A little background first. I've got a lot of dinghy sailing experience and two years of sailing a Hobie wave. I'm looking to move up to something a little faster. I like the look of the Hobie 16. But I'd like something a little more roomy. Most of the time it will just be my wife and I but occasionally we'll take some friends out. Mostly we just plan on exploring the spoil islands around the honeymoon Island area of Dunedin. I'm looking for some that's easy/fast to rig, and forgiving.

I'm looking for something that isn't super rare. Something that can be found on craigslist. I'm a pretty big guy. 6'1" 270lbs and my wife is 130. I'd say 90% of the time it will just be us. The other ten percent of the time I'd like to take two other people out with us. I'm not sure if I should be looking at something bigger than a 16 due to our weight.

I mentioned forgiving because i've taking a hobie 16 a few times in light winds, one time the winds piped up to about 15kts and I nearly soiled myself...it's just a bit sharper than the wave I'm used to!

Hopefully thats enough info to get some advice.

Check out his thread:
http://www.thebeachcats.c…c/15480/start/0#pid54986

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Sheet In!
Bob
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Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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There's good info on the thread that Klozhald mentioned. It sounds like you're looking for more a pleasure boat than an actual racing boat. I don't know what your budget is, but a Hobie Getaway sounds like the ticket for you. It will carry weight, has a ton of room on the tramps, is fast enough to be fun, but is also very gentle and forgiving. Only drawback is that they're more $ than a lot of the other boats you can find.

To carry the weight you're looking at, a 16 is going to be maxed out. You and the wife could have fun on it, but there's no way you're going to get another couple on there. The other choices beyond the Getaway are larger boats (i.e. the 18-20' ones). If you go that route, you need to do your research, as a lot of those are very high performance boats that are much less forgiving than what you're used to.

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Tim
81 Hobie 16
87 Nacra 5.7
Austin, TX
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mysterer 5.5
lots of volume in the hulls
there are lots of mystere's and parts in dunedin
room for 3 big adults or 4 very close friends
centerboards for our shallow bays

My GF and I love our Hobie 20 for sailing 2 and w 4 people. Its a high performance boat but you can drastically reduce the rigging to a simple 2way jib system and clear away some clutter for casual sailing at the expense of max speed and hulls quickly in the air. Handles great in 5mph to 25mph winds with ease at your weight range. For about a grand extra you can install hobie 18 magnum wings for back rests, seats and stretching out, makes the boat very wide and roomy.
Have a hobie 16 as well for the solo days and light crew days of for when I just want to take a quick spin with a friend or two. Parts for both boats i've found are easy to find as long as you start with solid hulls, straight mast and decent sails.
There are a lot of pro racer guys dumping their great condition hobie 20's to buy and keep up with the racers in the F18/F20 class so finding a used one shouldn't be too hard $3k-$6k get you a good one usually with a nice trailer and a ton of spare parts, beach wheels, extra sails ect.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dprVPsrjKMY

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Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
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I’ve never owned an H-16 but from what I’ve seen it does not appear to have the load capability that you are looking for. The Getaway could be a good option for you, similar to your Wave but with a lot more load capability and a step up in performance. But if you prefer even more performance in a 16 footer you might consider the Nacra 5.0 or Nacra 500 (newer version). These boats have more buoyant hulls and will carry the weight better than the H-16. I had a Mystere 5.0 which is similar to the Nacra 5.0 and I sailed it on many occasions with 3 guys at 600+ lbs and I could still squeeze out good speeds with low risk of pitch poling. Having said that, the boat still felt overloaded especially in lighter winds. My answer to the situation similar to yours (I weigh in around 250 lbs and regularly want to carry extra folks on board) was to upgrade to a Nacra 570. It’s the same basic design but in the 18.5’ length (the Nacra 5.7 is the older version). For recreational sailing the design and functionality of these boats is hard to beat, high volume hulls (hard to pitch pole and high carrying capacity), boom-less main (no head knocking), no daggerboards to deal with, simple rigging, simple kickup rudders (500&570), roomy clutter-free tramp, and great straight line performance. Decide what is important to you and look for the boat that best fits your needs. Good Luck!

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Steve - Texas Gulf Coast

91 Mystere 5.0 (sold)
04 Nacra 570 (sold)
08 Hobie Wave
00 Taipan 4.9
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