Implosion

This winter my friend needed some $ so myself and and another buddy decided to buy his H18 which had solid hulls, trailer, and sails in good condition. My 1982 boat I have been sailing for a few years has a very soft starboard hull but has held up well. I usually don't sail in >15kts as you tend to spill your beer or get seawater in it..unless the ocean is very calm. I have been looking for a good hull or hulls for a while so I was excited about the 'new' boat (1984)..and I could have 2 boats on the water if wanted. Got the new boat up and running with all of the best parts I have(harken blocks,quick pins, new lines...etc) Last month and made a few sails in mostly light wind ~ 5-10kts in calm seas ..booze crusing..no problems, the boat took on very little water and all was well.
Saturday the ocean was calm and the wind picked up to ~12kts or so and we took off...3 of us on what we thought would be some fun. Starboard tack out off the beach and moving but not screaming...I was on the wire just hanging, not flying a hull by any means and the ocean was very calm. About 10 minutes out it was a crack and we said "holy $#it" did the hull just go?" Sure enough..the mast came down slowly, everyone was ok. We were about a 1/2 mile or so off the beach. It took a while but we got the main off the mast and rolled it up, got the jib off and secured the mast to the starboard hull, secured everything else(cooler of beer intact! ) and called the coast guard on ch 16. A tender arrived 30minutes later and refused to tow us. We got aboard the Coast Guard boat and they were off..didn't let us get anything off the boat. They dropped us off at a dock on the island.
I know the guy who rents the jetskis here on the beach ...we hurried back to the beach to find him...luckily he was there and said he would help, we loaded a jetski on the trailer and hooked it to the 4 wheeler and headed down the beach....I spotted the boat adrift and we went out and towed it in stern forward with no problem.
The one time I didn't take my cell phone...the coast guard could have been avoided..at least we had the VHF.
Items lost: Olympus Stylus waterproof camera ($400), Gerber tool, jib blocks...and the port hull!!!!
Only two small tears in the main sail.

That's the story.
http://img6.imageshack.us/g/dsc0028du.jpg/
Why the failure?

Wow! That's nuts!




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At least you can finally get that PBR out of the bow.

This was an issue mainly after 1984 to 1989 model years. The lighter construction starting in 1984, note the color of the glue (red line) bead. They reduced the size of the glass "patch" at the crossbar connections. There were plates offerd as a retro fit... not on your boat... to make this connection stronger. Anyway, the result is what you see.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Not sure I understand "after 1984 to 1989" - do you mean between 1984-1989, but the problem does not exist on boats built after 1989?

By the way, Mayor, I'm glad to hear that you were all safe and you were able to recover the boat.

Also, if you haven't seen this already, it may help to explain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-QNAwUdHUQ

Was my '93 built so that the front doesn't fall off at all?

This can be problem with H18s manufactured between 1984 and 1989. After 1989... the problem went away 100%. A majority of failures were related to adding wings in the same time frame. This put a LOT more load on the hulls. We made changes several time between 84-89 including adding the stainless anchor plates, but what we did in 1989 (much more glass connecting the deck to sidewall after the boat was glued together) solved it.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

So, would be safe to say that any boat in that window should have the reinforcing glass and the brackets installed prior to sailing it?

Yep. The failure percentage was not huge, but not worth the risk.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

The Front Fell Off! That's great...and right on time.
My buddy got the boat taken apart but not before some a$$hole took my Harken swivel cam!

Hopfully back on the water in a week. Thinking about a swap with my other H18 in which the starboard hull is really soft. I will add some glass and an anchor plate to the 1984 hull ...but I guess there is always the risk of another implosion.