New Hobie Cat owner/ trailer Wiring

I am about to be a new owner of a Hobie 16. I'm 22 and fortunate to have a generous boss giving me his old 16 because he doesn't have the energy for it any more.

He doesn't have a trailer for this Hobie, granted he lives right on the water. So I found one on craigslist that comes with a beaten up unusable Hobie I will likely cannibalize over time to keep the one my boss is giving me going.
The condition of the trailer is relatively unknown, other than that the tires are deflates, the guy says the frame is in good shape. Hasn't moved in years though so I am assuming it will need rewiring.

BASICALLY, I was looking for any thoughts, concerns, suggestions, anything that anyone thinks I should look into. I am young, and inexperienced so please lay it on me.

note: I have the "Hobie Cat Sailing" book by Jake Grubb and a manual on assembly. So feel free to reference those!

Thank you all in advance!

check the wheels for slop, side to side. May just need to tighten the hub nut up some, or do a full rebuild on the hub bearings, this is easy, just messy. Also, plan on new lights and wiring.

A friend mentioned I may need to do the bearings too. Now would I notice this just by the way it rolls or are there identifiers I can look for? Depending on the state of the rims I may just buy a whole new set off the bat.
Thanks!

How much sailing experience do you have? If none, then I would look for some Hobie sailor to crew with to learn. Where are you located? My guess is that someone on the forum is close enough to you to know where there are local sailors who would be willing to show you how to rig and let you crew. I have seen quite a few videos on Youtube that would be worth watching. Some are instructional.

Will you sail on lakes or salt water? Do you have someone to crew with you? You need to inspect the boat thoroughly and possibly replace the shrouds. There are posts on the forum on how to look over a used boat. They would be worth looking at to determine the condition of your boat.

The biggest problem with Hobie sailing is that it is addictive. Enjoy it.

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Howard

Home Depot (or many other stores like it) sell a trailer lighting kit for $25 that includes everything you need from the connector at the tongue to the lights at the back of the trailer.

Here is an example of the same thing from harbor Freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive ... 95974.html

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Steve
1979 Hobie 16 "Orange Crusher"
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795

Welcome to the wild world of Hobies....and trailers!

We all depend on our trailers and for 99% of the time they work flawlessly, but for that 1% of the time when something bad happens, it can result in a major PITA. These are just some recommendations I can think of off the top of my head (mostly from stuff that has happened to me or people I know)...

Inspect the trailer frame and crossbars really well for signs of excess rust or cracks. The most important spots to inspect are at the peak of the A frame, where the trailer rails meet up to the trailer tongue. There is a lot of force in this area and poorly designed or cheap trailers have been known to break here. Also the frame area directly above the axle can develop cracks allowing the back of the trailer to break off.

Another important spot to check is the trailer axle. Most trailer axles are made from round or square tubing. If the trailer has been immersed in water, the water can collect inside the axle tube and rust out where the spindle is welded to the tube. Check that area really well.

Also check all U-bolts for signs of excessive rust.

Before using the trailer over any long distance, pop the hub covers off and inspect the quality of the grease (moisture & contamination are bad as is lack of grease). Jack the trailer wheel off the ground and spin it to check for dragging or other signs that the bearings may be frozen or damaged. When you get the trailer home, I would completely disassemble the hubs and apply new grease and possibly replace the bearings.

Check the function of the lights. If they need to be replaced, don't mess around, just replace the entire system (as mentioned above, they are relatively inexpensive). Use wire nuts & electrical tape or solder when making connections rather than using the cheap connectors that come with most kits. Buy a wire harness tester for your vehicle's wiring harness (a couple bucks). Also having a continuity tester or muliti-meter is a good idea.

Check the coupler is correctly sized for your hitch ball (yes there are several different sizes). Make sure the coupler is lubricated and working properly.

