New Tandem RECEIVED!

FINALLY it all came together this past week. I was able to get the TI rigged and checked and into the water three days of last week.
The first day was Tuesday of last week. We put in at Punta Rassa, just at the foot of the toll bridge to Sanibel and were on the water by 9am and cruising the mangroves of Bunche beach in Lee county.
Having the ability to sheet the mainsail is awesome, it allows you to sail with minimal power and manage the shoreline very well, in fact we didnt even peddle at all. We sailed the shoreline looking for fish and within 10 minutes floated over three VERY LARGE redfish that were hunting the mangroves. We were right over them before they knew what was happening. We floated over a bull redfish that had to be over 30 inches long and he just floated there eyeballing us wondering what we were...
The shallow water performance of this craft is astounding we were in less that a foot of water for most of the morning with nary a problem. We floated up two small streams and caught many fish, reds, snook, and whiting and a handful of large sail cats, it was an awesome morning.
We went to full sail and got out in the bay. Let me say that when the mainsail fills the acceleration is amazing. This craft performs very well and I am certain we averaged 5 to 7 knots on most of our beam reach sailing. We made the rounds in San Carlos Bay, Bunche Beach, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, Pine island.
Sailing this rig is nearly effortless and very fun. Beaching and landing are easy and launching is a breeze. We accomplished all of this sailing in around 6 hours.
We landed on the beach in Sanibel and shot some footage of feeding porpoises and I was amazed at the amount of people who were drawn to the craft. We were literally mobbed at first then entertained questions for the entire time we were there.

We sailed the Pine island area on Thursday and then sailed the Estero bay and south fort Myers beach area on Saturday. We took the TI out about 3.5 miles on a steady 10- 12mph SW wind. The water was warm, the swells were 3 to 5 foot and we cruised effortlessly. I was reunited with the wonderful queasiness of seasickness at about 3 miles so we turned back for calmer waters and fished most of the day off of the shores of the local nude beach. We caught pompano, mangrove snapper, spanish mackerel and several large sail cats. Then we sailed back to the launch site and packed her in for the night, we enjoyed Pompano salad that evening and generally recovered from WAY too much fun, sun and sailing... LOL!

Although I am still a novice at this I have to say that the TI is a nimble and responsive craft. Under full sail it is a blast. Both positions are a wet ride, but in warm South Florida water that is not an issue.
The craft is an amazingly stable platform, in fact it is like a floating DOCK!... lol! It is easy to get in and out of even in deep water. You can stand at will and even sit or stand right on the edge without fear of tipping.

Under sail, the hull porpoises just as I was warned here on the forum, and on a few rollers I too was wondering if it would ever come up for air. The out rigger also stays under water under full power but is easily coaxed above by altering course or sheeting the mainsail.

I found the rudder to be one of two problematic pieces of gear and the seats to be the other.

There are times the rudder does not respond, even when locked in place. The problem is only exhibited when steering starboard. This issue came about several times and was corrected by unlocking the rudder and re-locking it, sometimes more than once. I found the steering was MUCH more responsive when the dagger board was deployed and the steering also tended not to malfunction as much when the dagger was deployed as well. I will be looking into this issue closely before sailing again.

I am not pleased with seat performance at all in this Hobie. The seats provided slipped constantly and also the retainer plugs continually popped out of the holes regardless of how tight I screwed the plugs in. It was a constant irritation and made pedaling very tough, good thing you do not have to do much pedaling... LOL.

all in all, I can't say enough about how impressed I am with tis Kayak. It was the absolute BEST choice for us to get into sailing again. I can see some more sailboats in my future but I will always be thankful for this little kayak and the world it has opened up to us. I look forward to years of fun with this craft.

You get them screwed in with tension? Sometimes the inner part just spins in the hole, so tighten a bit, then insert and tighten some more.



Locked in place? Do you pull hard on the down line and... with the tension on the line held... set the line in the down control cleat?

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

Anakritis,
Great report. Thanks.

Regarding the seat slipping here is an excerpt from an earlier post:

For those with the seat back slipping loose, adding a triglide buckle (in pic top right) or better yet a camlock style buckle (easier to adjust) to the strap hook end locks the loose strap and prevents the seatback slipping. Simply unthread the seat strap, thread the webbing through the extra buckle and then rethread back through the seat. Adjust your seat, feed the slack back through the extra buckle and lock it.



More info here:
viewtopic.php?p=73587#p73587

I've had the same problem with the rudder not working when steering to the starboard side a few times on two trips now. I've learned that it does help to pull the rudder up and put it back down. (Very annoying) And yes, I do have the down line pulled out and locked with tension. I tried to replicate the problem on dry land with the boat suspended and could only do this when the down line was not locked into position. In the future I'm going to try to put a lot more tension on the down line before locking in place and see if that helps the situation.

OK, I now have more than 24 hours of sailing time in the new tandem and I have many observations to share and one MAJOR gripe.
First off the tri-glide buckle suggested by Stringy was an excellent fix. less than $8 for four buckles and they work flawlessly.

I am impressed with the shallow water performance and the high wind performance of this craft. it is an excellent fishing platform for the south florida innercoastals.

I am not happy with the rudder AT ALL.
The rudder is completely unresponsive when attempting to steer starboard. The situation has deteriorated each time i go out. When a person stops and inspects the rudder it seems to function well enough with only minimum hangups in the starboard sweep, but when you are aboard and loaded it SUCKS OUT LOUD!

