2004 Getaway Hull cracked!

I have a 2004 with cracks around the starboard hull where the rear cross member exits the hull. I have sent pics to the dealer and Hobie will be sending a new hull for replacement. My question is: What causes this to happen? I bought this boat as a leftover right out of the box from a dealer. One thing that impressed me was the hulls. No need to paint, easy maintenence etc. I have only sailed the boat 4 times and the hull has cracked. This leaves me a little concerned.

On the left hull I also noticed on the middle/main cross member sleeve that the sleeve itself seems to have shifted inboard inside the hull about 1/4 inch or so. Is this something that can be fixed? Are these sleeves supposed to be glued/secured into place?

Durability?????

We have the replacement hull in process. The boats defective hull was made in December 2003.

The hulls are molded of two types of plastic. The outer skin is cross linked polyethelene. We have found some problems occur when the cross link material is under-cooked. This is likely in this hull. Perhaps it was the first hull made on a cold day that December.

The sleeves are molded in as a part of the boat. The sleeve has not slipped in. Rather, the hull mold is expanding over time. The molds are cast aluminum and after hundreds and hundreds of times in the oven they can get a little distorted. We revise the sleeves length from time to time to match the hulls change in shape.

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