my story is more of turning a worn out nag back into a thoroughbred,
my second Hobie was a brand new 1988. we owned it until 1995 when it became difficult to sail it with our young daughter onboard, so we sold it. fast forward to 2008 when after the wife and I discussed buying a used Hobie, I stumbled across MY old H18 online and bought her back! the fella who had her for 12 of the 13 year absence was not too kind to her. the original EPO rudders had been busted and replaced with the white nylons, the sailmaker-made jib snorkel was gone and the jib showed signs of fading along the leech, all the standing rigging and hardware was original, and there was a soft spot in the port side deck in front of the rear crossbar. heck, I even discovered the trailer was STILL titled in MY name, after 13 years!
I set about replacing the rigging with new, recondtioned the hulls, having the sails gone over by my sailmaker and all the other myriad things we do to our boats to keep them in top form. I named her Arís, which is celtic for 'again' (and sounds better than Deja Vu) she is our pride and joy again... and our now grown daughter has a blast on her with us.
here she is with my wife and nephew from 2 summers ago.