Hi Wouter,



Not to forgive or condone Hobie, but they all lie. I purchased a brand new Beneteau 23.5 foot racer-cruiser monohull that was advertised as 2300 lbs, and actually weighed 3300 lbs. But what's 1000 lbs amongst friends?



I was told by the Hobie dealer that the weight (ca), as shown in your second URL (PDF file) is the "weight capacity", ie, the crew weight. Other borchures have shown 298 lbs as the weight of the boat, which would make my boat 15 lbs heavier than advertised.



All-in-all, it's still 60 lbs lighter than the boat I just sold, and lighter than an I-17 or Hobie 17 and very close to a 5.5Uni with Carbon mast and foils.



Looking at the breakdown, it's obvious (to me) that they need to spend a little more engineering time with that steering system (25 lbs - yikes!). Some immediate "remedies" could be to elimate the solid rudder pins and go to hollow stainless tube (about a .5 lb saved) and make the slave bar carbon tubing (another 1 lb maybe). Numerous lightening holes in the castings would help too. Also a carbon mast would go a long way to improving performance and knock another 15 lbs from the total. Carbon daggerboards should have been standard. (Another 10 lbs). But of course, a little late to do that now.



But I'm very happy with the boat



Steve