Adding Hobie 18 wings to a GCat 5.7 :: Catamaran Sailboats at TheBeachcats.com

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Adding Hobie 18 wings to a GCat 5.7

jalex

Rank: Mate

Registered: May 08, 2013

Last visit: Oct 02, 2023

Posts: 508
Posted: Apr 21, 2014 - 12:59 PM

There are some used Hobie 18 wings for sale in my area, any chance I could mod them to fit my GCat 5.7? I owned a Hobie 18 for many years but never had wings so don't really know much about them, other than they are awesome and I want some
timscottyoung

Rank: Lubber

Registered: Sep 23, 2012

Last visit: Sep 20, 2022

Posts: 57
Posted: Apr 23, 2014 - 02:28 PM

jalexThere are some used Hobie 18 wings for sale in my area, any chance I could mod them to fit my GCat 5.7? I owned a Hobie 18 for many years but never had wings so don't really know much about them, other than they are awesome and I want some

I have SX wings on my H18. It appears that modifying these wings would be a significant undertaking and possibly create structural weaknesses that could show up at a bad time. Also, these wings go for big bucks. For that much money, you may be as well off starting from scratch. If you are getting a good deal though, why not cut and weld? Worth a try!

Ideally, if you could leave the H18 wings as-is and make adapters for the connections, you get to retain the value of the wings for resale. Is the H18 and GCat built to similar dimensions? Main concern is distance between fore and aft cross beams. These need to be pretty similar to limit cantilevering.

Sounds like a challenging project. If you need photos or dimensions of my H18 with wings and connection points to get started, let me know.

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Tim Young
Hobie 18' + other stuff that floats and goes.
Kentucky
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CatsailorMike

Rank: Lubber

Registered: Jul 08, 2005

Last visit: Aug 26, 2023

Posts: 97
Posted: Apr 23, 2014 - 03:21 PM

h18s are pretty cheap, why not just try and pick one up. if not and option, using the wings on a gcat isn't anything t a little time and $$ can't fix.

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Mike Conway
H16
Hilton, NY
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jalex

Rank: Mate

Registered: May 08, 2013

Last visit: Oct 02, 2023

Posts: 508
Posted: Apr 23, 2014 - 05:23 PM

The girlfriend won't give up the Gcat's front tramp, so the Hobie 18 is out. Don't really want to become a 3 boat guy either. I guess money would be better spent on something custom than trying to fit something not meant to be. Thanks for the responses
Wolfman

Rank: Chief

Registered: Jun 24, 2009

Last visit: Jun 15, 2023

Posts: 1555
Posted: Apr 23, 2014 - 06:21 PM

The hobie wings aren't very customizable for other cats. If you are going home made, these trap seats are probably the most elegant solution I have seen.

http://www.thebeachcats.c…tra-performance-cat.html

I've heard of people people use sailboard mast bases for the hinges attached to the hull and attaching the lines to the shroud hound on the mast. Something to consider.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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nacraflyer

Rank: Lubber

Registered: Jan 05, 2013

Last visit: Sep 22, 2014

Posts: 78
Posted: Apr 24, 2014 - 08:22 AM

I'm working on some custom wing seats for my 4 Nacra's with the 4" round crossbeams. I had designed some last year that worked out well, but I want to make these so that they can swing up out of the way easily when put on the trailer and hauled down the road. These may also work on crossbeams that are not round, but we'll just have to see in a few weeks once finished with the brackets and weight testing.

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Craig
Windrider Rave Hydrofoil
Nacra 5.2 Restored and heavily modified
Nacra 5.2 (one under restoration)
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.8NA
SoCal
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cezo823

Rank: Mate

Registered: Aug 22, 2011

Last visit: Oct 10, 2018

Posts: 187
Posted: Apr 25, 2014 - 07:40 AM

Good luck taking this on, I always interested in these retrofit projects.
I will take the time to say that I'm an engineer with a lot of metal fabrication design experience and contacts. I recently took a higher level job that is going to involve less design work so I'm going to start a side biz helping everyday people implement ideas by providing design help and fabrication support. If you need help this could be a portfolio builder for me so let me know if I can help out at all. Low quantity stuff isn't cheap to have done the best way but I know a lot of ways to get the most for the least $$.
PM or send me an email if I can help out at all.

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Cesar (Cez) S.
Hobie 16 (had a few)
Nacra 5.2 "Hull Yeah"
Vectorworks XJ - A class (not named yet)
West Michigan (Grand Rapids/Holland Area)
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