Hobie Cat Forums

I plan on storing my hobie 16 on an ocean beach. any suggestions as to how to keep it in good shape?

Keep it out of the sun.
Keep rigging tight so it does not move around and wear out.
Keep lines away from mast.
Keep hulls vented,
Keep hulls tied to earth with steaks, in case of freak wind.

Rig electrical fence with at least 15000 volts to keep other beach goers off your boat. Kids love to jump on the tramp, and adults like to lay down or have a pick nick on tramp.

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ALLEY CAT 1984 RED LINE HOBIE 18 MAGNUM
Sail # 10505 or 277

The thing about keeping a boat on the beach is you have to accept that it's going to take more abuse than it would sitting in your driveway. This will be my third season keeping a boat on the beach for the summer.

The last two years I had my boat under a full cover, but that cover is now over 20 years old and has disintegrated, so now I have a full deck cover. Anything to keep the sun off the boat and tramp is helpful. Put on a healthy coat of wax if you don't want to use a cover. I'd also recommend painting the comptip if your boat has one. Otherwise the fiberglass will begin to break down from excessive sun exposure.

Tieing down the boat is a must. Bury a cinder block a few feet under the sand and use some heavy rope to anchor the boat. Most people just tie down the front crossbar. I tie both front and rear. I also lock my boat with a cable and padlock. Remove anything from the boat that's removable when you're not using it. I make my rig (H18) good and tight. This keeps the mast from banging around and it also prevents people from messing around with the clevis pins that hold the mast up.

That's about it. Keeping a boat on the beach is real convenient in some ways, but a little bit of a headach in others. I love being able to just roll up to the beach and go for a sail, but I'm always also worried about the condition I'm going to find my boat in when I get there.

Good luck, have fun.

sm

And before setting out check the standing rigging, hull plugs, and tramp lacing for people messing with them.

I left my boat overnight on a popular Hobie beach in Santa Barbara and found the next day someone unscrewed a hull plug. Others have reported ring dings being undone and the chain plate cover replaced.

One other thing I forgot to mention...insurance.

Our town requires that we have coverage before they allow us to put our boats on the beach. Even if they didn't, I still think I'd have insurance. You never know what some bone head tourist or even mother nature is going to do to your boat. Most policys are less than $100 per year, so it's pretty cheap and helps to mitigate some of the stress that goes with having a boat on the beach.

sm

YES insurance, a couple years ago a huge storm blew through our lake and totaled 3 boats and damaged more. I prefer a 4 foot sand anchor my self.

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Bodhisatfa

I store my boat on its trailer here on the beach year round. From November to March the mast is lowered and the trampoline, bridal wires, drain plugs and rudder system are removed. All of the rigging gets stored there in my sailbox. My sails, wetsuit tops, harnesses, gloves, life vests, tramp, etc. all get moved to my garage. Removing the tramp for the winter will extend its life but also greatly reduce the chance of your boat getting tossed around in a winter gale. I re-string my tramp every spring in about 30-minutes time with the help of a hockey skate lace hook (every Hobie sailor should own one) and a pair of vice grips. Below are some good examples for insurance. Cheers!

http://s920.photobucket.com/albums/ad42/bcreamer/Hobie/Storm%20Damage%20Jennings%20Beach%20Fairfield%20CT%20Mar%2014/?action=view&current=IMG00056-20100314-1740.jpg

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Irie, mon....
'82 Hobie 18 SE with '85 Nationals Prism (White) sails
'73 Laser HID# 3463

I dont own a Hobie yet and that made me sick and sad! I have read about this type of damage here...............uggggggggggh

Those were taken the day after the March, 2010 'Noreaster that brought significant tidal surge and 65+ MPH winds to the northeast. Needless to say, people around here are more diligent about securing their boats nowadays.

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Irie, mon....
'82 Hobie 18 SE with '85 Nationals Prism (White) sails
'73 Laser HID# 3463

I was going to ask, of the boats that were damaged on that beach, how many were tied down and how many were not?

sm

I honestly don't know - several for sure. The boats closest to the water were doomed either way. They were either going to get bashed to pieces as some did or washed and cartwheeled away. One old untied 18 ended up on its side largely undamaged 1/2 mile down the beach. I believe he only lost his rudder system. The yellow 18 you see was chained up and he got demasted (among other things). There were several other boats further up the line that got blown over on top of other boats because they weren't anchored down. I was one of the lucky ones. You can see my blue and white 18 on its trailer (white sailbox) next to the blue 18 with the sand heaped up on top of it. I'm guessing we're close to 15 feet above the normal waterline there and the extra foot or two of trailer height kept my hulls out of the surge.

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Irie, mon....
'82 Hobie 18 SE with '85 Nationals Prism (White) sails
'73 Laser HID# 3463

A boat with white hulls helps however the beach is probably the worst place on planet earth to store a Hobie. The thing about blowing over in winds will happen if the boat is not secured
People will use it for a playground Kids jumping on the hull will ruin a hobie
I do not even let people walk on my hulls
Be ready to replace all rigging much more often
I replaced all pins with bolts and nuts with locks I had some Dumb Ass remove a pin and let the mast fall.
The above are the bad things the good stuff is rigging and launching in about 15 minutes into the ocean, been there and it is worth the pain
Former Hobie Admiral Gary

Some people even use the tramps at night on the beach with their Girl Friends for some where to .................. well, you know..........

Going to be my first year with my Hobie on the beach. I was as equally anxious about people/kids messing with it. One of the experienced Hobie pilots here told me about anchoring it to the beach and he suggested that I get an old tire and sink it about 6 ft. down. He said that is a must. It not only prevents your boat from flying down the beach like a dumbass's umbrella but also prevents your boat from damaging all of the other boats from being damaged. I can't imagine a worse way of making a bad first impression then to have your boat fly away and take 3 others with it

You should try to get it at a mast up storage place that on the water but not on the beach.

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http://youtube.com/optikid16030

1983 Hobie 16 Cat fever #55697
2008 Laser Radial/4.7 #190471
S.S.S.
S.Y.S.P