Why are Beach Cats so hard to find?

One reason they can be hard to find is probably that the ones that are rotting away people don't think they are worth enough to sell so they don't bother, or they keep thinking they will get out there soon.

It is July and at the beach I store my boat in Wilmette, IL there are still a lot of boats without their mast up or trampoline on. Meaning the owner has not been down yet this year to setup. I bet we still have 15+% not setup after this weekend which is a busy weekend. And these owners are paying storage fees.

My POV: They are hard to find because there are not many on the market to begin with. In cold climates the selling / buying season is March to May and the transactions, especially with good boats happen very quickly. When I was shopping four years ago out here in Chicagoland I was missing deals by 15 minutes. I finally put a want add in the beach cats and got my Nacra. I had to drive up to Madison WI but it was worth it.

Then a few weeks went by and I had offers from sellers for two very clean H16s.

I Agree Scott. We have rotting boats on our beach also. Sad because some of them were good boats four years ago. The park district has made noises about cracking down however. Especially since we've lost beach due to the lake level rising. We need sand spots for active sailors.

So I'd list to the classified on this site and wait for the calls/e-mails. Don't forget to add your zip code.

There are 87 listed on this site for sale. Some of those might have sold and not been listed as sold. I used this http://www.searchtempest.com/ and the Virginia Beach zip code 23451. Use the sub-category of boats , and has these words, cat. Several Hobie 16s close by. Give it a try.

im in NC and thinking about getting rid of my hobie 16 email me if your interested: gcwilson777 at gmail dot com

craigslist.com thats where i got my hobie 16

.org*

I live in Va Beach too and have picked up four boats of the kind you have described (three for virtually nothing). All were neglected and sitting on trailers, or in pieces, in people's back yards. A friend who lives in a condo on the Bay noticed a bridle wire in the sand after a storm and starting digging. He unearthed an entire H16 which has been refitted and put back in the water. (not sure what salvage rights occur on shore) I recently mentioned to my doctor that I was into beachcat sailing where he replied that he had an H14 and an H16 he hadn't used in years. Basically you just need to talk it up and ask around. Knock on some doors where you see boats buried in the sand. This sport was BIG here in the '70s and '80's. There are literally buried treasures all over. Also, join Fleet 32 and get the insider's jump on any boats coming to market.

edited by: sunvista, Jul 08, 2009 - 01:47 PM

Thanks, I tried that for awhile but just didn't hit the right person. Since we wanted to start sailing asap we picked an H16 up but will keep looking for more.

I remember in the late 70s when we had stand in line to get one of seven cat permits allowed per block at the northend

Wow...what a timesaver. Thanks!

There are 87 listed on this site for sale. Some of those might have sold and not been listed as sold. I used this http://www.searchtempest.com/ and the Virginia Beach zip code 23451. Use the sub-category of boats , and has these words, cat. Several Hobie 16s close by. Give it a try.

If you cant find one for sale, then your not looking hard enough. Sorry to be so blunt. You may have to open your search range or distance a bit. There are about a dozen on eBay, and quite a few listed on this forum, and catsailors.com (sorry).

I live in the Tampa Bay area, and on Craigs List (where I found mine) there are 4, but if I drive less than a 100 miles to either Sarasota/Ft Meyers or over to Orlando, there are almost 20 listed. If I go all the way to Miami, then there are probably 40 listed.

The last H16 I got was just sitting in the neighbors back yard, and had been for over a year. I got it from him for a song, just cause I talked to him. The best thing you can do is talk to people. Most cat sailors are very friendly, and someone may know of one for sale.

Between my house and the beach, there are 4 cats that I know havent been moved in three+ years. If I were looking for another, I would just go their doorbell.

