Hobie 14 side rail Chain plate connection

I recently restored an old 14 , and took it out in good winds 15-25 knots , while Sailing a nice reach I noticed the windward Side rail bending and ready to break . ( it now is permanently bent ) . This really is the weakest link on The 14 , The 16 shrouds all fasten to the side of the hull , so I think that's what I should do , funny thing is when I look around on-line at pics of 14s , even the High performance Sailors seem to just stay with the Side rail connection , Anybody switch theirs over ? Any pitfalls to watch out for ? The only thing I am worried about is that my hulls are a little soft in the mid section on the top , that kind of worries Me . Of course fixing soft hulls is a whole nother forum , Aloha.

I have never had a problem with that. I am not sure the hull lip of a 14 is designed to take shrouds, which would need to be extended anyway. On a 16 there's a metal bar under there too.

If you are in the UK I have a pair of H14 rails that you can have.

Bent? The loads should conform to the bend designed-in... it bows inboard a bit.

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

Yah Matt , Bent up , where the chain plate is attached to the shroud, there is some corrosion underneath , it's pretty common on 14 for them to break Right there, ( thehazrds ) -- Thanks next time I'm in UK I'll come get those I've even heard crazy talk of Sailors reinforcing that area with pipe or other materials like wood to circumvent the Issue, I have found a replacement and need to install , just inconvenient to have to take the whole thing apart when I just put it together, I guess that's part of the Joy , but back to the " through Hull " thing , while watching the Hobie Championship Videos on You tube it looks like a fair amount of the competitors have there Boats rigged that way , so apperantlly Matt , I am not the only one and I guess it's class legal too.

There were some pics online a while ago (I can't seem to find them now) from someone who reinforced the shrouds by adding the H16 shroud anchor bar and anchor pin to the hull. Then he ran a short pigtail from the anchor pin on the hull up to the shroud adjuster on the side bar. He bolted a H16 bow tang to the stay adjuster in order to connect the pigtail. Sorry for the convoluted description, the picture would be best. Anyway, the system was relatively clean and allowed the load to be spread between the side bar and the hull flange so you get the best of both worlds.

You might also want to check for corrosion on your sidebar. It's possible that the shroud anchor holes have corroded heavily and that's what caused the sidebar to weaken and bend.

sm

Srm , I like that Idea , Not putting all my eggs in one basket so to speak. , I own a Swager so really just reinforcing what's there , and no need to just throw out perfectly good shrouds. Cool

Ahhh... mis read that. I was thinking the plate. Yes, the bars do bend upwards and worse if due to corrosion. No Hobie 14 was even produced in the US with shrouds to the rails. I would be concerned about damaging the rail lip

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

Matt , Okay thanks , that is My main concern , damaging the Lip that's NOT designed to Handle that load like The 16s are .

It's only class legal if they're made that way to begin with. Hobie Cat Europe started building them that way a few years ago. There's reinforcing inside the hull to help spread out the load. No way would I even attempt to retrofit a boat that's not rock-solid to begin with.

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Sharkdog99 - (Hobie 14T/J)

Years ago, I had a similar problem with my first Hobie, a 70's vintage unirig 14. First, the chainplates got loose due to corrosion at the rivets. I moved them back slightly and re-riveted. At a later time, the side rail bent as you described. When I replaced them,out of curiosity I cut one the old ones in two in the area of the chain plate. I found an amazing amount of corrosion in the vicinity of the plates which had gotten so bad as to actually thin the walls resulting in the bend. Since I sail mostly in salt water, I've been REAL careful since to hose the boats every time I take them out, paying particular attention to that area. Had no problems on my current 14-an '82 turbo. Yet, anyway! Knock on wood.

Dave