The Hobie i-cat pricing is known !

http://www.proust-sailing.com/polyester-55/4346-hobie-i-cat.html

It is quoted at 17.600 Euro's

When fitted with only a mainsail.

Wouter

Good luck to Hobie Cat.

Almost $25,000 US.... is that RIGHT?

No, but it's correct.

But that quote does include 19% Value Added Tax (VAT) as required in the Euro zone. I think the yanks have more like 0% to 10% VAT depending on which state you are from.

So above US$ 20.000 will still be right.

Note everybody that US$ 19.800 will get you a Falcon F16 sloop mode with spi (2-up) and a carbon mast.

Of course the Stealth F16 (carbon mast) will be LOTS cheaper then the Hobie icat when purchased by EU customers. Hell the i-cat quote will get you a Blade or Falcon F16 in 2-up mode with a carbon mast and a suit of landenberger sails.

Wouter

Stealths are now deliviered with Grant Piggot sails, as developed by Grant and I last year.


Does the I cat rate as an F16?

Whats the point of this thread?

Seems to me you guys are bashing Hobie Cat and promoting certain designs. This does nothing good to grow the sport. Hobie cat can charge as much as they feel for there boats, this is bad PR on behalf of the class.

Robi,

I don't see what's wrong comparing prices and specs of models. Hobie can charge what they want, we can determine they are clearly more expensive.

Simon,

The I cat is not F16 compliant. Mainsail is too big and the hull is too long as Wouter posted in another thread.

I wonder how much boats they will sell.

Gill

Anyone... like Wouter ...have any thoughts on how the iCat would compare to the US aluminum-masted F17? Is it more similar to the F17 than it is to the F16? It looks like a cool boat.

Hobie Europe is pretty secretive about the specs of the iCat. I simply don't know other then it will not be much different from the FX-one. We'll just have to wait for the Hobie to announce the final specs.

Wouter

Gilo, its not what you say, but how you say it.

If it really does weigh 220lbs, my guess is it will be substantially faster than the F17's once they've been dialed in.

If the final variation were to be F16 legal, I will be seriously considering this over the other F16's that I have looked at. I have not been on a Viper yet, but will be on one next week for a few days. I really like the shape of the FXone hull, I like the big beams, I don't like the weight of it.

Pardon my barging into your F16 forum, but I would like to add my opinion under this topic....


I for one would be considering the iCat if it were to be F16 compliant. The price isn't really that unreasonable if it is built to the same style and standard as the FX One was.

The FX was one of the best sailing and well made boats I have owned. The construction and detailed finnish is spot on. As with most Hobie products, I have been extreemly pleased with them.

The issue for me is I will NOT buy another boat that falls into a class that is lightly populated and not likely to grow to a sizeable fleet in the US. (ie the FX One) With the release of the iCat this seems to be a similar fate.

Even though the F16 is not very common in my area it does have a growth potential that is on the horizon.

I am sitting here with the money to purchase another single hand boat, waiting on Hobie to come to a decision and decide if the i Cat will become a F16 or not. If it is just a big secret, well maybe it is time to start leaking some details.

By next summer I will pop for a new Falcon or A-Cat if Hobie can't make the boat I want.

I have puchased two Tigers, an Fx One, some old Hobies and five of the plastic kayaks. So I am by no means an anti Hobie person. Well hell I am the Fleet 95 Commodore in Seattle.

But by not producing a boat that is claerly what I want and need. Well that will lead me down another path.

Mike Hensel
Fleet 95 Commodore
US Sailing Multi Hull Rep Area L

Mike and Karl,

Sometimes I wonder what could happen if people like you Mike would contact a senior Hobie representative and kindly but cleary inform them off the way "things" are when dealing with glass boats.

I imagine you to be a person of some cloud within Hobie circles (considering your background and volunteer roles).

Of course this is none of my business, but maybe "Hobie corp" needs a small nudge into the right direction from the guys (they respect) in the actual market place ? Who is to say that Hobie is not willing to be convinced of a certain implementation when enough potential clients tell them that that is what they actually want ? If there is a time to influence a decision then it surely is now, before the iCat design is cast into stone.

Because the iCat, as it appears to be now, really doesn't have much of a chance in the contempory beach cat scene.

Switching over in specs is really not a major operation. All components can simply be transferred after redoing the hull length, there is just so little difference between the two setups. Recutting the sail to a slightly smaller overall area is childs play. I mean, the FX-one and FX-extreme mast + mainsail were spot on F16 compliant and iCat mast is still F16 compliant as well !

Wouter

Mike: You have nothing to loose by forwarding your message to Hobie. Maybe Matt Bounds will listen to you?

If you've had an opportunity to sail any of the F16s, you can see that the popularity will only increase. It's a great platform.

All the best.

This is the F16 forum. The point is that Hobie has elected to produce a boat that is extremely close but not F16 compliant.

Price has nothing to do with it. Companies will charge what it costs them to produce the boats they build. Material, labor, shop overhead, tooling etc.

Scooby will probably know, but I would beleive a 220 lb 17' boat is not 104 either. They obviously had some identified market in mind with the boat.

As pointed out Hobie ahs a huge vested interest in the F18. That model built upon following some formula and growing it. Why they elected to follow such a different path with the i baffles me. The only reason I can I can think of is that someone in their management feels the F16 concept over laps too closely with their existing F18 lines.

I know of a few people who would flop classes, but I see the 2 classes as more complimetary to eachother than adversary. Then again I do not see or know the French market and they have been pretty suscessful in the past.

Depends on all the factors what the boat rates. You need to have the foll set to work out if it rates 104 or not.

I've no idea what the 104 constraints are on width / length. You could get an A class to rate 104 if you added enough lead, but would it fit the F104 rules, no idea.

Ohh,

To anyone who may take a shot at contacting Hobie about this situation.

The F16 class holds an agreement with Goodall Yacht Sails that allows any F16 builder to use and buy the lightweight aluminium Superwing mast at the extrusion cost price !

In fact, the parties falling under this agreement have even run their own orders of these masts with the consent of Goodall Yacht sails. The superwing mast is basically the F16 equivalent to the Capricorn and Infusion wingmasts. And the attractiveness of this deal is the main reason why all aluminium F16 masts are this superwing section (we are almost OD in that respect)

Hobie can indeed make use of the same agreement if they produce a F16. That could easily chop off 2500 Euro's of the retail price by going aluminium. No need for sail development either as they can pick whatever sail design they want from Ullman, Grant Piggot, Glaser, Landenberger or Goodall himself and be very competitive in open class racing.

Informing a senior Hobie representative of this class deal may be valuable to both us and them.

Wouter

The 104 "class" doesn't have a class association, so far it's one guy making a lot of noise on his blog and on the french cat mailing list. The FFV (French sailing federation) refused to recognize the class due to the absence of an association representative of the owners.

In some races the race officers have been nice enough to extract a 104 results out of the handicap results, pompously presented as 'official' results on the aforementioned blog.

At one point he tried to start a set of rules, but this was rapidly removed as it prevented a lot of boat to qualify (restriction on length, width, weight, materials for hulls and spars, material for appendages...).

So the definition of the class 104 is that there is no class 104. There is just a bunch of people sailing cats with a SCHRS between 1.045 and 1.035 deciding to measure each other in real time. That's it. So you can take a A class, replace the daggerboard tips with enough lead to make it rate 1.035, put a 25kgs jockey on it and go win all 104 challenges...

I'm afraid that suggestions would fall on deaf ears. Worth a shot I guess though.