hobie 16 vs dart 16

[Wankel]

Wanting to get my first cat. I've had a Sunfish (ooooooh yeah) for a few years and want to upgrade to a cat dinghy.

I (think I've) narrowed it down to those two, just going by info I've found on the internet. If any of you have actually sailed either/both of those boats, feedback would be appreciated.

Oh yeah, and if there's another good similarly sized cat out there that I missed, bring that up too.

[Hobos]

Sailed a Hobie 16 for twelve years. The best of the sailing years I've had. Grew a little long in the face for that kind of excitement, now I just cruise. Hope you plan to race it, it will teach you to sail like no other boat. High speed excitement and tons of fun. My guess is that you can't go wrong with either decision.

[hphoen]

I owned a Hobie 16 for 28 years. Most fun on a boat I've ever had! And our two kids loved it, too. They were 7 and 8 years old when we got it. It was a fun family boat, and a rip-roaring, sail-it-to-the-limit boat rolled into one.

Don't know the Dart 16 at all, so can't compare.

[DePlano]

TheBeachcats.com - Catamaran Sailing

There is a list of cats and I am sure if you look around you can find more.

If I should not have linked to another site (no I do not have any relations or interest in the site) delete it.

[sck5]

Lots of Hobie fleets all around to race with. Lots of used boats for sale all the time. Lots of used parts, lots of free advice on tuning, fixing, sailing, etc. Ditto what everyone above said. Dont know anything about Darts.

Ebay a good source for used parts. Since they are still making the same design they are mostly interchangable.