Winterizing

Although I have not quiet given up on getting out again, is there anything necessary to do with the hulls other than drain and leave the plugs off?

No antifreeze required in case there is still water inside that can freeze?

Thx

Bump, I'd like to know as well... First winter with the hobie.

All winterizing tips will not be given until the first of November as the month of October offers some of the best winds. Go get a wet suit on ebay. I picked one up for 15 bucks and will sail until the end of November in beautiful Ohio.

I will be out this weekend as they are claiming 70-80 for the Columbus Day weekend

Plugs out and bow propped up I would guess. Trampoline off in snow country. Covered at the minimum.

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

I think I'm going to store mine indoors but not heated... should I do anything with the tramp? Loosen it or anything? It gets very cold here in Wisconsin..

As for still sailing... it was 80+ today after being below 60 for a couple weeks... it's likely that I'll get it on the lake one more time, maybe more..

I'm on my second winter with a silver colored tarp from lowe's or home depot that is approx. 18 x 12 for 20 bucks and don't buy one of those crappy blue ones that turns to shreds. I wrap it over the mast just like it were to be trailered and bungee it underneath . I raise the mast about a foot at the back of the tramp so there is a good angle for run off. You want it tight so it doesn't puddle and snow doesn't seem to build up. The tarp goes completely to the bottom of the pontoons and you connect underneath with some nylon rope and a few bungees. I leave my tramp on. I can't believe alot of you guys take them off. No UV, no moisture, no problem. Unless of course, you have a critter that decides to make a home of it.

I'd probably throw a blanket or some padding on top of the tramp. Flat surfaces in my garage have a tendency to collect "stuff". I'd hate to damage a tramp in a moments lapse by putting something with sharp edges on it.

Brian C

I'll definitely tarp it.

Thanks.

Up here in Canada, we winter store our H16's and H18's (and Lasers and Albacores and Bytes and Tasers etc) as follows:
1. Take boats up off the beach to the parking lot.
2. Remove all masts and rigging, tape the rigging to the mast, and tie up the masts to the rafters of the Club house.
3. Remove all Centreboards, rudders, etc, which members then take home to sand and varnish and repair etc over the winter.
4. Remove all tramps, wrap and roll them, and place in each boat's storage box.
5. Park the boats with four old tires under the front, and three at the back, (so any residual water will drain,) and remove the drain plugs.
6. For H18's, cover and tape the mast bearing so the sun and u/v does not kill it.
7. We also plug in the shop vac (in blower mode), and do our best to dry out any wet hulls.
Check us out at www dot kanatasailing dot com. We were out last weekend, with full wetsuits, winds at 11 knots, gusting 20 knots, what a blast. During one power reach, I dropped both bows into the swell ahead of us and took water up to the front cross bar without pitch-poling. I can still feel my wife's nails on my arm!
Final sailing next weekend, and then on Oct 14th, we'll do the above and have some oat soda's with the chili.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

Turns out that I'm going to store my cat outside. I just brought it home and put it in my driveway, so it's between my house and the neighbors. It will provide good shelter but it will definitely get covered with snow.

I put a tarp over the tramp and tied it down.

Prior to bringing it home from the dock, I tipped it up as high as I could with the assistance of one other person to empty the hulls... Now do I just leave it on the trailer and pull the plugs?

That'll work. Slack off the tie downs too.

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There was a discussion earlier regarding some boats which had been stored all winter with the masts rigged (ie, upright). The masts had some cracks at the bottom and the cracks may have been the result of some freezing of trapped water in the mast (ends are sealed). If the mast is upright, any water will pool at the mast bottom in a limited area. Given daily possibly freezing and thawing of any water stuck in the mast (ie, many chances of the water freezing in just the wrong way), I think this is something to worry about.

But, I think if the mast were stored horizontally or mostly horizontally, the chance of trapped water freezing and causing damage would be substantially reduced.

So I would not store the boat over winter in a cold climate with the mast up - but could be wrong.

I've never had problems with the boat over the winter, but I have had the trailer pretty bent up from snow on the boat. I ended up putting jack stands or just big pieces of logs or bricks under each of the four corners of the trailer where the hulls rest. That make sense? The aft supports bent down every year. I ended up welding more angle iron to the aft support. In the California Sierras, snow is also called California Concrete because it's so wet and heavy!

We try to keep the bows well elevated. Most boats take on some amount of water. I get a little paranoid, with older boats, thinking that just lifting up the trailer to drain out the water after the last sail is enough. Sometimes with older boats the plastic bags around the flotation foam can leak. I've lifted up the bows and had water drain out of my boat a week later, and then some more water a week after that.

If you can build a tripod to elevate the tongue is best. Pay attention to securing the boat/trailer to the ground in case of a wind storm. Remove any port covers, if possible to keep rain and snow out, and create a flow through the drain plugs, or just remove the plugs.

Freezing water will expand and break fiberglass. Condensation can/will form even in the winter months.

Bows up gentlemen.

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hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297