It seams to me that these two boats are built with two completely different audiences in mind, so its really gonna end up being your preference. This might seem unhelpfull, but there is a little war going on the a current thread on nacra5.2 versu hobie16, and I'm trying to prevent that here. I think you have the main differences down. I can see that forward tramp commi ng in handy for refreshments, and bikini girls in the sun! ;-)