Hello All. I broke (sheared off) one of the inboard rear crossbar bolts on my H18. It's a hex-head bolt which affixes the pontoon to the crossbar. It's going to be difficult to remove it due to the limited access from the bottom and the fact there's over 30 years of history, 18 of which are before my time. I'm contemplating a more radical approach if necessary and looking at all the rivets and bolts I may have to remove. Can anyone point me to a document or drawing describing what's inside so I don't have to remove every single visible piece of hardware? I'm also thinking of drilling a new hole all the way through the crossbar and putting in a longer bolt (that's my hardware-hacker background). Thanks for any words/docs or wisdom. The boat is of '82 vintage and well taken care of but sailed hard in the ocean. Cheers.

You will probably have to remove the hull from the front and rear cross beams (3 more bolts).
http://www.hobiecat.com/f…ewtopic.php?f=13&t=36064
This link shows pictures of a disassembled crossbar and its innards.



Edited by presto13031 on Sep 10, 2013 - 01:46 PM.

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Jeff
Houston TX
1986 Hobie 18 Sail# 13031
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I had the same thing happen a few years ago- the aft inboard bolt sheard off. You will need to remove the rear crossbar from the hulls. The inboard bolts thread up into an aluminum casting which is riveted to the inside of the crossbar. The casting has a stainless steel threaded insert that's pressed into it which accepts the crossbar bolt. The only way to fix this is to remove the affected inboard casting. This isn't all that difficult, but it will take you an hour or two.

You will need to drill out the three rivets on the top of the crossbar that hold the outboard casting to the crossbar. Then remove the outboard casting (you may need to use a mallet to drive the casting out). Then drill out the two rivets on the bottom of the crossbar which hold the inboard casting in position inside the crossbar. Once you've removed the two rivets, the inboard casting can be removed from the crossbar. Use vice grips to pull out the broken bolt from the casting. If the bolt's seized, then you may need to replace the casting. If you need to replace the casting you will have to drill the holes for the rivets in the new casting (the castings don't come with holes). To do this, slide the casting into the crossbar, insert the crossbar bolt into the casting, and mark the location of the rivet holes. Then remove the casting, center punch the hole locations, and drill thru at 3/16".

Installation of the casting is the reverse procedure. You will need five stainless steel rivets, 3/16" diameter, about 3/4" long. When re-installing the crossbar bolts, be sure to use anti-seize grease on the threads.

Your idea of drilling a hole through the top of the crossbar and thru-bolting will not work without major modification to the crossbar, so I would not recommend this. Removing the insert from the crossbar is pretty easy as long as you're comfortable using a hand drill and a rivet gun.

sm



Edited by Dogboy on Sep 15, 2013 - 01:08 PM.