Getaway comp tip ongoing debacle

I know there's been more than a few posts on this but I have to chime in on my own unique experience with this "new" two part mast design.

We buy our Hobie Getaways brand new and unassembled and have them shipped to St John in the US Virgin Islands. Our last boat came with an included adhesive to glue the comp tip to the aluminum bottom section of the mast.

We cleaned it with alcohol and fitted the two sections but the glue did not hold. I called Hobie and they recommended bondo which also did not hold. I tried West System two part marine epoxy and still it failed to hold. I sanded and cleaned each section before another attempt.

Oddly what seems to happening now is that the comp tip is jamming itself down into the mast bottom, with pieces of fiber glass from the tip breaking off as it goes. I can only guess it is bouncing up there through boat wakes and hammering itself in. This is a slow process, happening over years. I file off the protruding pieces of glass from the tip when they chafe the shrouds.

It's come down far enough now that stock replacement rigging leaves the mast looser than I like. I think a tight rig helps prevent shock loading and increases the life of the rigging, tangs, hole adjusters, etc.

In addition to this oddity the plastic mast track that inserts into the comp tip has been breaking out in sections. (I de-rig and polish the comp tip every year with a UV protector). We first replaced sections with old spares by cutting them to length and popping them on.

However, I think the plastic mast tracks are now thicker and "un-spreadable" probably in an effort to make them stronger. So when we ordered a new one which had to be shipped, on a boat, with a shipping company, bill of lading, blah, blah 3 weeks later it arrived broken and foolishly (me) uninsured. The second was packaged better and insured but also broken! Just at the end and since they come a little long I was able to cut most of the cracked part away and collect the insurance. So I only had to pay for one and not two mast tracks and shipping.

Next problem; it was nearly impossible to put on. Remember the comp tip that won't adhere to the base? Well it is so jammed it won't come out either. We got it apart with a winch and some fancy knots. Hobie recommended pulling it out with a truck.

I carefully hammered the new (only slightly cracked) mast track on using lots of soapy water and a rubber mallet. Then we epoxied the comp tip back on. Only problem now is that the sail pulls out of the new mast track whenever we sail in rough conditions, which is every boat wake. It comes out at the top, not the bottom where the crack is.

At this point I thought about replacing the comp tip with a new one until I saw the price, plus shipping on the freight boat of destruction.

The entire time this has been going on I have been dreaming of a simple, virtually indestructable one piece aluminum mast - ah the good old days. I for one would be happy to risk electrocution for a bomb proof mast.

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Capt. Han
Sail Safaris tours, lessons and rentals
St John, US Virgin Islands
http://www.sailsafaris.net
toll free(866)820-6906

Yeah, the design seems like a hack. I always thought coating the mast with "rubber" would be simpler than having two parts, or make the whole mast composite.

Not that I know, but it seams to me if the rig is too tight is will continually try to squash the com tip into the aluminum part of the mast. I did worry about that and have always left my rig a little lose. I always wondered why Hobie wouldn't have run the aluminum part of the mast just a little higher so the shroud bracket could be attached to the aluminum part of the mast. That would take a huge load off the com tip. Just a thought, would a 16 mast mast work if you cut it to the right length and changed the base? If so you could purchase an non com tip 16 mast and convert it over.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Been the same basic design (CompTip) since 1985 and 10s of thousands have been built. The Getaway and Wave are unique in that the mast tang is not part of the aluminum to comptip bond. I'd suggest setting some rivets in the recently installed tip to lock in the height for this commercially used boat.

On the sail pulling out. Are you using the stock halyard with the locking swedge at the top? You can not use a halyard simply tied off at the mast base. You need the wire locked in up top to hold the sail head in the track.

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

Hi Matt,

Thanks for replying. I posted this not to complain but in the interest of innovative solutions that might make it into future production. I will try rivets, but still cant figure why this happened.

Also you are correct, we gave up on the wire to rope halyards b.c they failed so often. Would love a good solution for a stronger wire to rope connection. They usually fail right at the cap. That would solve both problems! I was thinking about a crimped stopper on a wire to rope. I think some of the 18's had this?

_________________
Capt. Han
Sail Safaris tours, lessons and rentals
St John, US Virgin Islands
http://www.sailsafaris.net
toll free(866)820-6906