Hi folks. I'm 100% new here, though I've been lurking / reading here for a bit.
I'm looking @ buying a Hobie 16, but I don't want to spend a bunch of time restoring one-- I don't mind buying one that isn't perfect, and I don't mind some minor repairs, but I prefer to get one that is in decently sailable condition right off.
I found one that was "lovingly restored" but the guy that owned it hadn't done the resto work, hadn't ever sailed it, and it was more beat up than I felt the price he was asking for it merited. I decided to pass on that one.
Someone else was advertising one for $500 and I figured I'd take a look at it; it was pretty rough hull wise and in my opinion only good for parts. It had a poorly repaird 6" x 6" hole in the starboard pontoon, some very soft spots in front of the tramp frame on both sides, and some pretty significant cracks in the gel coat. More work than I wanted to do to fix it though I knew about the crappy patch coming in, I didn't know about the softness on the tops.
However, the guy selling that actually had a bunch of hobies and one caught my fancy. It was an 86 vintage boat with good hulls. There was some slight softening in front of the tramp frame, but not nearly as bad as the other, and the hole in the fiberglass where the port rudder post mounts also had a crack in it. Otherwise, the hulls were pretty good. (Though they did have some weird blade like things on the tips of each hull. Honestly, the things looked kinda dangerous...) The tramp was pretty dirty and the lace rope (not sure what it's called) was pretty greasy, but the mast was in pretty good condition and it looked like most of the hardware was there and functional. I looked @ the boom and it was in decent shape too.
I looked at the sails and they looked OK but I didn't get a chance to spread them out well--- he didn't have a big enough clean area. Before I bought it, I'd check them out better.
He would sell me that 16 with a trailer (no lights) and sails set for $1000. The trailer was in good condition, but not great--- it'd need to be cleaned up and repainted in the near future. He claimed the boat had all the hardware with it, but I'm not familiar enough to be absolutely certain it would.
He did say that if there was a significant piece of hardware missing, he'd find it / strip it from one of his other cats and seemed to think it was good to go. I told him I'd think about it and get back to him tomorrow.
So, my questions to y'all are as follows:
Given the limited quality of the description I gave, does it sound like an OK price? Should I try and talk him out of it a bit. I don't think the boat's been in the water in quite a few years.
Is there anything I should check specifically that I'm missing? Any common mistakes that first time buyers make that I may not catch?
I think it's an OK deal (not a great one, but a fair one for both parties) but I'd prefer some reassurance -- I don't want to invest in something that I have to put 80 hours of work into before I can enjoy it.
Thanks and hi y'all. =)
-S
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