Assembling the Hobie Getaway

After tying off the center of the rear tramp, we moved to the front, running the bar through the front edge of the front tramp, Chuck and Randy lace it to the front rail like this. We unwrapped the wings. Very simple, two wings and four pipes for each side, along with a nice collection of bolts to attach to the rails and braces to attach the pipes to the ends of the rails where they show through the side of the hulls. The only thing we found that could have been done better, the holes for the wing bolt that goes through the rear rail were just a tad off. A little filing fixed that. Chuck said he'd seen this before, and expected future Getaways to not have this little problem. Filing the holes so the bolt would go through before we tried to mount the wings saved some time. Chuck knows what he's doing. Most of the bolt and brace kit is on the tramp. One brace on each end of the two main rails, bolted with locktite and lined up before tightening.

The bolts that hold the top wing brace to the rail have a round head for a hex key. This round head fits in the wing brace, you can't get a normal socket on a nut here, there just isn't room, so insert the bolt from the rear and tighten the nut on the front. The front is the same way, there the bolt goes in from the front and one person tightens the nut from under the boat while the other holds the bolt with the hex key.

The port wing is on, with locktite on every bolt.

Chuck pays attention to details, aligning the rudder pintles before tightening the screws. They really weren't off much, but Chuck's a perfectionist. After that the rudders slipped on easily and the boat was finished. I like the new rudder design much better than the old Hobie 16 rudders. We put the boat on the trailer, tied it down and hooked it to Randy's truck so it would be stable while we stepped the mast and checked the sails. The Sailboat Shop is selling quite a few of these Hobie Getaways, and now I know why, it's a very well designed boat and looks like a lot of fun. The built in coolers in both hulls are just one of the nice touches on the boat. Drop by the shop in Austin to see one, they have one on the showroom floor, or give Chuck or Vic at call at 512 454 7171 or 888 747 8849.

Rigging and launching the Hobie Getaway on the Laguna Madre

The videos were taken with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2. A $200 camera designed mainly for still photography, it will take a 30 minute video with sound if you have the 1 Gig memory card.

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