a family vacation is but weeks away. i plan on sailing lake amistad on the texas/mexico border. my question/s is what experience has anybody had with carrying gear for a week worth of camping. i looked at the specs for a hobie16 and it says 800lbs capacity. crew weight is 450 (4 people) and 200 lbs of gear max. i want to keep the tramp open as possible. i know this will make for some slow sailing but hey ive got a week to get where i want to go. i have made a rack that goes from the dolphin striker to the bow/forestay attatchment point. the rack is off the water and ive got two coolers at the mast. the dry bags are in front of the coolers and go up to the forestay/bridle junction. the jib clears all of this. i tried sailing with this rig today in very heavy air and it seemed ok. seemed to want to stuff the front end a little more but most of that was due to the very big wave action. anybody got any tips on what to take or not take? as far as camp stuff goes, im packing like we are backpacking. very minimalist. thanks for the replies.

hey i like the rack idea. can you describe it in more detail? the only camp cruising i have done were overnighters so we just put dry bags in the middle of the tramp. once we towed a kayak with stuff in it, that worked great until the weather started kicking. maybe one day i will get trapseats. let us know how your forward rack system works, storage is a big issue for hobie campers.

the rack i made is made of schedule40 3" pvc. when i first envisioned it. it was made to go across the pontoons at the base of the mast. we lashed a cooler on the rack above each pontoon. then we lashed the drybags to the rack in the middle. when we hit the water, it was apparent that this was not going to work very well. the water spray and wave action was hitting the coolers broadside and slowing the boat down considerably. so i took what i had made and mounted it in the middle of the bows instead of across the bows. imagine an extension ladder but built out of pvc. lay one end against the dolphin striker and the other end should go past the forestay by a foot or so. i hung the forestay end off of a shackle with a motorcycle tie down. then i tied the back off by tieing each side of the ladder to its respective pylon. to keep the front from "rolling", i hooked long bungees from each side of the ladder to their respective bow eye. with the motorcycle tie down i can adjust the height of the rack. i placed the coolers on the rack closest to the mast. the first cooler touches the front crossbar. i used a motorcycle tie down thru the handles and under the ladder to the other cooler handle. this way you can access the cooloer without much trouble. i did two 54 qt coolers this way. i put them across the ladder not longways. in front of the coolers is where i put the dry bags. i used more motorcycle tiedowns to hold them to the ladder. to finish it off i used a section of orange construction fence to make a cargo net. i bungeed it around the drybags for extra measure. we put it in the water on a very rough and windy day. (see above post). it stayed out of the water and didnt seem to affect the boat. it was way superior to the initial design. we even crash tested it 360 degrees. if i would of put simple bungees across the lids of the coolers, i wouldnt of lost a thing. i can sketch the "rack" i made and email it to you. as far as the trapseat goes i have another device that i built and tested on this same trip. its much simpler than a trapseat. its more of an adjustable backrest that starts just short of the shroud wire and goes to the back pylon. if interested in that pm me. i already have a sketch of it.

Sounds like fun. Do you have a water purification pump? Those come in real handy for drinking water. Sounds like you might be a backpacker so dehydrated foods would keep the weight down. A backpacking stove to cook on. Sleeping on the tramp? You might want an ensolite pad or something for insulation under you. Hope you can re-suply on ice to keep the beer cold! Have fun...

Chuck

I just store my stuff on the Trapseats and its like the stuff is not even there. I like the rack idea.

Hi all, this thread really interests me. I am planning to sail on the Gulf from South Padre to Galveston, TX in a hobie 16 in a minimalist style. We are planning to lash our drybags on the tramp in the center and carry a gallon of water behind each stern pylon on the top of the hulls. Gulf conditions can be challenging.



The last issue is one of shelter. Storms from the North are foul and inevitably bring colder temperatures. The rare westerly wind blows all the bugs to the beach, which is downright horrifying without some repellent.



Has anyone devised a lightweight solution to sleeping dryly and bug-free in a Hobie 16 ? A 2-man tent is kind of heavy for the boat and (mine) is flimsy in strong wind. Using the sails as cover doesn't appeal to me, as bad weather could shred them. We are thinking of combinations of tarps and bug netting, stretched over the boom as the "roof", and sleeping on the tramp with space blankets. Any ideas out there ? - chuck

I sailed small Hobie Wave-a-Like catamaran from Tampa to Everglades city last March and I do a lot of cruising on my boat. I noticed that better to have couple of small drybags than one big. Wide, low profile plastic boxes even better.



Cheap tarp from hardware shop will keep you dry and protected, (I use same setup - tarp over boom) but it is noisy. Better to get softer fabric, lightweight vinyl coated nylon. I found oars very usefull navigating Everglades, it's surprisely easy to row catamaran - you can get a kit for whitewater catarafts here http://www.nrscatalog.com/dept.asp?deptid=229



Good luck!

The tarp thing over the boom with some bungies or cords would be my choise, but the bug netting I think would be a pain in the _ss. I say take the bug juice. Man, this sounds like a great trip, wish I were going! So you will be on salt water? Mabe the water filter won't work for you? Hydrate or die! And one last thing! 450 lbs, four people? Are you pygmies?

Chuck

i have a kmart tent, the kind with fiberglass rods that support a rectandular 'dome' shape, it has a floor and can be moved around after its erected. i can set it up on the beach, then put it on the tramp and tie it down. the base is 5'x7' i think, it cost $30. neat! and it has bug screens, very important here in lowcountry s.c.

2 adults and 2 kiddos = 450lbs dannyb i agree with you on the dome tent concept. ive got a 7x8 and if fits perfect on the tramp. domes are not the best when it comes to real windy conditions though. the good thing is that you can pick em up and move em around. we plan on sleeping in a tent off the boat unless i am absolutely sure there will be no incliment weather. something about sleeping under a 24ft lightning rod that bothers me. hey dannyb, you mentioned pulling a kayak with the hobie to carry your stuff. ive got a surf kayak and i want to take it so the kids can play on it when we arent sailing. did it track straight? did it stay right side up? its a surf kayak so its self draining. was boat handling harder ie tacks?

towing the yak was no problem, we had a 2 man rec boat. i guess your sot should be even less hassle. we played with different lengths of bow line, i think keeping it on a very short lead tied to the tramp lacing near the center so the bow of the yak was slightly lifted was easiest. tacking, jybing, etc did not seem to be affected. we did get run into from behind once when we beached the hobie and forgot the yak was there. the yak paddle comes in handy when the wind dies, one person paddling while sitting on the hull forward of the tramp as another steers is very efficient propulsion. you are getting my interest up for another campout, i'm going to try a rack similar to yours. great idea! we let the kids ride in the yak while we towed them, they had a ball!

Any results from these endeavors? Pictures? I am *really* interested in the Padre to Galveston sail.

Here is the tent that Hobie used to offer for the H16.

Jack

As far as sleeping if a tent is not a option, I highly recommend REI's waterproof bivy sacks. When we mountain bike for a weekend, we bivy up and one person brings a big mosquito net to make a shelter.