first boat....im gonna need some help.

Hello. i was given one and a half hobie 16's last week from a friend who was leaving the state. The one i have put mostly together is pretty much ready to sail but the mast bse is kinda loose. some of the rivetts are coming out and the mast has a small crack at the rivet. Do i need to repair this before i go out or is it still sailable? And how do i fix it cause i saw a new mast was $$$$$. Just the first of many questions.
Thanks

It might not be much to worry about. Try to show some pictures and you will get some great advice from an awful lot of very experianced sailors.

Doesn't sound like to big of a deal but you might want to seal it with something so that it doesn;t leak when you turn over...which you will being a new sailor.

The 16 is a fun boat and can handle alot of abuse. Make sure to keep the weight back and rake the mast back quite a bit so that it is easier to tack and pitchpoles less.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

It'd be nice to see a pic, but if it's the standard issue where the base gets loose and the rivets cause the base of the mast extrusion to crack, just move the rivets. It's important to have the mast base solid as there is quite a bit of stress on it while raising the mast. There should be a foam plug up iside the mast about 8", run some silicone aroud it to make sure it's sealed while you have te base off. Hope that helps.

**Use stainless rivets!! Aluminum rivets are not strong enough!**

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Sail Revolution
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The base is pulled away a little bit but it seats back into place when the mast is raised.

Huh, that is kinda ugly looking. I would say remove it and move the rivets a little bit. Doesn't sound to hard and will give you some confidence in the mast step.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

I would suggest that when you do reloactet he rivits you also do some crack mitigation. In the lower picture, the rivet on the right has a crack leading towards the rivet on the left. Cracks will continue to propagate unless the stresses are removed from the area (very unlikely unless you stop sailing) or you remove the end of the crack. To do that take a small diameter drill and at the end of the crack drill a hole. This will drastically increse the area the stress of the stress concentration and will most likely keep the crack at bay.

I would take the 10 minutes and do the repair.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

OOOOh! Ugly! You should be fine if you move the rivets. It looks like there is some good meat on the sides and trailing section. They crack like that most often if the boat is sailed with a loose base. Make sure the base tight in the extrusion before sailing. You may wanr ro think about a new base too, looks like the stops are pretty worn.

3/16 bit
rivet gun
rivets (from memory 8010131?)

easy!

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Sail Revolution
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I replaced my mast base after a tried to raise the mast before connecting the sshrouds. First attempt. It's an easy repair, I think the new mast base was like 50 bucks, well worth it in my case.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Where should i put the new rivets? Is the base deep enough that ican move them up the mast or do i need to put the new ones between the old ones?

The base really isn't all that deep, less than an inch I believe if my memory serves me correctly. I would just put them in new locations, if at all possible, maybe even at three or four points. I'd definately fix it before I sail, I'm a little supprised that thing hasn't just come completely off.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Ok another newb question. What is the process to remove the rivets? Drill'em out?

That's what I did - just drilled 'em out carefully. Then I found some locations that the mast base was solid (my mast base was cracked and broken away in the original holes), marked the mast at the same spot and then drilled new holes, and riveted the two together again. In your case, I guess you'd find some locations on the mast that was solid.

Remember to seal up the plug before you rivet on the base. I also placed sealant around the mast base before slipping it into the mast. Once I had riveted the mast base on I sealed over the rivets as well and made sure I had a good coating of sealant over the mast base/mast join. Last thing I want is any water going into my mast. It sure is watertight now - the only water that goes in anything when I tip is into the boom but I figure that doesn't contain too much water so I haven't worried about it.

The ones on the sides have stretched out and drilling will be difficult because of the weird angle and they'll want to spin in their holes.

Knock the heads off with a cold chisel (or an old flat blade screwdriver) and a hammer. You can punch the tails in after that.

That works for almost any rivet, if you're not worried about scratching the aluminum around it.

HobieNewBee,

Another good place to get these kind of questions answered would be at your local Hobie Class Association fleet meeting. I see you are in Fresno, which is where I am too. Your local fleet is Hobie Fleet 62 and our next meeting is this Thursday at 1830 in the Tower District at Sequoia Brewing Company. There are more details on the meeting and the the fleet on our website at http://www.fleet62.hobieclass.com/ - hope to see you there!

Jason Moore