Hobie 33 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Alter's brief produced a 4,000-pound boat carrying 1,800 pounds in a bulbed keel, with an easily retractable keel and an 8-foot beam that permitted trailering on any state or federal highway without a stack of permits. Hulls were laid up with alternating layers of fiberglass around a 3/4-inch urethane foam coring, and the prototype was famously driven onto a seawall on film with no damage to hull or keel. The company treated the model as something of a stepchild, and the retractable keel proved expensive to produce; the last boats were built with a fixed keel instead. Sailing World describes it plainly as a skinny old-school sportboat from the California surfboard and catamaran firm, ahead of its time.

Rig and Handling

The Hobie carries a deck-stepped mast and a single-spreader rig measuring 35 feet 4 inches, with wire rigging as standard. Light and narrow, she suffers when sailing to weather in a chop and does not point that well upwind, a veteran racer noting it took a long time to learn to feather the main when beating. She is tender, but owners say a full crew on the rail with a balanced traveler makes her well-mannered. Off the wind she is a different animal: mountain lake sailors rate her A-plus on flat water and a screamer on a close reach, and Express and Olson owners agree that in a blow off the wind the Hobie leaves them in her wake, running 8 to 10 knots faster on a downwind reach than those competitors. Built as a planing boat before such designs were common, she can plane at 15 knots and gets blazing down the run; one owner logged 25 knots on the speedo in the San Francisco–Santa Barbara race, beaten only by a J-130. The harder it blows the better she likes it, yet she whips her crew into submission upwind in waves and chop and is hypersensitive to crew weight and choreography. A Nova Scotia owner withstood 45 to 50 knots on the nose for eight hours in 12 to 20 foot waves, reporting it not fun but not dangerous, and the bow lifts out of a wave though she will heel and rewards early sail downsizing.

Accommodations

Below, the boat is unapologetically minimal. Headroom is only 4 feet 10 inches, so calisthenics belowdecks is no option. The V-berth forward of a half-height bulkhead and behind a privacy curtain runs 6 feet long and wide enough for two adults. A small space is designated for a porta-potty. Amidships, settees seat crew at a table that mounts atop the keel trunk, while an ice chest at the companionway doubles as a step and an optional two-burner stove folds out on the inside of a cabinet door. The foredeck has a narrow surface and the cockpit, owners report, holds really only three people at a time with seats too narrow to sit on comfortably.

Known Issues

The flat bottom tends to pound in heavy seas, a predictable consequence of the hull form that also makes her lively off the wind. Cockpit seats are a common owner complaint for being too narrow, forcing sitters onto coamings that are themselves too narrow. Upwind in a chop the light displacement and modest keel ballast let her suffer, and she does not point well, demanding crew technique rather than forgiving it. The narrow foredeck and three-person cockpit limit working room and social space alike.

The Verdict

The Hobie 33 is a focused lightweight flyer: a trailerable, beachable, occasionally blue-water sportboat that trades comfort and upwind manners for thrilling offwind speed and an ingenious retractable keel. She suits sailors who value planing performance and road transport over cabin life.

Pros

Easily retractable keel and 8-foot beam enable highway trailering without permits
Exceptional offwind and downwind speed; planes at 15 knots and outruns heavier contemporaries in a blow
Tough foam-cored hull demonstrated undamaged in a seawall impact
Light, simple, and singlehandable on ocean races per owner reports

Cons