Mast bob on a comptip (21SE)

I have purchased a big hobie bob to my H21SE. There i a U-shaped bracket that fits snuggly on the top of the comp-tip. My concern is as follows. How far down into the comptip goes the alu-sheave? What is the best mounting method-rivets or stainless steel bolts through the comp-tip.

Do anybody have experience with a big bob on a 21SE?

_________________
Lars Lundman
Hobie 21SE

I had a baby Bob on my 16 and while it did give me peace of mind as far as avoiding turtling, it made raising the mast and righting the boat much harder. Adding 3-4 lbs on the end of a 25 ft mast = mucho torque to overcome when pulling on it. I ended up taking it off and every time Ive ever gone over, I just make sure to jump right on the lower hull to keep the wind from pushing on the tramp till shes pointed in the right direction. Once the hulls are 45 deg to the wind, more or less, turtleing seems not to be too big an issue, unless you mast leaks.... My two cents.

Happy sailing!

_________________
Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

I also ordered a Hobie Bob for my 21SE, but I have not received yet. I will be interested in the mounting sequence before I get mine in within a week. I have the mounting instructions. Email me and Ii will be glad to send. spesce at pacland dot com.

Only issue with the Bob on the comptip is it tearing off. I have seen more than one comptip with damage from a Bob bracket. The mast can hit the water fairly hard and the Bob stops it from going under and softening the blow. The rivets or screws tear right out. My 2 cents.

Good point. That perhaps tell me to use the U-shaped bracket that is screwed or riveted from both sides. Apparently the alu-fitting in the top goes down aprrox 10 cm into the comp-tip. But, will that be a too rigid fixation that may increase the risk of breaking the comp-tip??

Has anyboody seen the comp-tib actually break because of that??

LarsL

_________________
Lars Lundman
Hobie 21SE

I have a Baby float on my 17. However, my installation is unusual, using my mill I made an aluminum mounting fixture to go over the sheave part of the casting. I then tapped four 10-24 bolt holes into the top of the casting, mounted the fixture to the mast with the 10-24 bolts, then mounted the float to that. I've had quite a number of capsizes, yet have detected no looseness or damage to the casting, mount, bolts or comptip.

Righting seemed so easy using the above 45 degree to the wind technique (takes less than 30 seconds to go out to the bow and simply swim it around to the proper position relative to the wind), that I question the need for the righting bar I have on the boat. However if you are single hand on the 21, you may want to get a bar too.

Note: when I first installed the bar, I intentionally set the boat to the wrong position to the wind to see if the righting bar could overcome it - no freak'n way. I then did the 45 degree thing and it stood up with surprising speed and ease. (I weigh 185)

Peace,

Dan Peake
2003 H17SE
2005 FX1

1. Will a baby Bob give enough bouyancy for a H18?

2. Any chance of some photos of the bracket you made to affix to the mast?

My understanding is the Baby-bob on my 17 will give me extra time to get my boat pointed in the right direction during conditions that will cause a turtle, but in the absence of proper handling, it will not fully prevent a turtle. Of course, not all conditions (i.e. winds and boat orientation to the wind and waves) will cause a turtle, but for those conditions that will, the tip float causes turtling to occur at a much slower rate. I think the tip float is generally effective in conditions that would keep a typical tip float buyer on land.

That said, my 17 has never even hinted at turtling with the tip float, however I am pretty fast at getting out there and swimming the bow around to the wind (a very sloppy angle will do, somewhere between head to wind and 45 works great.)

By the way - getting a quick-release shackle for your main is an excellent idea. I pop mine whenever I go over to (i) keep the water on the sail from resisting my righting force and (ii) when the boat stands back up, if the wind is anywhere forward of the boat, you will be completely de-powered, making things calm and easy, and (iii) it's much quicker and easier than a regular shackle when setting up and tearing down the boat.

A few weeks ago I flipped my FX1, and the crew from another Hobie jumped onboard my boat to help me right before I drifted into a shipping pier. Time was of the essence, so I could not complete the bow aiming, we used brute body-weight force to right it from a sub-optimal orientation, and when the boat stood up it was on a beam reach. Though the main was disconnected, it was dragging us both through the water at a speed that would not allow us to get back on, so I let go and let the boat ride over me, popped up on the back-side grabbed the tiller-arm and turned the boat into the wind. I felt like Indiana Jones.

I've got a brand new Mama bob which I will never use. It has got 59lb of displacement (it is the model that comes with a post mount, and is the next size up from the Baby bob, which has 32 lb of displacement) . It is brand new still in the plastic; I'd like to get $75 for it. Lemme know if you want it.

Peace,

Dan Peake
2003 H17SE
2005 FX1