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Rudder Tuning
After much frustration and guided by your excellant on the wire articles I now have a bullet proof rudder system with absolutely no slop. I have replaced the nylon adjuster screw with an aluminium one which is far easier to remove than the nylon one and the screw head wont disintigrate the first time I adjust it as happened with a new nylon one I have used mylar as shims on the loose gudgeon fittings and castings as well as between the rudder castings and rudder I hope the mylar lasts longer than butter lids or I will have to eat a lot of humble pie and butter. The only drawback is that the ruddeer pins need forcing in rather that a gentle slide. Thanks for your assistance. Winds Up!!! going sailing Cheers Ron Heydon Rotorua New Zealand "Double Happy" In my opinion, the articles on rudder tuning were among some of the best we have run. It's nice to know these tips are helping other sailors. -ed. Worn Rudders Thank you for your excellent E-zine. After being starved of information and assistance on sailing and maintaining Hobies in this area for so many years, it is an absolute pleasure to read and learn from your articles. I have the old type of rudder casting on my 16', ie. the non-adjustable type. As the holes in the rudder blades wear, the cam locking mechanism tends to operate erratically. I would greatly appreciate getting hold of a template to restore these holes to their original position. Kind regards Steve South Africa I'm glad you enjoy the site and appreciate the kind words. I'm not sure of a source for the templates you require, although I suppose I could remove one of my rudders and make one for you. One question, though: Have you raked your mast back? This is supposed to increase performance, and a raked mast is seen on virtually every racing boat. If this is the case, you can actually move your holes to reduce the weather helm created by a raked mast. (You need to move the rudders up under the boat a bit.) Either way, you could get some more specific answers from the Hobie Mailing List. If you are starved of information and assistance, then this is the place for you! The list has approximately 400 Hobie sailors from around the world who discuss issues such as this. You'll get between 15 and 30 emails a day. If you are really into Hobie Sailing, they are pleasure to read. You'll find the Hobie Mailing List in our links section. Get subscribed, then ask this question of the list. You won't be disappointed. -ed. Repairing Soft Hulls The decks of the hulls on my H16 have gone soft - again. The area just in front of the front pylons went soft about five years ago and were repaired. During the repairs inspection ports were added. Now the decks father forward (almost all the way up to the bows) have started going soft. Since it too far forward to reach from the inspection ports, I'm going to use the epoxy injection method. I read Tami's excelent article Reparing Delaminated Hulls - Injection in ON THE WIRE, but I still have a couple of questions: 1. How much of the foam am I trying to remove with the coathanger? All of it, or just a small bit in the vicinity of the hole? It seems like the more foam you remove, the more epoxy you have to add (which means more weight and dollars). I'm a little unclear on this since I'm a little confused about the description of the coathanger - "Bend a small piece of coathanger wire about 1 inch long into an L shape." Does this mean start with a pice that is 1 inch long and bend in, say in half, so that half is in the drill and I only clear out foam from a circle of radius .5 inch? Or should the coat hanger be longer so that I clear out foam of an inch or more radius? I know this may sound like a trivial detail, but I'd like to do it right. 2. Can I use some epoxy additive (like micro-balloons) to save weight? I guess if I do I need to make sure if will squeze through the syringe. 3. What type of epoxy do you recomend? 4. As an alternative, I was thinking about cutting of the front part of the decks, then replacing the inner fiberglass and foam. The I'd have to somehow reattach the deck. I think this would make for a lighter/better repair, but it sounds like a lot more work. Has anyone done this? Thanks for the help, Victor Austin Tami Shelton Responds: 1. Bend such that about 3/4" of the wire hollows the circumference. 2. You can if you want, but we didn't; not really necessary. 3. I suppose WEST is best, but we got ours at Wal-Mart. Make sure you use EPOXY, not poly resin. 4. If you think the boat is worth the time, of course that would be the best solution. But, worth saying that once the boat is delam'd it really is not worth that trouble, as it is a matter of time before other partgs of the hull split. And we can find old Hobies dime-a-dozen here on the Gulf, quite a few for $1k usually less. Hope this helps tami |
Missiles on a Hobie
