single handed from the trapeze

I vote for 2 and 3 with an emphasis on 3. Lots of 3s. As far as the tiller goes I went for the aluminum one from Hobie. It is lighter than the Hot Stick and cheaper too. And no it`s not class legal...

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Cheers Doug
2010 H16 SE
'smoke'

I bought my boat new in '85 and used the standard tiller extension for many years. It was definitely long enough to use while out on the trapeze and I am 6' tall. About 4 years ago I bought a used set of sails and the seller threw in a hot stick. I started to use it only because my old original tiller extension is wearing and giving off glass fibers. I don't care as much for the hot stick. Once, going out through the surf it fell in the water ahead of the crossbar and as we picked up speed, I couldn't pull it up. Water pressure was too much against it. With the thinner, longer tiller extension that wouldn't have happened. I had to get out through the breakers before coming up into the wind to pull up the hot stick.

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Howard

Howard,

Take your old stick to a Battery store that makes custom battery cables and such. Have them slip a 6' piece of heat shrink tubing (~3/4" dia.) over it and shrink it up. Your stick will be good as new, and just like the new boats.

fair winds

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Interesting, how strong are they. I tend to lean on my tiller at times. Also I hold my tiller on the shaft and like a larger diameter, the Marstom appears a bit skinny. Though light would be nice.

Just as strong as the Arriba. They're actually pretty flexible too. I've got this weird habit when coming in from the trapeze where I don't slide my hand down the tiller until I'm back on the boat, so I end up putting a ton of weight on the tiller extension. Its dumb, and I'm trying to break the habit, but its tough. When its really windy I come in on my feet anyway, but when getting t-bagged its tough.

None of the tiller extensions will hold up to hauling the mail and getting caught in between the hull and the tiller arm with the end in the water.


I don't really care for adjustable tiller extension either, but crowded starts its nice not having 3-1/2ft of tiller hanging off the edge of the boat. and singlehanding in light air when you're sitting forward of the front beam its a pain to get a non-adjustable around the shroud.

we've all dropped the tiller extension and had it fall between the hull and the arm, drag in the water and bend back with the flow of the water right?

I was wondering if tying a piece of shock cord around the rear cross bar and the tiller crossbar (one on each side at the corners) would be helpful in preventing the tiller from dropping into the water. The shock cord would need to have enough slack so as not to interfere with steering but taunt enough to actually keep the tiller extension up out of the water. Anybody tried this? I think I will next time out.

something like this (excuse the poor artwork)

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1990 "Formula 1" H16 (# 009)

Whoa! That's just too simple.

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'76 Hobie 16

Never seen it...brilliant!
and poor artwork? nice drawing, what program is that?

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

It'd work, take some effort to turn it fully though I'd think. Or, if you went with smaller shockcord....

The H16 would be the best candidate for something like that. With the tramp being raised, and actually higher than the tiller cross bar. I can't picture it working with a regular beam in the hull setup.

Makes me wonder about coming up with something to make the steering a bit stiffer, but not progressively so. Might take some of those little twitches out of my sailing. Kind of a steering dampener.

Mine's not higher than the tiller crossbar. Is your's?

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1990 "Formula 1" H16 (# 009)

SebringSix,
That's a sweet Formula.

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

I swear my last one was a bit lower, I might be wrong though. Maybe that was my 14.....

I was wrong. Looked at some pics of my old 14 and 16, bother are higher than the x-bar.

Yo, Sebring !!! What's up with the red tipped rudders ???
Didn't you know there's a patent on those ???

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Happy Sailing,

David

Patents over there in LA don't count over here in hickville, lol.

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1990 "Formula 1" H16 (# 009)