Hey everyone, I'm new to sailing but recently purchased a complete and sailable Hobie 16 for 300 dollars with trailer. I've taken it out twice so far, once with an experienced sailor and the other time with just myself and my wife. Well the second time we nose dived the boat and almost tipped over onto the boats side. We don't have the traps set up yet and I only have 1 trapeze wire. So this has all been a learning experience for me but very fun indeed.
Anyway, my question is, I need to move my boat and must lower the mast in order to do so. How do I do this? I know I need to release all three attached cables and walk it down. But are there any tricks or useful tips you guys could give me before I attempt this on my own? Thanks for any and all help!
1) Do not release all 3 shrouds!!!!
2) You MUST use a stepping link H shaped piece of metal with 2 fairly slender rods that holds the mast to the stepping base.
3) have one person on the tramp pushing the mast a bit forward while the second person releases the Forstay.
4) the person that releases the forstay should than move to the back of the boat to catch the mast as the person on the tramp slowly lowers it(the mast)
There are many variations on this, but this is the simplist.
BE SURE YOU HAVE THE STEPPING LINK IN PLACE!!!!!!
DO NOT stand under the mast until it's almost to the ground!!!
These links might help
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Well guys, it's official. My mast broke in half today. My wife and I attempted to lower it ourselves, we took off the front cable only and I got up on the tramp and tried to walk it down myself, while my wife waited for it to get low enough so we could put a screw driver through the hole down at the base. Well as it got lower guess what, I'm sure you already know. The whole mast popped out of the base and the whole thing came crashing down. Were lucky we didn't get killed. Anyway it's broken and I called a local shop who told me its a 1500 dollar investment to replace the mast. There's no way were putting a 1500 dollar mast on a 300 dollar boat. So tomorrow, I'm donating it to a local sailing club.
I think my wife and I are going to save up for a new boat, but in the mean time we'll learn more about how all this is done.
Sounds like you might have been missing the hinged link that should have pivited up to the hole on the mast, so you could put the screw driver through before releasing the forestay.
Have any pictures of the mast damage? If you're lucky you can get away with a $300 comp tip.
Check ebay, craig's list, catsailor.com, thebeachcats.com all have a for sale section. There is a guy here in ABQ that has at least one mast for less than $500.00 I believe. I know shipping is a problem but....
Good luck and post those pictures as a comptip just might fix the problem.
Sam
Where in So. Cal. are you located? Surf City has a bunch of masts I believe.
Two things,
1 have you looked into the comptip idea?
2 if the comptip thing won't work, I need a new/different mast base and 2 hole tang. If you are going to scrap the mast and the tang is a 2 holer, and/or your base is in decent shape, I will buy them from you.