had to re-rig anything this time Laughing I reccomend them highly for all your catamaran needs.

Got a pretty cool sail #109876.

Mike we'll miss you at MCXXX and the Madslapper Hockey tourney on Fri morn.

Good luck with your new boat and let us know what you think. When you pick it up eyeball the mast and rudders and make sure they are straight & true.

New boat, old boat. No matter what it is just a hole in the water that you throw your money into. But I guess it is a fun hole. and remember a catamaran equalls two holes in the water.

Glad to read that Tom has so many positive comments. I'm picking up a new boat at Madcatter.

Just finished setting mine up today.Looks great.Two questions(so far).The boat is out of square by 1 and 1/2",also the rudders when popped up, the port side of the tiller bar is quite a bit higher then the starboard side.Also the connections to the tiller arm have quite a bit of play in them.

Loosen the tramp lacing and pylon bolts. Square up the hulls. Tighten pylon bolts and cinch up the lacing.

Even if you do what Mike says, the boat won't stay square for long unless you glue it.

Are the tillers at the same level when the rudders are down? (That's what counts.) Minor differences in the castings can cause the tillers to be at different heights when in the "parked" position. So can the positions of the bolt holes in the rudders.

Which tiller connection is loose? Rudder/Casing, Casting/Tiller or Tiller/Crossbar?

You guys are killing me. First Billy gets a new boat. Then Tom gets a new boat. Now Bob lets on he's getting a new one.

We'll see how well the new boats do in two weeks

I may not be sailing the new boat at Madcatter. The "old" boat is still plenty fast and I know it well so I'll probably stick with that.
The clincher is that I sold the old boat to Mike Ingham. Get ready for an even more competitive 16 fleet. I think his son Sam will sail the boat a bunch also and he's no slouch either.

Hi Matt
Is 1&1/2" a lot to be out of square?
It is Tiller to crossbar that has some play.

Boat out of square - to be honest, I've never measured mine. My boat's not glued, so I figured no matter what it was, it would be different the next time I measured it. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think 1 1/2" is a lot (I'm assuming the difference is in the diagonal measurement). Assuming the hulls are level and parallel, and using some basic trigonometry, one hull is about 0.79 inches ahead of the other. That's about 0.4% of the boat length.

What's sloppy about the tiller connectors? Up and down on the pin? Are the rotating parts on the ends of the tillers wobbly? I've never had any issues with the 20-style connectors.

up and down on the pin

Wrap the pin with teflon plumbing tape. It's very thin, so you can build up to the thickness you need easily.

I was looking at catalog and noticed my pins do not have the balls at the bottom end?

Are we talking about the same thing?

20 Style Tiller Connectors:

They don't have "balls" ( ). The tiller crossbar slips over the pin and is kept in place with a retaining clip.

Yes that is it.If you look at the new Hobie cataloge on page 23 it show little ball caps on the end of the pins.

OK, I see them - I don't think that's your problem - none of my boats have them. I really don't know what they're for. Matt M. could probably answer that.