I have stumbled on a 1998 Wave in good condition. It has some weathering but the sail and tramp in quite good conditon with little use and stored or protected well. This will be for rec sailing, not racing (yet).

What should I be looking out for in terms of major problems in boat of this vintage? Do first generation Waves have any history of rudder/casting failures or design changes? Any cracking or beam failures? Any upgrades I should perform immediately? Can I use H14, H16, or H20 blades? I have extras of each of those.

There is no trailer but I found a trashed H14 on a good trailer for $450. I'll part out that boat and save the trailer for the Wave. I should break even on that deal.

$500 for the Wave. Quite a deal, no? The only problem is it is on davits and must be sailed away tomorrow, no later. It's only a few miles to a haul-out but even in Florida the weather is c-o-l-d and there's absolutely NO wind. It will be interesting.

Great find Dave.

You should be good to go without any issues that are not obvious. Just clean it up and go sailing.

We have some great races coming up. Check out the Charlotte Harbor Regatta in Feb.

You can use any of the Hobie rudder systems but it should have the right system already.

Can't you just take it apart to remove it?

Sounds like a great deal! You might need to re-seal the ports under the seat pads due to age, but these boats can take a lot of abuse.

If there's no wind, it does paddle easily and you'll stay dry.

Biggest issue so far is cracks in the hull where the rear beam goes into the hull (inside). We had one like that and Hobie replaced the hull.
the other issue would be the skeg. Be sure it is not worn down. Lots of folks drag them around the beach, thereby sanding off the skeg.
Skip Kaub and Patrick Green had one where they were almost gone, and were able to rebuild it.
Rick

Closed the deal...$500. The weather is warming to 70 for just one day...tomorrow, so I'll sail it home tomorrow. Clearwater Sailing Center is a mile or so south but the wind is from due south and beating to weather may not be easy with lousy rudders. My home beach is just 8 miles north so maybe I'll just run home on the 10-15 mph tailwind. On my Nacra it would 45 minutes. Just how slow is the Wave? Will 8 miles downwind take all day? The lower 6 inches of rudder were hanging in the water and are coated with barnacles. I bet that will slow me down a bit, ya think?

Silly question...do Waves have hull plugs?

Problem:
The connector of the tiller arm to the crossbar is only a 2 inch bolt down through the crossbar and threaded into the plastic tip on the tiller arm. It seems to be stripped. Neither side had a nut underneath but I can feel one or two threads exposed on the bottom so maybe I could get a nut to hold it on. What is the correct connection? Makes it a hard day of sailing if the crossbar comes off the tillers. I'll bring some bungy cords a roll of duct tape. Maybe an anchor, as well. And some beer.

There's an upgrade tiller elbow kit available. The Tackle Shack has them for about $80. It was meant to solve the problem of bad tendon connectors that they used for awhile, but it should solve your problem too.

Waves do have hull plugs just below the pintles; they should be standard threads.

Dead-down-wind will be slow on a Wave, but may be better than beating hard with an unknown boat. Keep your weight forward and steer with your feet (or tie the sheet to the tiller to steer) for better speed.

Welcome to the club! Have fun with it!

Recommended tiller connections are the H20 ones, which I carry on this website.., Geez, Tackle Shack indeed. They are not even an advertiser.
Here is the link:
https://store.catsailor.com/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=11839&idcategory=0


If you cannot clean up the rudders, we also have two types: the cheap ones and the very expensive ones
Rick

Sorry Rick! I didn't mean to steer him away from you. I just knew TS was a Hobie dealer in his neighborhood, if he needed them that morning.

By all means, buy them from Rick!