Hobie Cat Forums

First winter owning my Hobie and I live in south central Pennsylvania. Not having convenience of a garage, I will be storing my cat outside at our local lake's sailing area.

Questions are: Tramp on or off? Keep on trailer or off? Concerned about weight of snow on tramp and resulting weight placed on hull contacts (4 rollers) with trailer.

Any suggestions or lessons learned would be much appreciated as cat gets stored starting this sunday. Thanks.

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Currently between boats. History...
'84 H16 Tsunami Nationals
'84 H16 Yellow Nationals
'84 Hobie 14T

If the tramp is on, take it off the trailer. I just sit on the ground (with a slice of tarp material under each hull so I can get it unfrozen in april). If you take the tramp off, you can leave on trailer (no snowload). Your call.

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H18, H17 & Various motor boats

I'm thinking of extreme elevation of the trailer tongue with boat firmly held onto trailer (ratchet straps at 4 points, snug but not too...) by maybe hoisting up a tree and then supporting under. Also, trailer wheels blocked up, covered, etc.

Kind of like this... (I can't believe how much time it took to make this dumb diagram!)

. (xxx)
( xxxx )
. /||
./.||

I heard of someone saying they lean their boat against a tree but I'd rather keep it on trailer if possible- ready to move in the spring! I'll probably also cover the whole shebang with a plastic tarp and batten it down.

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Raise your sail one foot, and you get ten feet of wind.
起你的一只帆，和你10英尺的。 -- Chinese Proverb
William D. Latinette @ Latrobe, PA, USA w. H14 Turbo X 2... wildlatin23@hotmail.com

I checked with the park office and the cat has to be stored on the trailer. So, I have some old 1inx3inx10ft boards that I will set on the rollers and in turn set the hulls on that to better distribute the weight in case of snow. The boards are flexible enough that they will bend to take the curve of the hulls then. Will alson tarp over trailer and mast to provide tent like set up over tramp (got idea from local getaway owner). Thanks for the suggestions.

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Currently between boats. History...
'84 H16 Tsunami Nationals
'84 H16 Yellow Nationals
'84 Hobie 14T

I just wrote and posted some guidelines for winter storage in the FAQ:

http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=32881

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

I leave mine outside all winter, I either lean them upright against a tree or lay them flat and cover with a tarp. Always left the tramp on. Everything has stayed in great shape. And this is in Northern Minnesota it doesn't get much colder/snowier anywhere else. Get a few feet of snow piled on there, and its fine, occasionally I push the snow off but no big deal.