Too funny. ROFLMAO. I used to write assembly instructions for the Phoenix and TOW missiles at Hughes aircraft in Tucson. We had some parodies circulating when GM bought us out (Now a real TOW package for your Suburban) but nothing as good as this. Congratulations on a fine job with the writing and the graphics. My condolences to Nine Fingers on his Hobie. Still laughing, Jim Smith Thanks, Jim. We wouldn't mind getting our hands on those assembly instuctions, by the way. I had a lot of fun with the missile article. If you enjoy this kind of stuff, don't miss our article on the World's Fastest Hobie and the Willcox Jet Trailer. Using the search term HUMOR in the archives will bring these up. -ed. Enjoyed your humor. And the knowledge that someone else hates those little polluters as much as I do. I call them "sea gnats" -- kinda fits, doesn't it? Cheers, Dolly Garlo Austin, Texas I agree that PWCs can really pollute. The one we blew up left bits of fibreglas all over the place. (I actually considered reporting this to the proper authorities.) "Sea gnats" is good. I'm glad we came up with a sufficient "swatter". -ed. Do you think one would fit a H-18? Really neat way to help a pollution problem. Neill Tipton You'll have the fabricate the racks, but you should have even more room than we had with the 16. Get out the Mastercard, spend the $50,000, and see if you can make it work. -ed. Change of Venue This is the link to the website for a regatta we are holding here the first weekend of May. The race has been held for 28 years and this year we need to change locations. We are trying to get word out anyway we can. A link from OTW would sure be a big help. http://www.dnaco.net/~camco/mayday98/handout.htm Dave Maynard hobie12855@msn.com I'll put this in the links section. Send me a reminder near the end of March, and I'll run a banner ad for it in April. -ed. Decisions... Decisions.... First I would like to advise that since my Hobie 14 Turbo was stolen, it needs to be removed from the classifieds. It's the one listed from Miami, Florida. I would like to thank you for the announcement of the stolen Hobie. I haven't had any luck finding it and without it, I don't have the money to go shopping for a new one. Also, I would like to ask a question to anyone who could respond: I am a female sailor who loves to get to the beach, back up a cat, set it up in 30 minutes flat and sail away without depending on extra weight for heavy wind days. For this purpose I had a Hobie14 Turbo which I miss terribly. But now, my fellow sailor friends are telling me to move on to a 16' or an 18'. However, I feel that I might not enjoy sailing a 16' or an 18' as much as I loved toying with my 14'. Is a 16' much heavier to handle on and off a trailor and is it made for a single female sailor who likes independence and hiking out? It's not a matter of courageous sailing, it's a matter of strength. Naomi Sarasola SARA0481@MLB.COM I hope the information I sent you was helpful. Any readers with knowledge of these boats are encouraged to send advice to Naomi at the email address above. -ed. Hurtin' Frank I am writing from the page with the photo of Frank, or what used to be Frank. And then I suddenly noticed something. You know how people who have had a linb amputated say that there are times when they can feel it still there. It might itch and they have nowhere to scratch, or perhaps it just feels like it is still there. Well, it must be that way for Frank with his right lower leg. I guess that because the leg portion which isn't there still casts a shadow. You can see the oblique shadow off to the left of the photo. This is really amazing stuff, sort of like Kirlian Photography, only more so. Now I wonder, if we got a light to shine through Frank's head, could we still see the shadow of his original hair line? Best wishes for Christmas, and anything else which the US doesn't want to talk about any more. Kim Miller Wagga Wagga, Australia Ya know, Kim... I was so proud of how I actually "built" a shadow for the peg leg. So concerned with details, yet I forgot to get rid of the shadow under the right limb. Well, in the interest of accuracy, it IS a Kirlian Photography sort of thing. Maybe we'll try the light/hairline thing next month. -ed. Reproduction of Articles Just a note to say how much I enjoyed your spoof on AA Missiles and PWC. I hope you don't mind but I reproduced it in my local sailing club newsletter - unfortunately without colour. Let me know if you post anything more. Yours, still chuckling, Paul Nix No problem with the reproduction**. Of course, I'd appreciate the inclusion of a credit along with the web address. -ed. |
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**It has always been our intent to enrich the sport of catamaran sailing in whatever way
we can. Readers are free to reproduce On The Wire articles authored by Bill Mattson or Frank Pineau. For
articles written by others, it is suggested that the author be contacted first. (Unless a copyright notice
appears, in which case this is a requirement.)
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