Adding to what others have said - I would not fixate too heavily on the middle telltails. On a sloop rig, the telltails in the body of the main tend ...

The point about the tiller arms is a good one. On the original rudder system with, aluminum castings, the tiller arms are handed and need to point in...

I prefer to use plastic hooks. Easy to disconnect the wire from the bungee for trailering or if things get tangled. br /> sm

Definitely not something that would have come from the Hobie factory that way. Did they add a second tang to the mast and a second anchor point to ...

Just a couple comments. For starters I have not sailed an RS Cat, but do have experience on the Wave. The comment that the RS cat has more sail ar...

At 500Lbs+ I would not suggest a Hobie 16 as it will be quite overloaded - they’re good up to around 350Lbs before becoming mostly submerged. Four ad...

Some basic information would be helpful, such as: Number and size of people you plan to sail with? Preference of fiberglass vs. roromolded hull const...

Not sure if the problem has been resolved, but I just noticed that the couple of posts that I had inadvertently made as a “Guest” now seem to be delet...

If you’re on a budget, get a polisher from Harbor Freight. sm

Storing the boat like this could be hard on the bottom hull if it isn’t well supported. You would definitely want to put padding under the lower hull...

ctcataman wrote: I think dinghies do better?? Comparing the pointing angle of a dinghy vs. beach cat is apples and oranges. Yea, they’re going to ...

I ended up replacing a coated bridle wire and a trap wire this year that were rusted, with broken strands, in the middle of the wire under the coating...

jonathan162 wrote: ….and who cares about friction loss because the rope's not constantly moving through the blocks. The friction would be present any...

It’s a lever vang. Mechanical advantage is gained through the aluminum arm, rather than a series of pulleys, so it’s more efficient than a traditiona...

Didn’t pick up on the Clam Cleat. Yes, that would be a more streamlined option and probably less likely to fail than a cam cleat, since there are no ...

You could potentially do that if you could come up with a decent and secure way of attaching the cam cleat to the front of the mast. The screw holes ...

jalex wrote: Defiantly a crack, if I push down it hard enough it will start to separate and show glass shards. There is a 2 inch vertical crack almos...

First question - are you sure the fiberglass is cracked? The outer surface of the comptip is a layer of resin that can develop cosmetic cracks that a...

Not sure what the advantage of running a very loose rig would be. It’s not a bad idea to loosen the rig a little bit so that the mast can rotate free...

Wire sizes are provided in the link below. It’s not clear if you are talking about a 17 SE (no jib) or 17 Sport (jib). On the Sport, the bridle ...

Would need a little better description about the extent of the damage to say for sure, but if by “broke” you mean the comptip snapped off, then it’s d...

Our boats occasionally get brown “tea stains” from sailing in bay water. I find that one or two coats of wax generally prevents any staining. Then w...

The ball should not be rotating on the dolphin striker post. It’s hard to tell for sure, but the ball in the picture you shared looks beat up, it m...

Angle iron and 2x4’s. Make some simple L brackets from the angle iron and use them to bolt the 2x4’s to the trailer frame. Thru bolt with 1/4” or 5/...

The advantage is (greatly) improved upwind ability. Daggerboards and centerboards are a lot more efficient at providing lateral resistance for upwind...

Maybe a bad batch of plastic for the handles. I (as well as countless other Hobie sailors) have used those handles for decades. I would try to r...

What kind of boat? One concern would be that you will lose the side roller guides, which means that if the tie-downs loosen up, the boat could potent...

Have used the J&H handles on various Hobies for decades. I only had one fail the way you described on a beach boat that was roughly 20 years old and ...

They were bought out earlier this year, and from what I heard, the new owners wanted to focus on kayaks, etc. and wanted nothing to do with the beach ...

If the rudder head is foam core, then you could probably drill the holes and then carve out some of the foam and then epoxy the bushing in place. Tha...