I am getting ready to put new sails on my H16 1977. The boat is a total refit/restoration and needs to be beautiful. Being race legal is not a concern for me, nor is re-sale value of the boat/sails. However, I am looking to find great sails at a good price. As a newbie, I am somewhat intimidated by this purchase and have a few questions:(1) Where is a good place to order from? (2) What will the sails NOT come with (within reason) that will be needed to use them...ie, are the clew plates included? (3) Should I get new battens with new caps and pocket protectors as well, or are the old ones fine? (4) Should I just buy from Hobie to get the best sails or is that really not necessary if I know I will never race?

Anything else I haven`t considered? ...I could use the help.

Thanks

I've had a '81 hobie for 4 years and last year noticed some pretty rough spots on the boat, so last spring me and the wife decided to repaint the hulls and get new(er) sails. The hulls got painted white, a big improvement over the funky gold/orange they used to be, and any sail color would match if we could find a good set of used sails. I looked for a couple months and found a few reasonable deals on some sails, some aftermarket, some with older color schemes ($600-900 cdn). But the new Hobie sails were a heavier cloth, and I need a stronger sail here in Manitoba, and the colors were appealing, so we went that way. When we put them on the boat I could see what I was missing - what a performance increase! Easier to control the boat, the balance changed a bit, but trimming the sails seemed so much more intuitive now. I don't race, just cruise and thrill ride.

They were almost as expensive as the whole boat, almost $1700 cdn. for the playa del sol colors. They came with clew plates, but be had to use our old battens, and just ordered a few new caps for them. The outhaul is a little short for where it attaches on the boom, and the jib cut is taller/slimmer. I wish I could have gotten away with spending less, but selling the old sails helped, and these new Hobie ones look very nice, very satisfying. I thought about new North sails, but I saw a set used for sale, and they just didn't look as nice (fabric weight?) and the price was not much less. If you're in for $1000cdn anyway, maybe even just get a main one year and a jib the next. I see they changed the main color option for 2005. Don't special order colors, though, the prices are crazy.

Jason
H16

Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately for me, I really have my heart set on a simple (but custom) colour scheme. Does Hobie do custom colours? Is that the place you were refering to regarding "crazy prices"?
I was also looking at "Production Sails" out of Ft Lauderdale but I have no idea if that is a good idea. I am hoping for some more opinions on this. I am sure this is something all sailors go through, but for us guys from "the great white north" its really tough to know what to do.

Thanks

Dave

Look for used. As a newbie, I think you need to concern yourself with learning to sail the boat first. If you already have sails: use them. If not, look around for a used set of Hobie sails. Cat Sailor, the Beachcats, Small Craft Advisories, Tackle Shack, etc. are places to look. They are not always easy to find (or necessarily inexpensive) but if you were to pitch pole and tear up a brand new set of sails, I think you would be very upset. Sail an old set for a year and then look at new.

Having said that, I'll try to answer your questions. Replacement sails are just the sails. Battens are additional, although the sailmaker can/will supply them. Hobie makes a very nice sail and I would evaluate price/quality of custom sails vs. the stock product. The 5.6 oz. Dacron provides good durability and, I suspect, performance as well. Hobie does offer custom sail colors. The H16 jib has been redesigned recently. I'm not sure how this will effect use of the Seaway jib cleat/car vs. a low profile system. I don't think it could hurt but perhaps Matt Miller or another expert could chime in.

With custom sails you can go local or mail order. Local lofts can often give you better pricing. May or may not be true in Canada these days. Make sure the loft has experience with catamaran sails and using an existing set is best for getting dimension measurements, etc. For mail order, Whirlwind, Sabre and Calvert are all experienced catamaran sailmakers (I probably forgot a few too).

The Hobie battens seem to have an unlimited lifespan as long as they do not start to splinter. I would not hesitate to reuse them. However, if you have any of the crappy white plastic batten caps, get rid of them. Get a complete set of the black Delrin caps (leach and luff).

yeah, the Hobie custom jobs are pricey, about 40% more than stock color. one option we had thought to customize was get white sails and decal them - paw prints, some color graphics, even photo images can be made on sign vinyl. again, the price when i was hunting seemed worth going with bright new dacron vs the dull, older used sails, and those '80s colors!

if you really want custom colors, hobie may not be able to make what you want. goto their web site and see the color selection.

Thanks guys, You`ve been a big help and really answered my questions.

Dave

P.S. I do have those crappy white batten caps and will replace them!