Check the tires for signs of dry rot. If they have been sitting in one spot for years (especially if they are flat), then they are probably shot. Of course carry the right size spare. Also be sure you have a lug wrench and jack that will work for your trailer - the wrench for your car's lugs may not fit your trailer wheel lugs!

sm

I do not have anyone experienced to crew with. At the moment I have a boat on a lake nearby I live in South eastern CT Colchester area, however I currently stay in Boston for my work. But any sailing I do will likely be in CT because that's where my parents live and they are letting me keep the Hobie on their property.

I hope to get onto the ocean but thought I would learn in the lake first as I'm much more familiar with it. if anyone lived nearby in MA or CT that I could crew with to learn that would be fantastic!

I will likely be buying that rewiring kit just because it just seems like best bet this thing has a good frame and nothing else. I will definitely check out some of those keep spots mentioned to check for rust and such, I do have some friends with welding experience so I may be able to manage something if there was an issue.

Supposedly the Hobie I'm getting is in sailing condition, sails and everything stored appropriately and such so I am hopeful but will inspect carefully. My thought is that should anything be wrong I will hopefully be able to use parts from the crummy one I will be getting with the trailer.

My boss doesn't want me to come until sunday, so I'm likely gonna get the trailer and old hobie Saturday and work on the trailer all day to get it ready for sunday.

Thank you guys so much this is extremely helpful and encouraging! I'm excited to see theres such a strong community built around this fantastic hobbie (pun intended)

Just spoke to the gentleman selling me the trailer and beat up hobie, he says it was only used a handful of times and only in freshwater so I'm fairly confident about the trailer frame being in good condition! Definitely gonna check out the tires closely and he said he would try out the electric.

Very confident!

marrarad,

Normally you do not have to put your trailer in the water to launch or load your cat. If you do and it is in saltwater, I would recommend using sealed LED trailer lights, otherwise the cheap ones will corrode very quickly (got tired of replacing the cheap lights on my power boat trailer).

Also, if you get saltwater on your trailer, you should rinse it down thoroughly with fresh water each time since salt is very corrosive.

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

That is a good point. I was curious about that too. How do you launch your hobie cat normally? I've heard of cat trax but I get lost when it comes to getting the hobie from the trailer to the cat trax. I am generally assuming that means you normally would go with multiple people to help you lift it?

I load mine in off a grassy area, just slide the boat of the trailer, spin it around, rig......... to load, just do the opposite. You can load it by yourself from the ground. Get in front of the dolphin striker, pull forward and lift, then go to the rear and just push!!!!!!!!

Here's your fleet you want to contact -- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hobie-Fl ... 9872219974 or http://www.fleet448.org/

They're located in Rhode Island and will be sailing off Westport, MA on Saturday. They've got a couple of members located very close to you.

I went down two weeks ago to their season opening event, and learned more then enough to justify the trip. And I've been sailing a 16 for over a year.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Oh wow solid, I realized they were light(er) but I didn't realize they were that manageable!

And thank you very much I'll have to get in touch with them!

I rig, launch, sail, and retrieve my boat by myself. I rig the boat on the trailer in the parking lot. I unplug the lights from the tow car and back in far enough that when I pull the boat off, the rudders don't hit bottom. I use bearing buddies (spring loaded caps that hold grease and keep a little pressure on the bearings) and don't worry about getting them in the water. After launching, I walk the boat to a beach area where I face it into the wind and raise the sails .Retrieving the boat, back in as far as you do to launch, line the boat up and pull at the dolphin striker (the metal rod sticking down below the mast). I just keep moving up using crossbars on the trailer to brace my feet. I trailer 60 miles to one lake or about 100 to another. I used to sail a lot, sometimes twice a weekend, and still have the original trailer and bearings after 29 years. I;m getting older so don't sail as much (I'm 80).

I suggest that you find a crew to go with you until you get confident enough to solo. By the way, four people can pick up and carry a Hobie 16 pretty easily.

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Howard

I just emailed the fleet that's in Rhode Island so I'm hopeful that I can work something out with them relatively soon. I saw they have an event in June for tuning up and such so I hopefully will get the opportunity to learn a lot and crew with them!

This is all much better advice, a lot of my friends seemed to think it was a dumb idea getting one. Granted I originally figured I would use guides to rig it and then figure out the rest on my own. Haha