Upright solo righting system

Anyone know / experience this? 130.00 is a bit steep - but worth it if it works.
It's unclear from the catalog... but almost seems as if it extends (temporarily) the skyward shroud line so that the skyward hull is more toward the water adding more weight to the solo person trying to upright the boat?

Is this easy to use? and really work (worth the cost?) I'm ordering some things and would add this if it's an asset.

I can not attest to its affectiveness yet, but I do have this system installed on my H16. Yes, your assumptions are correct, it changes the pivot point of the boat by extending the skyward shroud. I decided to purchase it after a couple of people on this forum praised it for the ease they have in righting there boat.

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War Damn Eagle
Branson

With that much slack in the shrouds, is there any danger of the mast unstepping?

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

Definitely.

For boats like the Hobie 17 & 20, you need to have the pin in the mast base to keep the mast connected to the step. For boats like the Hobie 16 (non-captive mast step), you need to have a restraint that holds the mast to the front crossbar. This is basically a wire loop that is shackled to the mast and wrapped around the dolphin striker post.

Personally, I would be very leery of pulling shroud pins on a capsized boat, but these systems have been around for many years, so I guess they can work ok. I would probably be more inclined to use a righting pole than a shroud extender.

Also keep in mind that if you're using the boat solo, you will have to single-handedly re-connect the released shroud before sailing. That may not be easy to accomplish if the wind is strong (i.e. you will have to crawl down to the leeward side and re-pin the shroud while controlling the boat and not flipping again).

sm

I've got one and I use it quite often. Makes solo righting much easier. The mast has never come off the step with the supplied keeper. Best 130 bucks I've ever spent on my 16. Some people are nay-sayers about the quick release pin being strong enough for the shroud tension but I say that I've been out in 25+ mph winds and rough water, the little pins have never bent or failed me yet.

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1990 "Formula 1" H16 (# 009)

It works great but its kind of a rip when you consider this is basically a set of two foot long shroud wires of the same diameter with the same thimbles for twice the price. Other than that you get two quick pins and shackles worth 15-20 bucks. You could probably swage up a set at West Marine for less than 50 bucks.

Re-pinning the shroud is not a big deal. If you clip your harness into your trap wire you can use your body weight to pull the mast over and have both hands available to align and re-pin the wire.

Also, contrary to popular belief, the power pole is not a solo righting system (unless you weigh 250 lbs) and is not advertised as such.

the two ball lock pins alone cost around $50.

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Sail Revolution
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may give this a try then. To re-attach the shroud - I suspect putting the side you need to attach down wind would loosen it enough to allow me to re-insert the pin at proper tension.

thanks for the info. Instead of adding a BOB to the top of the mast, I'm also trying something else. I have several floating bouys around (they look like the old teather balls) with a rubber block ont hem for an attachment point). I attach two of these to the sail when raising it so I have two (very light and very boyant) balls at the top of the mast.

Less weight then prbably a baby bob and I estimate around the same boyancy.

You gotta post a pic of this if you do it.

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1990 "Formula 1" H16 (# 009)

Just a thought -

If the pupose of this righting system is to move the upper hull back(when the boat is capsized) A Hobie-bob partialy gets you there.

I had a baby bob on my previous H16 and when capsized, the upper hull always seemed to be directly over the lower hull, which I would think helped with righting, but not enough for solo-righting.

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1980 18 foot class A Unicorn catamaran
1977 Super Sunfish (sold)
1979 Hobie (sold)
1983 Hobie 16 Hawiian Sunset (sold)
1981 Hobie 16 Tequilla Sunrise (sold)
2008 Hobie 16 (sold)
2023 Hobie 16
Founding member of the "San Dimas Yacht Club"
John

One time, back in the 80’s, I was out flying around solo and went over. I was drifting towards the end of a big jetty and spent 10 mins trying to right my cat. I was able to pivot the boat around so the mast was pointed into the wind and with about 50’ to spare and a prayer, the wind got under the sail and sucked it out of the water. After that I tried a couple of things, one was filling a bag with water, but nothing worked. Somewhere I came across the SRS, I think it was around $40 at the time, and I never worried about going solo again!
If I recall the single wire goes around the downhaul halyard and the dolphin striker. Just enough for the mast to move but not fall out of the base when you release the additional 12” or so of shroud. It can be a little intimidating the first time as once you right the boat the mast will be swaying in the breeze, best to practice a couple of times with an assist onboard.
If I had to do it again, and I may since after 15 years in storage I’m planning on renovating my 1980 H16, I would pick up the parts and build myself. I already have a manual (bolt type) swag tool, etc. I’m glad I didn’t toss out my quick release ball and pin locks, wow have they gone up in price! Search around the web and tack on ”low price” or “discount”, you may find them a little cheaper. But you may want to spend the extra $$ and buy the kit, it will fit right and come with instructions.
Good Luck!

I was just looking at the "bad day" post and came across this website. Interesting righting system about the same cost. Doesn't say about solo but it's all about leverage!
http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc ... re_Code=MS

The power pole is not a solo righting system. It is a perfect example of engineering overkill. It is expensive, confusing to install, hard to deploy/stow and gives you no more advantage than a simple righting line attached to the dolphin striker. It's not a better mousetrap. The mounting base however, works well with a spinnaker boom.

The dealer I'm trying to order my stuff from said he didn't recommend this.

He hasn't used, but heard it's HARD to re-connect once righted? I appreciate that he didn't just want to make a sale. (referring me away from it) but I didn't read this problem here?

Seems having the side to re-connect down wind would push the sail/mast back and make it easy to reconnect? (though to do so - I'd be on the down wind side of the boat and would capsize again?

Still even if I couldn't reconnect it. (I'm on a small lake) If I could right the boat and sail it (limping) back to shore (my house) and reconnect it once back at shore that would be fine for me as well).

I still feel I should get it?

Why listen to hearsay from someone who has never tried it? Keep your bows into the wind in irons. Clip a trap wire into your harness then lean over and use both hands to re-attach.