Hobie 18 or 18 sx magnum?

kayakman7 wrote: Hi,
I'm relatively new to beach cats, just rented a couple. I'm looking at some 18's on craigslist. I want something fairly fast and with the potential to really push in the future as I get better. I'm looking at $1200 for an 18 in good condition or $3000 for an 18sx with wings, both have trailers. Is the sx worth the extra dough?
Any thoughts appreciated. I'm a fairly aggressive sailor and have done the everglades challenge in a small tri, now I want a little more go...
Thanks
J

Welcome to TheBeachcats.com J,

A little more info about the two candidates would help. Do you know the model years? There are numbers/letters etched into the sterns called HIN (hull identificationnumber) that tells the year of manufacture. Makes a big difference in value with Hobie 18's.

Are both boats in complete, ready to sail, condition?

Do the trailers have trailer boxes? nice ones are expensive.

How are the sails?

Lastly, do you know if the one with wings is really a Hobie 18SX or is it a regualr Hobie 18 with wings added? The difference is that the actual 18SX model had a taller mast and vertical cut mylar sails from the factory.

$1,200 is very cheap for a complete ready to sail Hobie 18. $3,000 would be very cheap for a real 18SX since they didn't start making those until 1988, if the boat is newer than 1989 it's a rare and desirable find.

The wings on the SX boat are likely worth that price difference if you tried to buy the wings used somewhere. The condition of the boats is key as Damon mentioned. Both sound fairly cheap for the type of boat.

DamonLinkous wrote:
if the boat is newer than 1989 it's a rare and desirable find.

Hey Damon, why is that? (Trying to educate myself.)

😉

If you're interested in performance, you'll appreciate the SX over the std 18. As stated, condition is the real deciding factor in determining value.

Dave

rondog wrote: [quote=DamonLinkous]
if the boat is newer than 1989 it's a rare and desirable find.

Hey Damon, why is that? (Trying to educate myself.)

😉

By the 1989 model year all the various improvements that were added over the years were included and the fiberglass layup is strong and minimum weight. They are rare because unfortunately Hobie sold very few Hobie 18's in the 90's compared to the 80's and those boats tended to be used more gently and raced less.

That helps on my quest as well.

Thank you!