I have a 1985 Hobie 16, and I believe it probably still has the original yellow vinyl trampoline on it. I'm considering a new tramp over the winter break. The one that is on it is holding up well and I keep the boat covered when not in use. However a tree branch fell on it early this summer and put a small tear which I taped up, but I'm not sure how long the thing will hold up. Plus it doesn't have a bag on it for the excess halyard lines and no hiking straps either. So if I decide to replace it, is it cheaper to buy online and replace it myself, or take it somewhere local like KO Sailing and have it done? Good places online with good prices and service? Next question, mesh like an actual jumping trampoline, or back to vinyl? I'm a bit leary about going with black mesh because I fear the black may be a bit hot in the 95-105* summers here. Is there a lighter color mesh that will go with the banana yellow boat that my kids call "Queso"?

Next thing is rudder tune up. I was planning to go out this past weekend and decided to work on the rudders a bit. I sanded them starting with 220 grit, then 400, then 800 grit wet sanding, all done by hand. I've got them nice and smooth now. But I notice quite a bit of play in them, so I'm thinking its time for some bushings in the holes around the bolts and maybe do the plastic butter tub trick on the sides. Any thoughts on what all I need to buy for the rudder tune up?

I'm betting most of my lines/ropes/sheets are pretty old as well, even though they still look pretty clean. Any thoughts on size of line and what not if I decide to replace them?

My sails have quite a few patch jobs on them that are cloth, not the same material as the sail and I'm guessing a bit on the heavy side compared to actual sail material. I may look into buying some used sails from our Sea Scout troops in the area as I know they got some part out boats and some extra sails. But a yellow boat with a sail color other than yellow??

Any other tips/tricks/things I should look at in the off season?

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Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

On rudder tunup and maintenance, watch this video.
http://youtu.be/7jfn8f93XiQ
If the tramp is torn you're on borrowed time as the trampoline is actually part of the structure of the boat and needs to be very tight to help the boats handling. I've made it through a season on a worn out tramp but they get worse quickly once a rip starts. I prefer mesh tramps but everyone has a different opinions. SLO has a great replacement I've used before for around $300. Post a few pics up on here and you'll get lots of great advise!
Hook up with other Hobie sailors in your area and you'll learn a bunch quickly.

--
Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
--

www.slosailandcanvas.com
These guys have a temp comparison of the different colors and types of Tramps.

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1975 P16 "Spring Rain"Sail # 642
Home Built 2004 Optimist-Delta "Unity"
So old it has Dino hide for a sail Chrysler "Pirateer"
Steve
Oyama BC
Lat 50.1167 N
Long 119.3667 W
1700 ft
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+1 for Slo

I have slo on the main tramp and wings.

I prefer vinyl rather than mesh, but it is a personal preference. Vinyl will reduce splashes, but at some condition will leave a paddle of water at the back end. This may be a bit different on H16 because the tramp is more flat, comparing to H17.

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Jack B
Hobie 17
BC, Canada
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Carl,

Not to take business away from local shops, but replacing your tramp is a pretty easy job. Unlace it, pull the forward portions toward the front corners, then pull the sides out toward the front. If your channels are corroded it can be a little tough getting the new tramp in, but a little sail lube will help. After that, lace it back up (video available on YouTube) and you're set. As for vinyl vs mesh... like others have said, it's a personal choice. Since the Gulf coast is usually really warm, you might want to go with a mesh so you get some (relatively) cool water on ya. Throw a 2-3mm wetsuit on and you'll still be good all winter.

As for rudders, you can buy Hobie shims, or cut your own from milk jugs or plastic butter container lids. Milk jugs are good b/c they already have round places in their design that are perfect size. While you're at it, check your delrin screws and cams too. It's easy to replace everything while it's apart. Even if your cams/screws are in good condition, winter is a perfect time to clean out any old grease and re-lube them.

If you need any help, check out the Texas City Dike Yacht Club page (tcdyc.com). Bunch of great guys that are always willing to help. There's a monthly event on the first Saturday of the month and we usually have 15-20 boats. If you're in need of parts, PM me and I'll give you the contact info for a guy that's close to you who has nearly anything you need.

