Thanks in great part to this forum (the expertise of old salts and the questions posed by newbies to Hobies like ourselves asking so many questions related to what we needed to know, and the forum mods wisdom) we decided to take a plunge into the Hobie 16 world. I sailed/crewed a bit on single hauls so this will be a learning curve.
My son (high-schooler and the prime driver behind this scheme for a Hobie – he is paying for a the base boat with $ he earns from his job) and I got our first Hobie this weekend after a lot of research (a good friend is a longtime Hobie racer offered buying tips and what to look for) we found a very “right –priced” boat with some good extras thrown in.
We got a great price on a solid hulled 1985 down in Hilton Head in “almost” ready to sail condition (detailed list of to-do items in another post
but suggestions welcomed). As you can see she has a ancient canvas tramp which is set to be replaced with mesh but had to clean it anyway for now anyway - that's just me.
She has good bones but working on “project clean up” while some parts come in. Not pictured are various side items like rudder recoating for the EPO 864s covered here in the forum (like I said – thanks posters for your expert DIY knowledge you share).
The black anodized parts I used Rupp Aluma Guard (from local West Marine) to restore as you can see in the pix below. I’ll keep an eye on how long the finish lasts in weather over time but the stuff seems to work pretty well so far short term. I tried Penetrol also as suggested in the forums and it worked pretty well but so far short term - it left a lot of decay showing compared to Rupp and didn’t have the umph that the Rupp product did. Let’s see how Rupp does in weather over time. I know how Armor-All looks good but can fade quickly so will report back
Also working on gelcoat, which is very oxidized – some hand rubbing this season … not shown - and more detailed attention later.
Oh – the sails are Tidal Wave as ID’d on our '85 boat in that cool sail history guide pdf we referred to often while shopping around and they are stiff and in great shape for her age. We were shooting for white hulls on our wish list but Coleman bestowed on us some off-white hulls.
So here are some before and after pics of the clean up.
mast (after/before)
frame (before/after)
canvas tram (bye soon) (before/after) scrubbing
sail (Tidal wave sail)
Cheers,
Jonathan & Preston