hobie 18 halyard hook issue

All right so I'm having issues with my h18 mainsail unhooking while sailing. I make sure to put the knot on the shackle towards the mast, raise it, hear a click, turn the mast left and right to make sure it's fully seated and nothing moves...but on my last two sessions, the main came undone.

I'm quite fed up with that annoying system to begin with, would it be okay to drill a cam cleat at the bottom of the mast and just jam the halyard in there instead of fiddling with that hook system ?

SRM and Matt M can confirm please.....

Cats with rotating masts are designed such that the sail must 'hang' from the top of the mast.
This avoids compression loads on the mast.
Conventional keelboats secure the halyard at the bottom of the mast, as their masts are 'fixed'.

May I suggest that you find a soft surface....a lawn....some beach....and drop the H18 on its side.
Then check the operation of the hook and the ring at the top of the mast.
Perhaps your hook is bent?

Sounds to me like it is not 'hooking' properly when you raise the main.....a common problem.
Avoid drilling holes in the mast, not a good idea.

I miss my 1989 SX 18......

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

Suggest you do some searching on this forum because this topic has been discussed a lot over the years.

First question, does your boat have an all-aluminum mast or a comptip mast (top section tapered fiberglass)? The hooks are slightly different between the two configurations.

Make sure you know which way to rotate the mast to engage and dis-engage the hook.

Once you are hooked, thread the downhaul and pull on some tension to load the luff of the sail. You should always keep some tension on the downhaul so the ring can’t pop off the hook.

Adding a cleat for the halyard is not a great idea. The 28 feet of halyard line will stretch, meaning that the sail will always be slipping down the mast making it impossible to get correct mainsheet and downhaul tension on your sail.

sm