lorin wrote:
Question:
Our (small) club has an older hobie 16, banana style floats, and older rigging: the cat has a precarious tendency to dive the lee hull on an easy reach, or dip both floats when down wind. In comparison to the vast assortment of cats that the other clubs have, I've noticed that our cat floats off the trailer pretty even keel. So assuming that all prudent seamanship has been considered here:
Will increasing the mast rake increase forward lift?
Raking the mast back will lift the stern. If you do rake it back you may find you have increased weather helm.
lorin wrote:
Do the crossbars (can the crossbars) need to be repositioned aft on the hulls?
Not without major surgery. The easy fix for the bows plowing under is to move the skipper and crew aft. That will rebalance the boat.
lorin wrote:
Does the rigging need to be re-tuned?
Best tuning is to set the shrouds in the bottom hole of the chain plates. That’ll get the boat pointing higher. If your standing rigging is old you might want to replace it for peace of mind.
lorin wrote:
Is this the way 16s were designed in the old days?
The 16 design has been the same for a lotta years. Other then small improvements to standing and running rigging and some changes in hull manufacturing, it’s the same boat as new ones off the line today.