About your Hobie 18’

Hobie Alter

There are ways of going faster on a catamaran, while still staying within the eight foot beam, trailerable size range. Basically, you put a taller mast on, use daggerboards, and go to a half round hull shape.

The Hobie 18 is the end result of our efforts - mine, Phil Edwards' (my longtime friend and co-designer of the 18), and those of all the guys on our research and development team.

First thing, on the 18 you've got daggerboards .

. . the price you pay having symmetrical hulls. And while they do keep you a little busier - having to raise them up or down at times - I have found that our boards, with their raked back leading edge, and the fact that they fit their trunks well, are really quite easy to use. One quick tug and they spring up or down, or lock part way, almost automatically. Under heavy kelp conditions the boards can be pulled up part way, leaving a very raked back leading edge which will help dispense of kelp and sometimes even knock it down and keep it from hanging up on the rudders.

I find the 18 rudder assembly and locking mechanism to be much easier to use than the 16's, which is darn good. Locking the rudders down on the 18 is a more "natural" movement, which in itself is an improvement over the 16.

The Hobie 18 has a built in mainsheet traveler car which can be used either as a roller bearing type traveler or a slider, as we furnish both rollers and slugs. I have found the best combination is one roller and one slug. This allows the traveler to move reasonably free but still provides enough friction so that when you're pumping or sheeting your main, the traveler car does not want to keep coming at you all the time. Also, the fact that it is built internally into the rear crossbar makes for a clean and neat installation.

One of the really neat features on the 18 is the roller furling jib. When you're sitting out there luffing, waiting to start a race or just taking it easy, or even if you just want to single-hand sail, all it takes is one simple pull of the string and in about two seconds your jib is neatly put away. And, of course, it is the ultimate detuner for heavy air when you want to get some sail area off the boat fast. Whereas most roller furling jibs are attached permanently to the forestay, on the Hobie 18 we put a zipper luff with an internal halyard inside the zipper so you may take the jib off the boat at any time. That same halyard also serves as your luff tension, which is another reasonably critical tuning device.

The Hobie 18 is an extremely "tuneable" boat. You've got all the adjustments - fore and aft, in and out - luff tension on your jib, and, with the diamond spreaders on the mast, you are also able to control your

mast bend both ways. Also, the 18 has a controllable mast rotation device and an internal roller outhaul. Being as this boat does have a few more strings and lines on it than a 16, we designed and specially tooled a boom that carries internally your outhaul and mast rotation control, to try to keep the lines tucked inside as neatly as possible.

All of the fittings on the boom are moveable; with the loosening of a screw you may slide any of the leads fore or aft as you find convenient. This really made it simple on us designwise because we didn't have to figure out exactly where everything should go, and you, in turn, aren't stuck with our decision and can move them around until they are comfortable to you.

Being able to control the mast rotation, tension the diamond wires, and even rake the spreader on the diamond wires (this may be moved fore and aft to pump the mast either forward or back slightly) leaves a tremendous amount of room for tuning the sails on the 18 and getting the maximum performance out of them. To keep the mast clean and allow for an efficient air flow, we ran an internal main halyard (the jib halyard is already internal inside of the jib luff).

Another set of features on the 18 which I like are the inspection plates in each hull. You can look in there and see what's happening, and the holes are big enough so you can stuff things away in the hull. . .

lunch, beer, jackets, whatever. Also, there is a good- sized pocket on the trampoline that halyard ropes and assorted odds 'n ends may be stuffed into so you don't have a lot of loose line laying around on your boat.

It is important to remember that the "fastest" boat isn't necessarily the "best" boat for everyone. What is the best boat - whether it be an 18, a 16, a 14, or some other type of boat altogether, is the one that best suits an individual's particular wants and needs. A boat that is the most useful to you personally, one that you will get the most enjoyment out of, is the best boat in the world!