2021 OB cracked hull

While cleaning my boat for some upcoming trips I discovered a large running crack in my hull. The crack is at the under the right hand cup holder. I’ve already contacted my Hobie dealer to initiate a warranty claim and am hopeful that they’ll do what I’ve sen them do for others and give me a replacement hull. Over 2021 I took her out on 150+’ish trips, so it was well used. I am a little bit bummed that I’m having to cancel some trips right now, just as the bite is starting to rip. Hoping Hobie comes through and comes through quickly.

What are your experiences with cracked Hobie hulls and warranty claims? Help me feel better.

Cheers

Get another kayak so you dont have to cancel trips while you're waiting for this one. That's what I would do given the delays with the parts I have been waiting closely to a year now. Afterwards you can always resell or use the boat as a family/buddy loaner.

Good luck with the warranty 

Any guesses on how you think this could've happened? Thanks for sharing.

Wow ! 150 trips in a year. Nice

I had a defective hull on a new Hobie Adventure/Revo 16, and Hobie replaced it. At first, they did suggest some sort of lame repair, but I pointed out that it was clearly a factory defect, and they then replaced it.

Cracks seem pretty common. Hobie replaced a brand-new AI hull with a crack for me. A good reason to stuff your hull with some type of flotation. I have successfully repaired cracks below the waterline, but I do not recommend this.

Heard back from Hobie (through my dealer). and they want additional info about how I store it and transport it. So it looks like I’ll be dealing with a little back and forth, but hopefully not a run around. I have a hard time accepting that an expensive boat could be so weak as to fail after a year and change of usage, even if it was a lot of use.

The two potential solutions are a plastic weld or replacement hull. Really hoping for a replacement hull, so that I can expect at least another year of usage out of the deal.

I got 150+ times thanks to covid and no job for awhile,…thankfully my wife is hella smart and has her job still. Has really helped with my mental health over the last couple years.

I’m thinking now that I’ll be acquiring a new boat as I wait for this to be resolved. Initially thought of a PA, but I think I’ll start looking at an autopilot or titan 12. I don’t think I’ll be giving hobie more money if maintenance requirements include constant warranty claims. Also tells me these boats are unreliable after a 2-3 years of hard usage, unless you’re more of a tinkerer. I just want a reliable fishing platform.

Bummed out man,…

Might want to be careful what you say to Hobie.
Like I tighten the hell out of it with ratchet straps when it is on the car or store in full sunlight when not in use, they maybe are looking for a way out of replacement.

Might want to be careful what you say to Hobie.
Like I tighten the hell out of it with ratchet straps when it is on the car or store in full sunlight when not in use, they maybe are looking for a way out of replacement.

+1

I figure most companies look to avoid cost, at all costs. I’ve told them exactly what I do, which is store it inside garage on a cart with pvc bunks and transport using a boonedox bed extender with NRS straps tiht enough to hold boat on bed, ie not over tightened. If Hobie refuses to make it right,….well,…. consider me suckered by a trash product.

From things I've read on the Hobie forum, my impression is that they are pretty good wrt hull issues, but somewhat less forthcoming with other things, such as Mirage drive defects. I suspect liability issues might be part of the reason for that (if the hull is defective, someone could drown, but if the Mirage drive is defective, most likely someone just gets annoyed).

So, you might subtly mention that you use it on the ocean where a failed hull repair would be a major safety issue...

I’ve told them exactly what I do, which is store it inside garage on a cart with pvc bunks

I'd be careful with telling them you store it on pvc.  The manual expressly calls that out as a no go.  (note: I'm not saying you shouldn't store it on PVC... I'm simply saying I would be as vague as possible when talking to them about anything to maximize your chances of a warranty claim going well)

Yikes! Glad you found it before you were OTW.
I still have an '08 with no issues, including the drive. I think I did replace the cables a while back, but that was it.

Wow, with as much of a premium the Hobie's price tag requires I am surprised this is an issue at all..... sure things fail but when you get top of the line one should expect that warranties would be smooth.  A good way to loose market share in my opinion.

I thing they should add that you cannot store it on wood, glass, titanium, nylon or in any kind of presence of air

Reminds me of Microsoft in the bad old days.

Troy

Wow, with as much of a premium the Hobie's price tag requires I am surprised this is an issue at all..... sure things fail but when you get top of the line one should expect that warranties would be smooth.  A good way to loose market share in my opinion.

I thing they should add that you cannot store it on wood, glass, titanium, nylon or in any kind of presence of air

Reminds me of Microsoft in the bad old days.

Troy

This is where I’m at. Hobie asked explicitly for photos of how I store the boat. The crack has no bearing on storage. The most that would happen is a warped hull as I do not kee any weight in the boat when stored. I’m not a fan of a plastic weld as (a) it could happen again if the hull is weak and simply sucks and (b) zero resale value after a plastic weld. I intended on using the bot for 2 years and then selling upgrading to a new boat. Thus far, I haven’t been impressed w Hobie, who is clearly looking for a way around. I paid a lot,…and now I’m bummed.