Hobie 18 rigging help

I bought a used Hobie 18 and was wondering if anyone knows of any rigging diagrams or step by step how toos? I have watched some YouTube vids, read the owners manual and a catamaran sailing book but they are all pretty vague when it comes to step by step rigging.

I also have a question about trapeze rigging. Most pictures I see online have two separate ropes on each side of the boat for trapeze, mine has one rope tied through both holes with two pullies on it and a bungie cord attached to it that runs to the front of the boat. Is this some kind of different setup and what is the long bungee used for that almost runs to the very front of the boat?

This is a non-class legal Mod that helps let the bungy move freely, but it also creates something else to snag your foot or slam into.

Stock rigging has one bungy from the front and one from the rear that come out of those two holes, rather than the friction of the static fairleads, you have two pullies that you can run your bungies through instead. The skipper's trap bungy from the aft, and the crew's from the bow.

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Tom
Fleet 259, Central Coast CA
H18 ('81)
H18 ('85)
H20 ('97)
H18 ('78)

Congrats on your new boat and welcome to the fleet! I'm sure you'll love the 18, it's a fantastic boat to sail!

As far as rigging and setup goes, some aspects of it are a little tricky, even without the mods. I bought my boat two years ago, and I found jmecky's rigging videos immensely helpful:

part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl7kZOQ5WQk
part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QLltz31cy8

That said, there were things I still had a hard time figuring out... the jib halyard and the main downhaul, for example. My 18 also had modified trapeze rigs that were trickier to figure out... mine were different from yours, they had the adjustable trapeze rig. I found it's best to learn by doing. I set mine up in the driveway before I went out, just so I could take my time figuring out how it all went together. However, if you have any questions on rigging, feel free to ask! There are some very knowledgeable people on here, and they're always more than willing to lend a helping hand!

As moncasta said, your trapeze shock chord setup is not standard. It is not "class legal," if you intend to race, but if you're just looking to have fun and can figure out how to rig it, by all means!

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Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

The jib halyard is also what confuses me and I'm trying to figure that one out before I start rigging in the driveway. That and the horrible windy and cold weather we have here in May. I did watch those videos a few times over a while back.

Another thing I'm confused about is shroud tension. Is that something I need to do each time the boat is rigged and then loosen the tension each time I'm done sailing to lower the mast? I wasn't going to rig the trapeze since I'm not going to be using it for a while but is the only way to adjust shroud tension is to hang of the trapeze?

Once you have the jib hoisted all the way, take the end of the halyard and thread it through the shackle holding the tack of the jib (lower corner). Then run the end of the halyard back up to the small pulley at the end of the jib halyard cable, and then pull it back down and cleat it on the plastic cleat of the jib sail. This allows you to tension or loosen the jib halyard as necessary for the conditions. The extra halyard gets tucked into the pocket of the jib and zipped up.

Tighter halyard = finer entry for better pointing ability and less power (when it's windier or you have a light crew), a looser halyard = fuller entry for more power (when it's lighter winds, choppy waters or a heavy crew).

When you step your mast, your shrouds will need to be loose so that you can pin the forestay in place. After it's stepped, you will have to tighten the shrouds. The trapeze wires aren't the only way to tension the shrouds down, but they are the easiest way. Have your crew hang on them while you pin the shrouds, and remember both sides have to be even.

Another method I've read about but haven't tried is to tie your main halyard to the end of your boom, move your main traveller car all the way to one side, crank down the mainsheet and then pin the shrouds. However, This risks breaking the halyard and dismasting, so I wouldn't recommend it.

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Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

The main halyard isn't meant to take that kind of tension - DON'T DO IT.

The proper way to tension the shrouds without the trapezes is to raise the mainsail, hook up the boom and mainsheet, move your main traveller car all the way to one side, crank down the mainsheet and then pin the shrouds.

The shrouds don't have to be in the same hole on each side - the objective is to have the mast vertical. If your shrouds are slightly different lengths, then they won't be. Regardless, if they are off by one or two holes, it won't make a noticeable difference when you're just beginning.

Gotta disagree with Matt on this one. You can use the main halyard to tension the rig on the H18. We've done it that way for a number of years without incident and if I recall, that's the tensioning method described in the H18 performance manual. The tensile strength of a 1/4" prestretch line (the standard H18 halyard line) is over 1500lbs. There is absolutely no reason for you to tension the shrouds on the H18 with anywhere near that much load - a couple hundred pounds would be all that's needed. I for one would never raise the mainsail, sheet it in hard, and then start popping shrouds. That's an invitation for either dismasting or capsizing the boat on the beach.

sm

OK, I'll concede to Steve, since he is an active 18 racer and I'm extrapolating my Tiger experience to the 18 (the last time I raced an 18 was a while ago).

But using the sail to tension the shrouds is SOP on an F18, where the halyard is very thin.

Thanks for the help so far. There are two long bungees attached to that trapeze mod with the pullies which you can sort of see in the pic and those bungees run up to almost front of the hulls, do I unattach those bungees and do they attach to the dagger boards? Or is it not even necessary to have anything attached to the dagger boards?

One end of the bungee attaches to the front of the boat, the other connects to your trap wire assembly. There are holes about six inches in front of the front crossbar for bungee to attach to the daggers.

One other fun rig tension trick I learned last weekend was to use the trap wires themselves, attach them to your blocks and set your shrouds. At this point in its life, your halyard may or may not be suitable to tension the rig. If it feels stretchy or looks frayed... it may survive a bit longer as a halyard, but will probably snap while it's the only thing holding your mast up.

Tom

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Tom
Fleet 259, Central Coast CA
H18 ('81)
H18 ('85)
H20 ('97)
H18 ('78)

Ok thanks. I was just a bit confused because one of the trapeze bungees coming from the rear is broken. So I have two bungees coming from the front of the boat on one side as you can somewhat see in the photo, which is what threw me off. While on the other side I have one bungee coming from the front and one from the rear.

where are you from roblox?... if we know, there may be someone close by who can give you a hand it setting the boat up properly.
The other thing is to find your local fleet, attend a weekend event or regatta... and stand there, arms up in the air and shout 'HELP'... lots of people will come over and give you more help than you ever expected or wanted.... it's just our way...

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Paul Evenden
NRO, RMMCC, CJ

Actually, the proper way is the skippers comes from the front, through the back hole, to the skipper wire.. while the crew's bungy comes from aft through the front hole to the wire. This avoids the right angle or more turn on the bungy and allows it to move more freely... (as much as it can through that small hole.)

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Paul Evenden
NRO, RMMCC, CJ

I'm actually located in Mansfield Ohio. There's a sailing club around here that said they'd help me out but they mainly sail mono hulls and noone has a catamaran. There's also a catamaran club in Columbus but the guy wanted $200 for some lessons so if I can't figure out how to set it up I'm just going to take it to the club by my house unless you guys know someone around here.

If you follow this link you'll find the fleet listing for North America. There is Fleet 400 in Toledo with a contact phone number. Give the guy a call, and he might know some 18 sailors in your area that can help. also, there is a google group for Hobie 18 sailors for Championship events, information etc... you can find it here

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Paul Evenden
NRO, RMMCC, CJ