--
Tim
81 Hobie 16
87 Nacra 5.7
Austin, TX
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Get a Hobie tramp. They cost a little more than the aftermarket tramps, but the quality is unmatched. Think about it this way- you got close to 30 years out of your original Hobie tramp. You'd be lucky to get half that much life from an aftermarket tramp. Plus the Hobie tramps are designed by Hobie specifically for your boat. As for solid vinyl or mesh, it is entirely personal choice. Regarding the tramp getting hot in the sun, I have black mesh on my Hobie 17 and the temperature is never a problem.

sm

The mesh is cooler in warmer areas, the vinyl lets less water splash up on you but can act as a sail when your boat is on its side. Try out a boat with both to see which one suits you better.
In a pinch I've swapped out trampolines in 40 mins, nice and tight if you have a helping hand and a tramp tightening wrench that a pro will lend you in a bind! Cat sailors are the nicest guys you'll ever meet until you make a noob move anywhere near one in a regatta!!!



Edited by fxloop on Oct 13, 2014 - 09:06 PM.

--
Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
--

I will never use/recommend Karl and SLO Canvas and Sails

See these threads for full details - http://www.thebeachcats.c…ms/viewtopic/topic/11657 and http://www.catsailor.com/…b=showflat&Number=217140

kernunnos

www.slosailandcanvas.com
These guys have a temp comparison of the different colors and types of Tramps.

Edited by MN3 on Oct 14, 2014 - 09:13 AM.

Dogboy

Get a Hobie tramp. They cost a little more than the aftermarket tramps, but the quality is unmatched. Think about it this way- you got close to 30 years out of your original Hobie tramp. You'd be lucky to get half that much life from an aftermarket tramp. Plus the Hobie tramps are designed by Hobie specifically for your boat. As for solid vinyl or mesh, it is entirely personal choice. Regarding the tramp getting hot in the sun, I have black mesh on my Hobie 17 and the temperature is never a problem.

sm

I've got a local guy here that makes mesh tramps that I would be happy to put against Hobie tramps. They are stitched and then a layer of vinyl is put over the stitches and its stitched again. Giving it fantastic sun protection. They cost about $300 after shipping. After 20 or 30 years Hobie tramps go into the trash can, Ive seen the mesh tramps on Prindles and old Nacras still be plenty restorable and/or usable after a similar amount of time. In fact, I have trashed and replaced plenty of Hobie tramps. However, I have yet to come across a mesh tramp that just didn't need new stitching or hiking straps at a cost of about $45.

I prefer mesh, heat doesn't seem to be a big issue on the black ones. I do prefer the gray when available.

If your doing an overhaul on your H16 this winter, I would suggest doing the beams in epoxy while your at it. It really does a lot to stiffen an old boat.

carolinacatamarans

Dogboy

Get a Hobie tramp. They cost a little more than the aftermarket tramps, but the quality is unmatched. Think about it this way- you got close to 30 years out of your original Hobie tramp. You'd be lucky to get half that much life from an aftermarket tramp. Plus the Hobie tramps are designed by Hobie specifically for your boat. As for solid vinyl or mesh, it is entirely personal choice. Regarding the tramp getting hot in the sun, I have black mesh on my Hobie 17 and the temperature is never a problem.

sm

I've got a local guy here that makes mesh tramps that I would be happy to put against Hobie tramps. They are stitched and then a layer of vinyl is put over the stitches and its stitched again. Giving it fantastic sun protection. They cost about $300 after shipping. After 20 or 30 years Hobie tramps go into the trash can, Ive seen the mesh tramps on Prindles and old Nacras still be plenty restorable and/or usable after a similar amount of time. In fact, I have trashed and replaced plenty of Hobie tramps. However, I have yet to come across a mesh tramp that just didn't need new stitching or hiking straps at a cost of about $45.

I prefer mesh, heat doesn't seem to be a big issue on the black ones. I do prefer the gray when available.

If your doing an overhaul on your H16 this winter, I would suggest doing the beams in epoxy while your at it. It really does a lot to stiffen an old boat.

Does your guy have a website or anything?

--
Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

Quote

Does your guy have a website or anything?

+1

Bought another hobie 16 over the weekend and it needs a new tramp.

