The Hobie 16 is manufactured in
France by the Hobie Cat company, and by the Hobie Cat of America company in the
United States. The Hobie 16 normally carries two sails, the
mainsail and the
jib. There is a kit to allow an H16 to fly a
spinnaker but this is only class legal for youth racing. Each
hull has two pylons (the forward ones are vented to allow the pressure inside the hull to equalise) and the frame fits onto these pylons. The frame consists of four aluminium alloy beams which slot into four aluminium alloy corner castings and are secured with
rivets. The trampoline slots along the inside of the beams and is tensioned by rope or
shock cord. Earlier
masts were one piece, of aluminium alloy, but were changed to two pieces with a non-conductive composite fiberglass tip (known as "comptip"), after a few people in the United States of America were
electrocuted trying to raise masts under power lines and their families sued Hobie Cat. The mast foot casting forms a ball which steps into a cup-shaped shoe riveted onto the forward
crossmember and there is a Teflon disk separating the two. The downward compressive force from the mast is partially carried by the crossmember and partially by a stainless steel compression post and tensioned tie rod assembly called a "
dolphin striker". The H16 may be equipped with two
trapeze wires either side to allow both the helm and crew to trapeze. "Trapseats" can be fitted to allow disabled sailors to sail the H16. The rudder assembly consists of a rudder on each hull fitted to a Hobie-patented automatically releasing stock comprising a casting, a
cam, and a spring-loaded plunger. This allows the rudders to spring up when they hit ground, to avoid damage. The rudders are connected to two short tillers which are in turn attached via a ball and socket joint to a connecting rod called the tiller bar. The
tiller attaches to the centre of the tiller bar and is typically extendable for operation while trapezing. The
mainsheet has a maximum of a 6:1 purchase and has a traveller that allows movement over the entire aft crossmember of the frame. The jib sheets are of a 2:1 purchase and attach on the front beams with their own two travellers. The boat has a 3:1 purchase
downhaul (upgradable to 6:1) to tension the mainsail and an
outhaul (standard 1:1, upgradable to 2:1) to flatten the mainsail along the boom. Both the mainsail and jib are fully battened. == See also ==