I see them way more frequently this year than last. I think with the current economy if anything there are more cats for sale.

even way out here overseas i got my nacra by asking after a rough looking h16 at a sailing club

owner didn't want to sell it, or sail it it seems, so i ended up with a sailing dingy but the sailing club owner remembered me and a year later when i went round to buy some sail repair cloth he told me that his nacra was for sale if i still wanted to buy a cat

bought the cat and have just sold the dingy for what i paid for it. could do the same with the cat tomorrow

ask around

Sorry to be so blunt, to inform you that there is only 4 boats listed in South Florida( Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties)not 40 on craigslist as you think and 3 of them are junk, these 3 counties have a population of approx 3 million +. I look twice a day every day as I need to find 7 boats for a client in Argentina. This is by far the year that I found the most difficult to find beach cats.

H16-71388 wrote: If you cant find one for sale, then your not looking hard enough. Sorry to be so blunt. You may have to open your search range or distance a bit. There are about a dozen on eBay, and quite a few listed on this forum, and catsailors.com (sorry).

I live in the Tampa Bay area, and on Craigs List (where I found mine) there are 4, but if I drive less than a 100 miles to either Sarasota/Ft Meyers or over to Orlando, there are almost 20 listed. If I go all the way to Miami, then there are probably 40 listed.

The last H16 I got was just sitting in the neighbors back yard, and had been for over a year. I got it from him for a song, just cause I talked to him. The best thing you can do is talk to people. Most cat sailors are very friendly, and someone may know of one for sale.

Between my house and the beach, there are 4 cats that I know havent been moved in three+ years. If I were looking for another, I would just go their doorbell.

You need to be real when you say there are 87 listed. Look at the distance from you that most are located. The 2 closest to me are over 1000 miles round trip. 500 miles each way the rest are 800-1000 miles away 1600-2000 miles round trip. 87 in the entire country on this site, just slightly more than 1 1/2 per state, and if you have a price range of $2500 or less the numbers go way down.

Jaydubau wrote: Wow...what a timesaver. Thanks!

There are 87 listed on this site for sale. Some of those might have sold and not been listed as sold. I used this http://www.searchtempest.com/ and the Virginia Beach zip code 23451. Use the sub-category of boats , and has these words, cat. Several Hobie 16s close by. Give it a try.

I live in Chicago and was looking at 18-20 footers, the boat that was the closest was 2 hours away, the farthest 6. I bought the farthest, go figure.
If I wanted a Hobie 16 (and perhaps a Getaway), I wouldn't have to drive more than an hour to find a few.

Your right there are 10 Hobies available on Craigs List in Tampa, 4 Hobies available in Sarasota, 4 in Orlando, 1 listed in S.Fl, and 3 in Daytona. Sorry 22, not 40., but the point was that there are ones out there. They may not be in the best shape.

Your best bet is still asking the local cat sailors if they know of any around.

You should also try to just stop in, find the owner of some of these boats that you may see sitting around that never gets used and ask if they are willing to sell. I did that and it worked. I only needed it for parts.. but i got another trailer, cat box, 2 jibs, a main, harness, and a whole lot of extra parts to sell for 500 bucks. Sometimes it doesnt hurt to just ask.

I understand your dilemma, I went down to Hilton Head Island in December, I decided not to trailer my H16 down thinking I could rent one down there, no joy, the place was shut down for "the season". With temps in the mid 70's and us coming out of the mid-west with snow and temps in the 30's I just could not understand their mindset, go figure. Anyway there were several Hobies laying on the beach near our resort and I thought it would be a simple task to find the owner(s) and ask if they wanted to rent their cats out. I spent almost the entire day knocking on doors, from the 1st tier of houses on the beach back to the 4th tier. Nobody knew anything about those Hobies, I did not give up, over the course of several days I tried everything to locate the owners, nothing. I ended up renting a surfboard for the week and even that was a waste as the waves on HHI did not get bigger than 1' in height.

So, to those guys who live and sail on HHI, I sympathise with you in your solitude, I personally will never go there again unless I have my own cat. Those people who live on the coast need to adjust their attitude toward "colder temperatures", and remember that to the visitor from colder climates, temps in the 60's and 70's are mild.

edited by: turbohobo, Jul 12, 2009 - 06:03 PM