It has become so bad in fact that I will not be returning to the water untill the problem is remedied. My last outing was spent making circles in an attempt to tack back to the launch site. It nearly ruined an otherwise wonderful day.

I have been inside of the boat to inspect the gear but Have not made any corrections in order not to violate warranty.

I am scheduled to return the hull to my dealer on thursday, Hopefully the problem will be remedied because it is nearly impossible to sail at this time.

Just got my Tandem...
My AI Dodger fits the forward cockpit perfectly. The Dodger will fit the rear cockpit but the front deflector panels have to be folded down onto the back of the front seat. But the Dodger will still deflect unwanted spray and side-splashes.
The AI tramps also fit fit without a problem...I was always worried about stepping onto the AI aka braces while on the tramps...but with the TI rear facing braces that worry is now negated.
Thanks Hobie (and Matt) for saving me a lot of dollars!

That's interesting info to know - thanks for sharing Tidalwave
How do you find the rudder responsiveness?

_________________
Mickey
2016 AI Hibiscus
purchased NEW Nov 2021 - My 5th
Adventure Island Sailing since 2008

Mickeymouse;

I just got my Tandem and have been out twice in 10 knot winds and could not have asked for a better rudder balance. No weather helm at all so far. I had a bravo and thought it was fast but the Tandem sure is faster in the same wind. I have had nothing go wrong yet, My boss at work can’t figure out the grin on my face this week.

_________________
“Remember life is short- eat dessert first.”
The world is 70% water – So that means we should spend 70% more time sailing than mowing lawns!
Larry

Larry - good to hear
How are you finding the weight? I presume you go out with someone else

_________________
Mickey
2016 AI Hibiscus
purchased NEW Nov 2021 - My 5th
Adventure Island Sailing since 2008

Mickey;

I am not sure what you mean by weight? The overall weight is not a problem, I slide the tandem back so I can put the cart in the front holes which really balances the tandem so there is no effort in picking it up front or back. All you have is the pull to the water. And I do not take the cart out until in the water. Denise and I sail/fish together all the time. We have 2 Outbacks and now the Kids can use them when we go. We have been letting them use a pelican tandem paddle only and play just a little with the Outbacks.

But I have not needed any help to load or unload yet. Denise does help tie down by passing straps across so I don’t have to walk around. She takes care of the load and unload of the drives, seats and all the other stuff.

If you want more info let me know. We would love to see your pictures some time.

_________________
“Remember life is short- eat dessert first.”
The world is 70% water – So that means we should spend 70% more time sailing than mowing lawns!
Larry

I am glad to hear that at least one TI is performing as well as mine without rudder problems.
Unfortunately for me sailing season is over until the rudder problems are fixed.
This is extremely disappointing for me considering the investment and and time waiting for the craft.

The issue is actually dangerous in some circumstances as a sailor simply cannot steer to the starboard side in an emergency, not to mention exasperating trying to actually go anywhere!

MY TI simply has rudder problem that I cannot figure out, and being fresh from the factory I suspect it is a manufacturing or assembly error.

Unfortunate really.

This is the time where I learn how well Hobie will respond to the issue, and if they will repair and eliminate the problem.
I certainly hope there is no delay, I WANT TO GO SAILING! LOL!

I thought I would point out that this situation has already caused some damage to my craft, however small.
While comming in to the dock on Matlacha Park Kayak launch I was unable to steer starboard. I was only drifting slowly and the sail was furled but The TI had just enough momentum to hit the dock and shear the nylon bolt holding the aka locking arm on the aka.
I know this bolt was meant to do this but still could have been avoided if the rudder issue was not a persistent irritation.

Anakritis, do you get the problem when you are controlling the rudder from either the front or the rear seat? Does the rudder move fully to starboard when the boat is out of the water? Once it's out on the water and not steering properly, can you lie along the bow and see if the rudder is popping up a bit when you steer to starboard (assuming you have a companion)? I haven't seen a TI, but with the AI, that problem is caused by the rudder not being properly cleated down. With two rudder controls, there's twice the potential for a problem. Have you tried cleating down both the front and rear rudder downlines? I know that shouldn't be necessary, but it might get you sailing until your dealer sorts out what's wrong.

_________________

Anakritis - Please keep us informed of what they say about your rudder issue.

I have become very frustrated as well. After yesterday's trip to Biscayne Bay this became quite dangerous with all the power boaters. No less than 3 times I could not turn the boat. There were numerous times I would have the rudder cranked all the way to the right just to test, and nothing would happen. I even came very close to having a collision with an anchored boat. And it's not just the starboard side anymore, I had an issue with turning to the port side as well.

After reading this post I made extra sure to have the rudder line locked tight, as I thought this could have been an issue before. However, I couldn't get the line any tighter without breaking it, so I am confident this was not the issue. What makes this even more frustrating is everything seems to be functioning correctly when inspected. The only information I can give is that this seems to happen most often when I'm powered up pretty good, which makes it even more dangerous because things are happening quicker. Part of me wonders if there's so much stress on the rudder that the rudder line is actually stretching. So the rudder control lever moves, but the actual rudder does not move much.

Hi Stringy.

Re: camlock style buckles

Our backrests straps slip too. It would appear the camlocks may be more user friendly than the triglides. Would you recommended the following camlock style buckles? Are the tandem's straps 1" wide?

http://www.countrybrookdesign.com/5-1-C ... 91307.html

_________________
Marc K
2010 Hobie Tandem Island
Boynton Beach, FL