Hobie AI/TI issues?

I asked about this one before but more related to the pins the hold the akas(?)

Skip to about 13:15 to see what happens



I would love to own one of those and but the sturdiness factor is concerning. I know of a decent deal on a solo just not ready to pull the trigger

The guy in the video should not have tried to turn imo but that’s a different story

That's a lot worse than just a broken shear pin, as at least one of the aka bars is clearly bent and will have to be replaced.

The plastic shear pins will prevent the aka bars from getting damaged if, for example, you accidentally ram a buoy or the dock with an ama (don't ask me how I know...). Nothing would have prevented damage to the aka in the rollover in that video. The shear pin broke, and that might have slightly reduced the damage, but he was going to have to replace at least one aka bar regardless.

There’s another video I posted a while back that a shear pin snapped in rough water and capsized an AI

I remain baffled that the Hobie design can’t take rough water. I’m sure their cats don’t collapse like that, I’ve seen them capsize. Nothing should be collapsing. Flexing maybe

As father of a son + having worked pediatric ICU for decades I cringed at that one. He’s obviously a capable guy but maybe not the best in the boating skills department

I was ready to jump into the screen and grab the kid

There’s another video I posted a while back that a shear pin snapped in rough water and capsized an AI

I remain baffled that the Hobie design can’t take rough water. I’m sure their cats don’t collapse like that, I’ve seen them capsize. Nothing should be collapsing. Flexing maybe

As father of a son + having worked pediatric ICU for decades I cringed at that one. He’s obviously a capable guy but maybe not the best in the boating skills department

I was ready to jump into the screen and grab the kid

The shear pins exist to prevent costly damage that could result from fairly minor accidents (like bumping an ama into a dock, for example). Of course, the tradeoff is that the pins can break at inopportune times...

Some people replace the plastic shear pins with a stainless bolts, and that will certainly prevent collapse, but will result in serious (read "expensive") damage from minor accidents. A better approach is to install "keep out" lines--thin rope that is usually routed from the front of an ama thru the padeye on the front of the main hull. This will have enough play to allow the the shear pin to break, while preventing the ama from folding in. This will preserve the aka bars (in minor accidents), while also preventing a capsize.

Being able to easily fold in the amas is a feature of the AI/TI design, and it makes the boat a lot easier to deal with on land, easier to launch, easier to trailer/cartop, easier to right if it does capsize, etc. IMHO, the design is a reasonable tradeoff, given what the boats are designed to do.

Of course, the amas/akas could be made more robust, although that would require much heavier-duty akas, and the amas would not be so easy to fold in. Maybe a scaled down version of something like this would be the way to go



But, it seems to me that would likely be a nightmare to deal with if it ever did capsize...

I plan on installing keep out lines to prevent the capsizing if the leeward sheer bolt breaks which should give you enough time to ease the mainsheet.

I also do think the sheer pins are pretty rare to break unless you hit something like a dock (which shouldn't capsize you) or are really pushing the limits of sailing.  With the mainsheet in your hand you can ease it quickly.

I decided to replace my sheer pins each season, they are less than $1.

These kayaks are great for open water, but not for breaking waves in shallow water like in that video. 

I use my Revo for solo surf launches and my TI for everything else.

AI would be more maneuverable than that TI.  My TI is like driving a big rig when moving slow, you need some speed to maneuver around.

I heard about these failures when I had mine. Kinda beat the shit out of mine and no issues. Beach/surf launches, mud drags, lots and lots of just sailing when the wind was too strong to fish...never had an issue

I plan on installing keep out lines to prevent the capsizing if the leeward sheer bolt breaks which should give you enough time to ease the mainsheet.

I also do think the sheer pins are pretty rare to break unless you hit something like a dock (which shouldn't capsize you) or are really pushing the limits of sailing.  With the mainsheet in your hand you can ease it quickly.

I decided to replace my sheer pins each season, they are less than $1.

These kayaks are great for open water, but not for breaking waves in shallow water like in that video. 

I use my Revo for solo surf launches and my TI for everything else.

AI would be more maneuverable than that TI.  My TI is like driving a big rig when moving slow, you need some speed to maneuver around.

Good info.

I too replace the shear pins each season, but they seldom seem to show a lot of wear. On the other hand, the rudder pin (which I also replace regularly) often has thin spots that could not take much abuse.

Something else that should be checked on an AI is the threaded insert that holds the mast base to the kayak (inside the hull). That is just 1/4" stainless on an AI (at least on my pre-2015...), and there are reports on the Hobie forum of it breaking. It takes a tremendous load, and I've replaced a couple that were deformed. On TIs, I believe that threaded insert is 5/16", and I don't recall ever reading about anybody have trouble with it.

The AI/TIs still seem like a work in progress

I’ll look for the video I posted before where the sheer pin snapped on open water, conditions that weren’t all that bad

Can’t remember where it was but the guys were speaking a different Spanish dialect if I remember right

This one



Any little sailboat should be able to handle those conditions without collapsing on itself

Simple solution, get yourself a hobie cat and you won't find yourself comparing a kayak vs sailing boat. 

Those look like some extreme conditions - camera usually downplays ocean swell and that swell looks large.

I see heavy wind, huge waves, white caps, and their sails are reefed which shows just how gnarly the conditions are.  The video says 25kn+ with 30kn+ gusts when it broke.  That's pretty wild.

From what I've read, the keep out lines should be able to prevent a capsize. 

I would say if you want to go out in those conditions than, yeah, I'd rather be in full sail boat.  But for conditions such as afternoon winds picking up here (even on the heavier side) I think the TI is perfectly capable.

Sailing it becomes less fun when it's blowing really hard and you are just bouncing around, holding on while reefed up.

But some solid wind sailing around after fishing is pretty fun.  Even light wind I can cruise 4-5mph+ to various fishing spots.

Yeah, those conditions don't look mild at all, might be really pushing the limits of a sailing kayak.

Might be expecting too much out of a hobie kayak. 

Ive been in that in Monterey bay more than once and worse up at Dux

The guys in the video seem surprised the pin sheared and that would be my take

Ive seen one of hobie’s small cats upside down in rough Santa Cruz and nothing seemed to break + watching them right the boat it looked pretty easy

I’d be right at home with the guys in the video especially with the food and drink part afterward. Anyone who ventures out in a place like Monterey bay should be ready for those conditions. Ive seen the wind turn 180 degrees there and mild morning turn to wild afternoon

Hobie makes “boats” that are same dims or less, but a lot heavier and with taller masts

I look at most hobies and automatically think little boat not kayak

I’ve seen people out in moderate conditions on loaded up hobie yaks and thought they were counting too much on primary stability. I even asked one guy out at Pedro pt and thought he was overconfident. That’s pretty typical in my experience. The guy I brought in up at Muir was handling his plastic yak/boat pretty well before it went over and sank(not a hobie)

This isn’t meant as anti Hobie I would love to own a TI but would modify something

Guess I should be prepping gear instead of yapping about it

This isn’t meant as anti Hobie I would love to own a TI but would modify something

If you are interested in seeing what sorts of mods people have done to their Hobie Islands, you might want to check out the Hobie forum. It's not as active as it used to be (mostly because Hobie does not actively participate as much as they used to), but there's tons of good info archived there. Most of the mods have to do with improved sailing performance, but there are plenty of posts on various ways to "harden" an AI/TI. But, if you expect to be able to capsize a TI in the surf and not have anything break, that's just not going to happen...