We have two great new accessories for Hobie Islands!

On the downwinder, do you furl the main and sail on spinnaker only?

_________________
2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]

I sail the spinnaker with the main all the way out most of the time. Sometimes I'll furl the main to the first baton and leave it there while jibing.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

This may not work on your boats because of the routing of the lines and since your spin bags are on the wings, but I was able (on my boat) to route the halyard so that it was the snuffing line as well giving a continuous loop. That eliminated a lot of line. I think on your boats you would need to add a separate line to pull the tack out to the bow, but that might be less of a mess...but it might not. I confess my boat has quite a lot of lines that get messed up often (sheets for spin and jib; halyard/snuffer for spin and jib; mainsheet); it helped some that I replaced a lot of the yachtbraid with something that was single braid to prevent kinking.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

You have described Hobie's system to a T. A continuous line starts at a grommet in the upper third (AI) or quarter (TI) of the spinnaker, snaking through these grommets and entering the snuffer bag. I believe the line then goes forward into a cleat on the front crossbar, to a block and tackle sub-system which is tied to the tack of the sail. It then returns to the rear of the hull, through a block where it becomes the backstay. At the mast head, the line passes though two bearings in a small mast top beam, and down to tie off at the head of the sail. Independently, there are sheets leading to swivel cleats on the rear crossbar.

_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Hey, that's pretty clever of Hobie to have a continuous guy/halyard/snuffer. SO, I gotta ask, where is all the tangle potential for entanglement? If you have loose line; cut some off, right? If the loose sheets bother you, then simply reverse the line, instead of a luggage tag at the clew, tie both ends to the clew giving you another continuous loop (or just tie the two sheet ends together with a square knot). Granted, having a continuous sheet gives the opportunity for being unable to dump the asymspin if it gets tangled.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

I made a few changes in installation, because I did not want to make holes in the akas. In this way they can be easily disassembled.

first I made this hole wider.


Then I use screws from YakAttack GearTrac - GT175



Then I cut out unnecessary plastic.


Done!

i consider the railblaza holder for aka too expansive for the task they have to accomplish. this is a cheaper thing that can be used when u need put anyathing on your haka such as in this case but also rod holders, camera holder, hook for keeping the mailsail like out for dowwind and so on. I found them in this forum on another subject

http://www.ebay.it/itm/391347241873?_tr ... EBIDX%3AIT

Great finding! Almost 10 times cheaper. Maybe less stylish, but who cares? THANKS

Thanks for that, I had forgotten about the Harley fork attachment option! But... I am having trouble seeing the problem in just drilling a few holes in the akas and using Hobie's supplied fittings.

My eyes started to water when I totted up the cost of that Railblaza alternative, all to save drilling a few holes. I love the Railblaza aka fitting, and have three on my TI already, so I am not anti-Railblaza.

_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Me neither. I like Railblaza and I have several of them in my boat. But having a cheap alternative is always good It open possibilities for new tests and ideas (not necessarily just to avoid the holes for the spi)

Here is the rest of the mods

Very tidy setup, thanks for sharing the photos. There are cheaper options out there but your railblaza setup looks very professional.

Very nice, but awfully expensive with those big sheave blocks and attachments. Bullet blocks will work fine for the wimpy loads you will see. Blocks can be tied to the frame with line-if you want neat, make a continuous loop splice around the aka. The half twist shackle is a good idea and Hobie should change the part in their kit.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

I have found that the PCV pipe at the mast head used to pevent unrecoverable halyard tangles is not working in higher wind when the wind blows the pvc towards the main sails batton while furling. I have found 2 things that will probably work but I have yet to try on the water. One was to loosen the tie on the uppermost batton cap. This seems to allow the batton to curl inward more when furling. This is likely to make it less likely for the batton to catch the halyard line. This may account for the reason some have had issues with snagging and others have not.

BEFORE


AFTER


The other solution was to attach Pex tubing to the top of the mast topper and run the halyard through the pex tubing. This tubing flexes yet retains it shape. When the batton hits the tubing, the tubing remains in place because it is firmly attached to the mast topper. If it was just dangling, it tends to rotate with the sail batton and snag with the main. Driveway tested only. Will report back when stress tested on the water.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

The second solution seems very promising. Looking forward seeing the results of the live test in the water