--
Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
--

No website, But you can call him to ask any questions. Tell him Bach gave you the number.

Main Sail Marine
Bill Hendrix
864-299-1092


He is old school. Doesn't do shipping or CC either. However, I do take PayPal payments and ship for him. I have sent several tramps to the West and one to South America. His tramps are made to order, it would take about a week to have a couple ready to go. The 16 tramps feature 2 large pockets near the front as seen on the Hobie 18. They have a little more room in them though. Custom pockets and other modifications are no problem.

Here are 2 not very good pictures of the 16 tramp. You can see the black vinyl on the perimeter.

they look very nice

Bringing this back up, but lets add to it. I haven't done anything other than sail the hobie this year as time permitted. The original tramp is still holding up so far. I did some cleanup of the rudders themselves and polished them a bit, but other than that, just enjoyed sailing her. I actually entered it in the Big Kahuna Cup down on Galveston island from Bermuda Beach to Poretto Beach back in July with my 15 y/o daughter. We had a blast and my daughter may want to join me a little more often now that she has been on the hobie when we had a little wind instead of putt putting around.

I also took her out on Lake Houston down here on a day with a steady 15 mph wind and took turns taking sea scouts out for a trip to show them what BeachCat boats are all about, speed speed speed. We had setup a small course for our sunfish boats to race and while they were racing the course, I went back and forth on it the full length two times to their once LOL.

That said, I've noticed it seems the boat is a little weak when it comes to stiffness. As I cut through the waves, I can see the boat and hulls flexing a bit, meaning the downwind hull is breaking and riding the waves up/down as the upwind hull doesn't move quite as much. I figure it may be time to tighten things up. I don't know how to do that, so I was looking for advice. Do I have to take the whole tramp frame off, cut out the posts and build them back up? The hulls are both solid, no soft spots anywhere. There is some RTV around where the tramp frames go down into the hulls, so I assume there was a leak there and it may be weak/flexing.

Also, the bottoms of the hulls are starting to look a little thin I guess from riding on the trailer and from beaching it. My skipper for our Sea Scout Ship is decent with fiberglass, so I was thinking we would flip the boat over and try to build those up a little on the bottom? Any advice or videos for that?

Thanks,
Carl

--
Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

white90gt

I figure it may be time to tighten things up. I don't know how to do that, so I was looking for advice. Do I have to take the whole tramp frame off, cut out the posts and build them back up? The hulls are both solid, no soft spots anywhere. There is some RTV around where the tramp frames go down into the hulls, so I assume there was a leak there and it may be weak/flexing.

Thanks,
Carl

Cut the tramp posts? Ummm, no, I don't think you want to do that. If you really want to stiffen up the boat, you want to epoxy the frame together. This is a somewhat permanent solution. If you want something less permanent, then you can put shims between the pylons (tramp posts) and the corner castings. Of course, just making sure your tramp is super tight will make a difference, so you might want to start with that if the tramp isn't already tight.

Anyway, epoxying the frame is not that difficult and can be done in an afternoon. You will need epoxy (West Six 10) and a handful of stainless steel rivets. Mask off the crossbars and pylons at the edges of the corner castings. Then pull the tramp frame off of the hulls and drill out the rivets in the corner castings and pull the castings off the crossbars. Apply the six10 epoxy to the inside of the castings, ensuring you get an even coating all around the inside. Re-assemble the crossbars into the castings (beware that epoxy will squeeze out of the casting). Install the crossbars onto the pylons (don't forget the install the side bars). Put the rivets into the crossbars but don't fully pop the rivets yet. Install the tramp and lace it up super tight. Measure the distance between each bow and the rudder pin on the opposite hull. If the measurements are different, place a loop of line around the bow and the stern of the long measurement. Hook your mainsheet to the loops of line and pull tight until the bow/stern measurements are equal. Pop the rivets and let the epoxy cure overnight.

sm

I epoxied the frame on my '87 Hobie 16 a couple years ago....what a difference!!.... well worth the effort! Go to search on the Beach cats home page and type in: How to epoxy the Hobie 16 frame for better performance......an excellent article with step by step instructions and many photos!

