Mast Rake Change

I have what I believe is a 1981 Hobie 16 I bought last fall, and am prepping her for this spring. I have been reading that Hobie changed the shrouds and forestay lengths to change the rake of the mast at some point in the 80s. I purchased new sails but now I'm wondering if they will fit correctly or if I need new shrouds and forestay.

How can I tell which rake I have? The sails were bought new from Intensity, so I assume they are for the more recent rake angle, but how can I be sure?

Main sails did not change, but Jibs have changed a bit. More importantly the main sheet block setups changed to lower profile designs to enable the rake to move more aft.

You lower the shrouds in the chain plates then tension the jib halyard to pull the mast forward and tension the rig... then check the main sheet's ability to sheet hard enough for the conditions. Sheeting hard there should be very little distance between the blocks on the boom and traveler. If they touch before you get enough sheet tension... move the shrouds up the chain plate. If there is a gap... move the shrouds lower. It is trial and error as boats and hardware vary so much.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

This is the thing that has always troubled me about tuning the Hobie 16. Mast rake being adjusted so the main sheet blocks are not to close or too far apart.
In all other racing dinghies and cats I've adjusted mast rake to fit the boats performance in various conditions something that can't entirely be done on a Hobie 16 because there's not enough gap between the aft beam and the end of the boom.
I guess it's not important for one design racing but there is a compromise in the performance just so sheeting block to block doesn't come too early.

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Ashus
Mirror, Bosun, Laser, Fireball, Hobie 16, Dart 18, IOR 1 Tonner, 1720, Ozgoose, Hobie Getaway

I have an 85 and to get the rake right per Matt’s method had to add another 10 hole chain plate on the forestay to lengthen the forestay