Tighting up sidebars,castings and pylons (HELP)

Hi, wondering if anyone has tried or attempted welding the sidebars to the castings and the castings to the pylons i have alot of play in the pylons to the castings.And need something to remedy this to make the boat more rigid/stiff.I can grap the bottom of the toons and move them quite a bit that is play in between even with the pylon nut bolt combo.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks.

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The Waters always there,just wanting some good wind.

Also i know once it's welded theres no going back.This is on a H14 Turbo.

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The Waters always there,just wanting some good wind.

I wouldn't suggest welding them it will significantly weaken the aluminum. Ask the guy who did it to his H18 fwd crossbar after repeatedly being told not to. SNAP!

I would mix up some epoxy and High Density filler (West Systems 404) and goop those suckers up. It's way less permanent than welding. To break the epoxy loose all you have to do is heat up the casting gently with a torch and get it to about 140deg. Pretty easy. Some people use a mold release on the pylons to make sure that the casting comes off smoothly. The epoxy acts as a perfectly fitting shim.

How tight is your tramp?

Crank that sucker down. You should get it so tight that it causes a bow in the side bars-- around 1 to 2". That will stiffen the boat. Use the 1/4" white line that Hobie sells, it lasts the longest out of anything I've seen. I have a theory that 16's that used shock cord as tramp lacing for a long period of hard sailing are more susceptible to pylon/casting wear. Still collecting data.

Hope that helps!

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Sail Revolution
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The last Hobie 16 donated to Sail Sand Point in Seattle had been anchored out for several years. Every rivet in the castings had sheared off, from the rocking motion. Another reason to not moor or anchor out your Hobie. We usually just shim, re rivet as necessary, and redrill and bolt using stainless steel bolts, and locking nuts.

Good idea on the epoxy, we will try that method also.

Caleb Tarleton
www.sailsandpoint.org

Spinfly I did this (Epoxy - inserted by admin) method to a "81" H16 I had. It made it a complete different boat! It is not a big deal to do or expensive and it worked out very well.
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?n ... me=Printer

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07 H16
Sail No. 110387

I used the old cut up beer can trick last year to shim my corner castings. Seemed to work pretty well. This year I found some aluminum flashing, a little thicker than beer cans, at Lowes that I will try instead.

Use shims, and if that doesn't work buy an 18.

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Bodhisatfa

I modified the post by "Speedawg" to be clear that the process that worked was epoxy... not welding, which I am strongly against after seeing a number of failures to beams with the welding.

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

From what I've read on this forum, there are a few different things to try.

1. Tighten the tramp to the point you could just about bounce a quarter of it.

…….. if that doesn’t work

2. Shim up the corner castings with either aluminum cans or (I think these may be available) factory shims.

……..if that doesn’t work

3. Glue the castings together with filler and epoxy as suggested by Surf City Catamarans.

The third option is what I elected to do with my Hobie 16. There is a noticeable difference when you “glueâ€

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Hi, just wanted to say thanks for everyones input,i'm in hte process of using the west system.Sounds like thats the only right thing to do again Thanks everyone.

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The Waters always there,just wanting some good wind.

Good luck spinfly. Post some pix when you're done. Let us know how it went.

J