Hobie Cat Forums

I bought my outback in the early spring and always kept it in the garage. Its been outside on saw horses since May as my garage was out of commission. I am disappointed that about half of the bolts in the boat are rusted, from the rudder to the bolts that hold plugs in the rod holder. For $2000.00 stainless bolts could have been used. Pretty lame quality on such a great design. Bummer for sure

All of the Hobie hardware is stainless. You may find discoloration on stainless parts because dust carrys metalic particals and will rust on the surface. We don't make rod holders, so those may have been something supplied by a dealer?

Remember that stainless is just that... stains - less. Not stain free unless it is carbon free, which is required for stiffness, pure stainless is soft.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Um, the outback has 4 rod holders. Each has a rubber plug held on by a rusting, I'm sorry "dusty" bolt.

The biased tone of your response is inappropriate. The bolts are rusting. I know what stainless is. Perhaps Hobie should examine the "quality" of their bolts. Because the stuff on my kayak is garbage and I'll be replacing them soon. As for you guys... your condescending tone sealed it for me. Made in America is cool. But it should also mean: Made better in America.

Sorry, I certainly mean no bias or to be condescending at all. I was providing factual information and asking a question.

Of course we have molded-in rod holders... They have small screws to hold the caps in place, not what we call bolts. That is what confused me to think they were bolted on rod holders.

Our intent is to have quality materials. Your observation is not one I hear, but we have many suppliers and quality can slip, so work with your dealer for a resolution. We would want to see anything unusual like this.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

G'day from "down-under" pwf.

I am sorry to hear about your complaint with the bolts on your kayak. From personal experience you should find that every single metal fastening on your kayak is marine-grade stainless. I have been using these kayaks for 7 years exclusively in the sea and have had at least 5 boats during that time and on none of them (not one) have I ever experienced a problem with rusting fastenings nor have I ever heard this complaint being raised by anyone else (and trust me I frequently do not wash them off after use & they often sit for weeks in that state so there woud be plenty of opportunity for a non-marine grade component to corrode to dust.)

Of course your boat may be an exception - some sub standard parts may have slipped through, for example, though this does seem unlikely to me, but you never can tell and of course I (we) can't see the evidence first hand to help ascertain exactly what is happening.

Either way, in my experience (and that of many, many other owners) you will find that Hobie's after sales support (both direct and through their dealer network) and their commitment to customer satisfaction is above exemplary. Matt Miller is your man for this on these forums and if you can find a way to work with him/them to find out what the problem is I am sure you will find him/them most helpful and more than willing to stand behind their product if that proves to be the source of the issue with your boat.

I'll try to get some close up shots with the wife's camera and post them up. It is odd to me that there would be rust. I've had power boats in the past so I know what to expect from marine grade hardware. Do you guys think sending in the serial number from my outback along with pictures could help with quality control? I'm sure date of manufacture is in there somewhere. It may be a week or two before I get the pictures. We have a good tropical storm in the Atlantic so between work and surf I'm not going to be too concerned about rusted bolts, or screws. What's the difference between those two??

You mention your garage being out of commission. By chance did this involve concrete mixing as part of a construction project? I had some serious rusting in a very short time on some nearby stainless when I had portland cement dust settle on it and did not promptly wash it off.

Keith

That is a very interesting observation... Cement has Lye in it.

In my experience I'd say, Bolts usually are a larger diameter and use a nut to fasten. Screws are typically smaller, thread directly into a material or may use a backing nut.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

G'day, Matt,

Anyone experience rusting on the bolt that holds the sail mounting bracket inside the hull?

I saw this when inspecting thought the forward hatch on my AI the other day.

Some questions:

1. What is the part number for this bolt?

2. how do you remove the bolt,... i.e. how is it attached to the hull?

3. is this covered by Hobie's warranty?

4. Is there some preventative application necessary to stop this in future?


Thanks,

Jim (Perth, Western Australia)

As noted... likely carbon bits stuck in the stainless is all. Will most likely be discoloration and bleed rust a bit, but the screw will not rust away.

The screw is an Allan head stud threaded into brass.

88991215 SET SCREW, TI MAST V BRACE 1/4-20 THRD RLD, 17-4 SS
8050111 NUT 1/4-20 HX NYLOCK

You can coat with a number of different products to clean and prevent rust stains. We have a product called Magica that is... magic. Dissolves the rust stain and... gone!

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Okay, thanks for the feedback, Matt... Will have to look into this product.

Question: would you recommend removal of hardware and cleaning,... Or simply use product on area affected? Would simply spraying with Inox or similar without disassembly be pay seeing that it is likely only surface discolouration and bleed rust?

By the way,... What actually is bleed rust?

Jim

I think a simple external application to clean off the rust stain.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Thank will have a go.

Jim