which is the best built F 18'

Looking to haul a F 18' class boat way down to mexico for use on the pacific coast.
in the 18' class, which boat is built better and stays tighter longer ?
would trade off a better built boat for a little performance.
thanks

A used Hobie Tiger might be a good boat for your purposes. I can't speak to "better built" but I've not heard of any problems with them and there should be plenty of used ones around in your $8,000 budget. And why pay for a racing boat if you are not going to race it?

All the new F18's are built to a class minimum weight so their hull layups are going to be about the same, and they are all great boats, but way out the top of your budget.

about a 2000 hobie tiger! How many do you want?

I'm building one in my garage and it's the best one. Construction is 5 non-marine grade plywood bulkheads wrapped in thin sheets of aluminum. The seams are riveted and taped with duct tape because ACE hardware doesn't carry aircraft aluminum tape (bastards). But that’s OK because duct tape has stronger tensile strength than carbon/Kevlar sandwich. There’s been studies done.

I took a hack saw to the flag pole outside of city hall which will become the mast and beams. Teardrop wing shapes are old technology and carbon breaks. In order to control costs while using advanced materials, all standing rigging is comprised of braided twine for added strength and durability.

There's no need to sacrifice performance for strength. My boat is definitely the BEST F18 ever made. I'll sell it to you for $50,000.00 USD.

Both the platform and the rig of the Hobie Tiger are very robust for an F18.
If I where you I would look at a 2003 or newer model since they have the higher
fitted tramp and squaretop and have the added subdeck for stiffnes.

I can only assume "WildMan" is your technical consultant if you are using duck tape. Good luck with your project. I suggest you don't quit your day job until you sell a few of these duck-cats

This is exactly what we were looking for! Send us two units. Just ran out of change, so sent a $995,995.00 check as payment. You will send the difference back in cash. Since you now owe us more than we owe you, your advanced payment is required.

Thanks!

PS: send extra duck tape. There's no ACE hardware here and the ducks are not recording anything lately.

Thats the funniest thing i ever heard you say Luiz!

I guess that's a touchy subject

Thanks! You certainly mean "on purpose", right? Because I ducked up many carefully written sentences in the past.

It sure is in boating. Check racing results and more often than not, you won't see the manufacturers listed. They'll tell you it's the driver/sailor that matters. True, but I still want to know what boats the winners were using. It will influence my choice of boat. Other than that, I'll have to go on looks.

You have to be really careful with that approach. Sometimes the winners are on the boat that they're paid to sail. You might not know what boat they would choose, absent sponsorship and rider programs. I'm not saying results have no value, but you should understand what they're telling you.

Don’t anyone want to brag about how well theirs is built ? and slag off the other guy ?

In my opinion all the players are pretty close as far as durablity goes. If you're going to go used you need to me more conerned about the current and previous owners and how they maintained the boat. How a boat is maintained can vary dramatically and at the end of the day you get what you pay for.

Google is a wonderful thing, you really need to do your own homework. Anything you get on a forum regarding this subject is going to be bias, we all have our favorites.

Nah Na Na Na Na Na Nah ... I wanna start a fight !


I've always felt that if you can't promote the merits of your own choice without "slagging" the other guy, you aren't that sure of your own choice.
I also liked the answer that Mr. Ingram put forward.