Hi All,
Looking to buy a Hobie 20 (1999), boat seems in good
condition (from Web pictures), Any thing about this
model/year that I should be looking out for.

PS I had a Mystere 6.0 XL which was ok, even if it did
poor upwind. How would you compare the H20 to the Mystere ?

Thanks for any advice
Steve

H20 is fine as long as you don't have to race against Nacra 20s.

N20 is fine as long as you don't have to race against f18s.

If it floats it should do fine. Just carefully inspect the tiller nut. Seems those things are always loose which causes untold numbers of screw-ups and general poor performance

Two things that I would check.

- Comptip and how much sun exposure it's had. It's not IF it's going to fail, but WHEN.

- Check hull firmness 4-6" in front of the main beam. There was a problem with the bulkheads on older boats (94-95?) that was fixed, but I've seen a couple of newer H20's have issues in that area.

It's a fun boat to sail and a good step up boat and when sailed well can give an I20 a run for it's money. Check out the 2009 RTI for proof of that.

http://www.fwyc.org/rr2009/rti/rti_final.htm

ETA - check the condition of the rudder cams. My H20 was modified with "cut off" cams that were locked down. It made for a MUCH better rudder system... no worrying that you might have cam problems on the water.

Mike Roher used to race a Hobie 20 in the Great Texas Race with a Tornado chute and quite often kick the crap out of most of the Nacra 20's. I would have to dissagree with your post on that subject.

Kevin Smith does it regularly as well (H20 over N20 that is)

Ummm, yea, I guess you could actually say that about any part on the boat. My 18's mast has had a comptip for over 20 years and it's totally fine. As long as the comptip isn't sun-fried, there's no reason it shouldn't last the life of the boat.

As for H20 specific issues, none really come to mind. There were problems with the hulls cracking on the earlier boats (around 1994), but that was resolved well before '99.

sm

Consider about 1,000 boats were built, all the early "issues" were resolved quickly. An aquaintance has one of the first '92's and had transom problems. Our '94 showed cracking in the area where the transom meets the deck, we kept an eye on it and it never got worse, or leaked. Have never seen, or heard of this on later model 20's.

The bridle tangs can be a source of leakage, again on early models.

We had an issue with our mast tang rivets pulling out (or slowly backing out) of the mast. I heard of this on other 20's.

The head grommet of the jib sail would pull out, if, too much halyard/luff tension was applied. They fixed this with a strapping piece sewn through the grommet. Should be easily identifiable. I think this update was about '98 or '99.

In general, it seems as though HCC responded to all feedback.

The H20 is a fun boat with plenty of power. It can take most any boat on reaching legs and it has plenty of bow to limit pitch poles. I could really drive it hard, have the bows knife underwater, and it still keep driving. A great WILD THING boat. You'll need to learn how to depower it in heavier winds. A cascading down haul system is essential.

I owned a '93 and '00 model before going to the f18. The main thing to look for are cracks along where the hull and deck are put together, especially around the front crossbar. The '93 models were slighted some glass in this area and the majority of those boats would need some repair work. My '00 didn't have this problem.

found a pic of what i think is a hobie21 sitting on a beach with a nacra 5.2

keep in mind that a nacra 5.2 has 20m2 of sail, basically the same upwind area as an f18 and you will see how much bigger the 21 is, 28m2 SA

soloing it wouldn&t be much fun in anything other than a drifter or near a support boat imho

ok fixed it to read hobie 21

That's not a Hobie 20.

It's a Hobie 21 - a much different boat (notice the wings?)

This is a Hobie 20:

Notice the straight crossbars, flat decks, no deck lip and sharp bow knuckle.

That's "Tallahasse Lassie" in an earlier life!

I never broke mine despite 9 years of active use and a bunch of Nationals. And just hole from one collision- Kath. Garelick hit me 20 seconds after a start at a NAs when I was on starboard and she wasn't. And stiffed me for the repair.

Boat was just fine, especially after I learned to epoxy Kevlar fabric strips on the rudder top edges to keep them from splitting. There was a problem with Nacra 6.0s, as the H20 chute was too small.

Wow Thanks (to everyone) for all your advise

Best wishes, and merry X-mas

Cheers
Steve

We reluctantly sold our H20 to buy a Tiger. We loved the boat! We missed it for the first year on our new boat but then got the hang of the Tiger and do not regret being in the Formula 18 fray. A great growing class!

Later,
Dan