  A model of light hybrid mesons and their strong decays is developed. The
model employs a gluonic quasiparticle to describe low energy gluodynamics and
uses the QCD Hamiltonian in Coulomb gauge to guide the construction of states
and decay amplitudes. We compute the partial widths of the twelve low lying
isovector and vector hybrids. Implications of these results on hybrid searches
are also made, with the chief conclusions being that direct observation of the
vector states will be difficult, that a hybrid $\pi(1800)$ has distinctive
decay characteristics, a narrow $\eta(1900)$ hybrid should exist, an
$\eta_1(1750)$ should be sought, and that the exotic nature of $J^{PC}= 2^{-+}$
hybrid mesons should be discernible with sufficient data. We argue that the
isovector $\pi_2$ hybrid has been discovered, giving a total of four possible
hybrid mesons, $\pi_1(1600)$, $\eta_1(1855)$, $\pi(1800)$, and $\pi_2(2360)$,
which appear to be filling out the lowlying hybrid supermultiplet in the
expected fashion.
