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Where Hobies are Born A Tour of The Factory by Bill Mattson The air is heavy. You and your crew are both trapped out on a flying hull. The whistle of the wind in your ears, the force of the sheet and tiller in your hands, and the spray in the air all combine to give you that unique feeling that all Hobie sailors share. It's a carefree feeling that is greatly enhanced by confidence in one’s equipment. I am continually amazed at the forces I put my Hobie 16 through, with little or no damage to the boat. If you have any mechanical aptitude at all, and actually start thinking about the physical forces of "double trapping" conditions, it gets scary. Then there's the pitchpole. Not the slow ones coming out of a tack, but the ones where the boat comes to a stop so fast that you don't even know what happened until you come to the surface for air. Again, except for rare instances, the damage is zero. How and where is such quality made? To find out, I asked Matt Miller of Hobie Cat for a look around the factory, and he gladly invited me over for a tour. Hobie Cats are made on a 30 acre facility in Oceanside, California. In the late 70's and early 80's, this facility was bustling, with over 400 employees turning out about 15,000 boats per year. Last year, production was around 1,500 boats, and the facility now employs about 70 people. "We are at the tail end of a Bell Curve", says company president Doug Skidmore, long tim employee and avid sailor/racer. While the production is now at 10% of previous levels, it has stabilized, and the company remains ready for the "next jump in demand." The office area was of modest size, and obviously had been reduced over the years since peak production. Employees remained busy however, with the business of dealing boats and parts to a worldwide sailing market. My tour started in the parts area, which is located just outside the offices. This area included rows of shelving stocked with parts, and a packing area for shipping orders all over the world. Matt joked that I would be thoroughly "patted down" after leaving this area. Not a bad idea. I saw some very nice stuff in there, but I just could not imagine how I would walk normally with a trapeze rig down my pants leg. Next we toured the production areas. The production facility is strategically arranged in that the fiberglas production line and the metal production line both converge at the assembly area. Boats are then packed for shipment, along with sails which are made in a sail loft on the opposite end of the warehouse. Just inside the fiberglas production area sat 2 new Magic 25 monhulls, which were in the final phases of assembly. |
| All Hobie Catamarans, with exception of the Wave, are made of a fiberglass foam sandwich construction. This process starts with a hull mold, the interior of which is a highly polished and waxed gelcoat. There are separate molds for the lower hull and upper deck pieces. These molds were previously made from hull "plugs". The interior of the molds are sprayed with gelcoat, which will form the outer surface of the hull or deck. In the case of the decks, the pylons are installed into the molds prior to the gelcoat spraying, and will be "glassed in" during the "fiber lay-up" process. The pylons have metal straps and rivets attached that give the glass a structural bond to the post. |
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| Once the gelcoat is dry, fiberglas mat and cloth is installed in a process called the "first fiberglass lay-up". The mat and cloth were previously cut from patterns on a large table. First the correct fiberglass mat is laid onto the gelcoat with resin. For added strength, and to protect the mat from shredding during seating, a layer of fiberglass cloth is installed. |
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The resin is now worked in by hand with a small applicator. "This has to be done very
carefully," Matt commented. "Wrinkles in the mat or cloth can cause weak spots in the
structure." The man doing the work was obviously taking time to insure that all of the
mat and cloth would sufficiently bond to the gelcoat.
The variety of fiberglas cloth was impressive. There were various types, each having different weaves and thickness, and each having a different application based on weight and strength. In some cases, different types of cloth are added in areas needing more strength, such as the pylons. |
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Once the first fiber layup is in place, a section of plywood and putty is placed in the sterns, along with an aluminimum plate. This will accomodate the attachment of the rudder grudgeons. Next, the foam is applied. Foam pieces are cut by hand, then installed over the fiber lay-up with resin to form a consistent foam surface. To assure that the foam is bonded uniformly, hulls are covered by a large plastic "vacuum bag". |  |
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The air is then vacated from the bag, which then exerts pressure uniformly across the foam surface.
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Once the foam installation is completed, a second "fiber lay-up" of mat and cloth is
installed over the foam. In some boats, where weight is not critical, the hull is again
placed in a vacuum bag, which bonds the second fiber lay-up to the foam. In other
cases, the second fiber lay-up is finished by hand, which reduces the amount of
resin and resulting weight.
The "pylon shoes" are now installed. These are the components in which the plyons will fit into when installed. A jig which fits onto the hull and has pylons attached is used to position the shoes with precision. |
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Once the hull and deck are complete, they are removed from the molds and
placed in a large pnuematic jig/press. A small strip of fiber cloth and is placed on the
joint with a layer of adhesive, and the jig presses the parts together.