I picked up a new black mesh tramp from SLO sails for Christmas. Will install it sometime in the next couple months and will most likely do the Epoxy of the frame at that time. Is it only epoxy on the Pylons or do you pull the frame itself apart and epoxy it as well?

--
Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

I finally got around to installing the new tramp and epoxying the frame. Wow what a difference in the stiffness of the old Hobie 16. Prior to the new tramp and epoxy I could literally raise one bow over 12" before the other would start to lift. A lot of play in it. Now I can only raise it about 1" maybe 1.5" before the other bow comes up with it. HUGE DIFFERENCE! I can't wait to get her back on the water to see how she sails now and how she cuts through chop. I may be hitting up Galveston with it this coming weekend!

I'm a little worried though. Something I didn't notice when I reassembled everything was that my rutters are now pointing away from each other a lot. Like 1.5" wider at the back than at the front.

Before removing the tramp frame, I set the boat down on 4 furniture dollies and made some wood cutouts that were shaped to fit just inside the hulls right near where the tramp posts were and screwed/bolted it all together with a couple of 4"x4" bracer boards so that the hulls would not move when I removed the frame.

As I reinstalled the frame with the epoxy still tacky, I didn't have to do much persuasion to get it back down over the tramp posts. After I had it sitting back down in place and the bolts through the holes in the tramp posts, me and my son started measuring the 4 corners to make sure everything was square. I wrote down the measurements somewhere, but don't have them immediately in front of me. I was measuring from the rudder pin starboard to bow bridle bolt port and vice versa to make sure I got the same measurements from either corner. I'm assuming this was the proper way to make sure she was square. I had to do a little pushing/shoving to get her all squared up, but everything did square up based on those measurements.

So if she is now square, why are the rudders so far out of whack? I don't think the tiller arm/rudders have ever been adjusted because this boat had the original tramp on it from 1985. Last night I went out there and started adjusting. I managed to get the port side of the tiller/rudder assembly to move after removing the bolt completely then tapping it lightly with a rubber mallet. Unfortunately the starboard side adjustment point is not breaking loose. I've nailed it pretty hard with the mallet and sprayed it down with penetrating oil with no luck. The bolt is out, but the casting isn't breaking loose. I'm thinking of getting my torch and heating the outer casting of the crossbar tiller assembly and see if I can knock it loose with heat.

Can someone tell me what the measurements should be on a properly setup Hobie 16?
Rudder pin to rudder pin
Bow bridle bolt to bow bridle bolt
Then the cross measurements:
Starboard bow bolt to port rudder pin
Port bow bolt to starboard rudder pin

Then rudder measurements with the rudders down, front center to center and back center to center.

This info would be much appreciated.

--
Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

deleted extra post



Edited by white90gt on Apr 18, 2016 - 02:33 PM.

--
Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

There are left and right hand rudder arms (the tillers are supposed to point inward). If you put the rudders on the wrong sides when you re-assembled the boat, it would throw off the "toe in." I would check that first. If you have the rudders on the right sides, then raise the stern of the boat so you can lock both rudders down. Then have a helper assist you with measuring the distance between the centerline of the leading edges of the rudders. Then compare that to the distance between the trailing edges of the rudders. The leading edge measurement should be about 1/8" to 1/4" shorter than the trailing edge distance. Adjust the tiller connectors in the tiller crossbar as needed to get the desired toe in.

sm

Just seen this, but i fixed it today. I just removed the whole assembly, never took them apart. However they did get turned around bsckwards. Basically the arms got swung around the opposite direction. I removed them and swung them around and they lined up perfectly. With rudders up they measured 83" center to center at the front and 83" atnthe rear. That said does toeing them in or out slightly help any with performance or should they be even like they are?

im going to shim the castings with cutouts from a plastic butter tub. I also need to replace the rudder pins. Anyone know the sizediameter and length for the pins?

--
Carl S
1985 Hobie 16 the kids call her "Queso"
Baytown, TX Sea Scout Ship 208 "Red Skies Ship 208" on facebook
Nacra, Dolphin, Capri, Sunfish, MacGregor 26x, these are a few of the boats we sail
--

-10000 for SLO SAIL and Canvas.

http://www.thebeachcats.c…ms/viewtopic/topic/11657



Edited by MN3 on Apr 20, 2016 - 01:29 PM.