niswanger:
I'll try to answer as much as I can, most of the stuff I described is all just common sense solutions. Keep in mind most of my stuff was all done before Hobie ever introduced a sail furling system, so all of us had to make up all our own stuff.
1. Any problems with the twist and lock handle of the hatch? I've rather have a simple cleat but anything outside of using the handle will result in more hardware and holes.
FE: we used the home made pvc single line furlers on all of our kayaks, (around
, actually we never launched a single kayak since 2007 without a kayak sail, (w/pvc furler) strapped to the side of the boat, just in case we ever found wind and wanted to kayak sail, (our favorite thing to do). All our boats had the same center round hatch with the flip up handle right in front of us. In ten yrs of hard use we never damaged any of the flip up handles, trapping ropes under the handles, (we used mostly 1/8" dia rope or paracord).
2. For the DIY PVC furler, does it stay with the sail? In other words, would I be about to use it on my PA 14 as well?
FE: It takes about $5 bucks in materials and around 10-15 minutes to make a pvc furler for the Hobie kayak sails. Typically once you install the furler on a sail/mast, you just leave the furler on the sail for the life of the sail. You can transport everything from boat to boat.
3. Speaking of the PA 14, it has the older style center hatch that just flips up with bungees as hinges. Maybe in that situation I could bold a small cleat to the center of the hatch (it has a small ~ 10" X 10" black HDPE cover).
FE: I know little about the PA, (never owned one), you will need to figure that one out for yourself. I was only highlighting that running the single furler line between the pedals to some sort of cleat (or round hatch handle), in front of you is a handy and easy solution to furling. Basically to operate you just pull the furler line with one hand and guide the sail control line with the other to furl/unfurl the Hobie kayak sail. I think the whole key to everything we did, was we never did any permanent mods to any of our kayaks at all, (we just simply used what was already there). We sold most of our kayaks after a couple yrs of use for pretty close to what we paid for them, (people don't like to buy used kayaks with extensive mods, and all kinds of holes drilled in them, (just fyi)), so we never drilled any holes in any of our boats, kept them all as stock as possible, (for re-sale). Anything and everything we ever made were all add ons to the stock boat, (easily removed).
4. On the larger sailing rudder, any experience on how it raises and lowers on the older lever rudder up/down lever on the stbd side right behind the seat of the Revo 13? As it is now it's a little firm/sluggish/stretchy feeling and I'm concerned with nearly double the mass of the sailing rudder. I think it will be a lot harder to lift from down position.
FE: We had the same lever on our 2 revo's, the levers kinda sucked, (poor design), whether you had the regular or the big sailing rudder, didn't seem to make a big difference to us, (they both sucked). One thing you can do is saw off the bottom 4-5 inches from the sailing rudder, (you don't need that much rudder, (overkill). Even with the sawed off sailing rudder the boat kayak sails just fine, (tons of threads and posts about the subject). With the shortened sailing rudder, you can go in much shallower water.
5. For the main sheet line, how do you control yours? Most I see through a block as far back on the yak as possible, then possibly a fairlead/block over to the aft stbd area, then up to the stbd side for right hand control. I see this guys is using a nifty double direction cam cleat with a modified block just forward so he simply pulls and seats to either cleat if he wants to lock the main sheet or let it out (would like to find this double direction cam cleat?):
https://youtu.be/0PoATH8pXFEFE: That video shows a pretty slick system, (probably worthwhile), we never wanted to go that complex, everything we had was super simple, (just the basics). We had the sail control lines permanently attached to each boat, (never removed), We would just grab a furled up sail kit and strap it to the side of the boat, (where the paddle normally is held on with a bungy). If we were out, and felt the desire to sail, we would just plug the sail in, then attach the sail control line, (via a carabiner), then just start sailing. It's not a good idea to cleat your sail control line when kayak sailing, (just hold it in your hand), just sayin, (first hand experience, lol).
5. Called these guys:
https://www.yaksailing.com/ and the US rep is nwt in Houston, TX which I visit about 4 times a year. Super nice guy and if this kit proves to be a winner (like you describe fusioneng) then I may want to look into getting the 3M giant from them for the PA 14.
FE: The standard Hobie kayak sail is great on the old revo, but a tad small for our old Oasis's, and our TI's, we typically built bigger sails for the bigger boats, (I design and build most of my own sails).
I would buy one of those sails in a heartbeat......
This is one of the wing sails on one of our old TI's (33 sq ft) used for kayak sailing.
Hope this helps answer some questions, we sure had a heck of a lot of fun with all that stuff.
FE