When removed from the glue jig, the deck and hull are bonded, but are not very pretty with the cloth and glue hanging out around the lip of the deck. This is now trimmed off with a special saw which is run around the perimeter of the deck. Hobie 16 hulls are then patched, if needed, to clean up any cosmetic imperfections. |
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The Hobie 20 and the TriFoiler, on the other hand, have hidden seams. These seams require
sanding, filling, gelcoat spray and sanding, then polishing again to make the seam
invisable. This is more labor intensive and less cost effective than the type of seam
used on the 16s. The Hobie Wave hulls are "roto molded", a process which is done by another company on contract. In this process, large molds are attached together to form an entire hull. Plastic pellets are inserted into the molds, which are closed, and heated while being rotated. The result is a hollow plastic part, which makes up the hull of the Hobie Wave.  Completed Hobie Wave Hulls The "roto molding" process also includes the placement of metal pieces for the rudder gudgeons and other fittings within the mold. The molding process includes several layers of plastic resulting in structures similar to the "foam sandwich" discussed earlier. In the final step of the hulls, large templates are used to apply the graphics, which assure that each hull is consistent. |
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Many of the metal fittings are made outside of the plant, but all of the cutting,
bending, and assembly is done here. Assembly steps vary from boat to boat, and
are too numerous to detail here.
There was a large press used to bend the front cross bars. Nearby was a rack of finished crossbars, with dolphin strikers installed. |
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Also nearby was a long jig used to for masts. A mast is laid into the jig, which has a
guide for the location and angle of each hole to be drilled. Hardware is then riveted
into place.
In the next area, a rack of Hobie Wave masts were getting plugs installed. A worker was carefully sealing each plug with an aluminum plate and sealing compound. The quality of this guy's work is undoubtedly appreciated by many sailors when righting after a capsize! A rack of freshly assembled rudders was noted. Also, a long table for cutting and assembling rigging. This table had hundreds of designations noting the cutting lengths of shrouds, stays, trapeze rigs, etc. A particular interesting area was the sail loft. Hobie sails are designed with a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system which allows the sailmaker to precisely design the 3 dimensional qualities of a particular sail. Sail Loft Manager Chip Buck brought a Trifoiler sail onto the screen and demonstrated how the pocket of the sail could be manipulated, and each panel of sail cloth automatically redimensioned. The final results of this dimensioning are fed into another system which can position each panel efficiently over sailcloth stock. This system controls a plotter/cutter which I found to be one of the more intriguing aspects of the tour. |
| The plotter/cutter machine moves along a long table which looked to be about 6 feet wide and 70 or 80 feet long. Sailcloth is rolled out onto this table. Closer inspection of the table revealed small holes covering |
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the entire surface. A vacuum is applied
which holds the sailcloth flat against the surface. In the first step, the plotter/cutter
runs across the table, and marks the seam areas of the sail with a pen. Numerical
designations are also placed on the panels for reference during assembly. Next a
worker places a plastic film over the cloth, which is quickly pinned to the cloth by the
vacuum. This helps hold the cloth in place during the cutting process. The
plotter/cutter machine now uses a cutting wheel to precisely cut each panel,
including window openings.
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| Once enough cuttings have been made of various colors, the panels of each sail are grouped into bins to be sewn. There were about 6 workers sewing and assembling sails. Normally, the worker running the |
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plotter/cutter can just about
keep up with the production demand of those assembling the panels. The sail loft area also assembles the trapeze seats and trampolines. Of particular interest were the machines used to "heat join" the trampoline material. One of the machines had two opposing rollers, with a narrow heat vent which fit near the entrance to the rollers. |
| Using this machine, the vinyl is superheated just before entering the rollers, forming a secure bond. Another machine was electrical, and used for areas such as corners or reinforcements around certain grommeted areas. This machine obviously packed |
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quite an electrical punch. It was operated by 2
pushbuttons to assure that the operators hands were clear of conducting surfaces.
Also, a single small florescent bulb was clamped to the front of the machine to
indicate that current was flowing. The power of the machine was evident here. The
bulb was not wired to anything, since it would light up from induction alone!
A large section of shelves stored all of the different fabrics used for trampolines, from the stock Hobie vinyl to the new mesh material. I have always been impressed with the lifespan of the trampolines, which seem to go 15 years or more. |
| The warehouse area contained the finished boat components stored in boxes. Hobie 16s, Waves, Trifoilers and others waiting for shipment to owners and dealers around the world. These were very big boxes! I'm not sure any would fit into the Dakota pickup I brought. (I figured I should have the truck on the remote chance that Matt would offer me a boat as a sort of factory souvenir). |
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Although I learned quite a bit about the manufacture of Hobie boats, one aspect was already known; The fact that Hobie builds exceptional quality and durability into their boats. My visit only reinforced this belief, after seeing the attention to detail shown by the employees. But the exceptional durability creates a quandary for Hobie. How do you sell boats, when the boats you build last so long? As Chip Buck commented with a smile, "Maybe we build them to be too durable. About the only thing that ever needs replacement is the sails." Also, design changes to are minimal to most models over the years, particularly the Hobie 16. This makes for a boat that never becomes obsolete, as parts are always in abundant supply. But it appears that Hobie has accepted this difficult situation as a fact of life, and will continue to manufacture some of the best value and durability on the market today. The company will continue to look for growth in special markets with products such as the Hobie Wave, The Trifoiler, and Pursuit kayak. Different products, but built with the same commitment to durability and quality. As far as the traditional Hobie catamaran, the company remains poised to meet the next wave of demand. Personal water craft may be the rage at the moment, but the future may find the pendulum swinging back to the more elegant sport of sailing. Hobie and Hobie sailors will be ready. Bill Mattson mattson@earthlink.net Back to Features |