New skipper questions...

So I used to crew on an H16 when I was in junior high, and finally decided that I missed it enough to buy one (over 30 now.) My memory isn't too clear on how we rigged the boat when I was young, and the guys' whose boat I crewed on never gave up the helm, so there are plenty of things I'm learning fresh. Yesterday, on my first day out (after several days of "maintenance",) I ran into a few issues I wanted to poll others about.

First off, is the main traveler supposed to just run free on the track? I see what looks like sheaves on the car itself that appear to be for some sort of traveler rigging, but no corresponding rigging on the tramp frame. Two or three other people with H16s at the lake where I was sailing said "oh yeah, it just floats free." If that's truly the case, I won't wonder anymore as to why this boat can't point very high. I just feel like there's something that I'm missing here.

Second, people at the lake were saying I should run the main sheet out of the blocks and through the fixed fairlead/jam cleat in the center of the rear tramp frame piece. I was worried that if I did that, and the traveler was all the way out to lee and the jam cleat on the blocks were to grab the sheet and it were running through the fairlead, there'd be no way for me to de-power the main without climbing over to lee to pull it out of the upstream jam cleat (and flipping the boat over.) (Actually now that I'm writing this post, it occurs to me that the fixed fairlead/jam cleat could be for a traveler adjustment.)

Third, how do you get the tiller around when you tack or jibe? I resorted to throwing it around the stern of the boat, but that seems like it could get a little tenuous in high wind situations, but the alternative of trying to stretch the mainsheet around it seemed like a huge PITA. I mean I guess it's not all that bad since my H16 seems to take like a whole minute to tack around, but still.

Next, my rudder cams are problematic. Having done some research here at home, I suspect the answer is that mine are too "tight" as well as "need to be lubed." Prior to heading out, no amount of physical force I was able to apply would make these cams flip. I finally had to get a thin piece of metal that allowed me to manually depress the ball and then manually flip the cam; something I could NEVER do if I weren't on the beach. Once they were up, I couldn't get the cams to go down. Finally I gave up and headed out. Then, without warning or intent we were out sailing and they just sort of spontaneously snapped down. Of course when I got back to the beach, it took (again) a herculean effort to get them to flip up. It was truly ridiculous. To make me feel even sillier, everyone else on the beach was telling me how lucky I was and pissing and moaning that their cams were too loose. I have the "Hobie tool" for flipping the cams, but that apparently relies on having pre-drilled holes in your cams in order to work. In other words, it didn't work for me.

Lastly, my jib halyard is a PITA and I'm wondering what the standard solution is. I haven't been able to find a good explanation of why I would want/need an "Aussie jib halyard" system, so I don't know if that's what I want here (assuming I don't already have one). Maybe someone here can help. My jib halyard is a stainless steel cable that runs up through a single block close to the top and then a single rope line back down. The problem is that the steel cable portion is so short that you'd want to be Michael Jordan-tall to be able to reach it (i.e. to shackle it to the head of the sail) when you're not on the beach.

In more academic realms, would anyone care to share any tips on single-handing? I've heard repeatedly that a cleated jib-sheet in gusty conditions equals a flipped boat, so I was thinking one hand on the tiller and the other on the jib sheet, having cleated the main. It just feels like it would be a handful, not to mention nigh to suicidal to get out on the wire in such a situation. Obviously people do it... so I 'm curious.

Thanks for any input.
Ian

Welcome. I'm sure you'll get some of the more experienced people giving answers later, but I'll hit on what I can answer now.

First, I'd check out the H16 assembly manual. The pictures are a little dated, but they still get the point across.

http://static.hobiecat.com/2010_archive/support/pdfs/H16_Manual.pdf

Page 18 shows how to rig the main traveler. That should answer question 1 and 2. You control the main and the traveler with opposite ends of the loop between the main blocks and the swivel cleat in the middle of the rear crossbar.

When tacking/gybing, you have to swing the tiller around the stern of the boat. With practice it gets pretty easy and will hardly take any time at all.

As far as the cams go, there is a tensioner screw underneath the little ball. If you take the rudders off of the lower rudder casting you will see it. The problem is that sometimes those tensioner screws (which are nylon or plastic) won't move. I was able to back one of mine out just enough to get the cam to flip properly, but there was too much gunk in there to actually remove it and replace the screw. There are more detailed fixes for this if you can't move the screw at all.

It sounds like you've got the older style jib halyard. I'll answer what I think you're asking here. The shackle on the top of the halyard should stay at the bottom of the mast when not in use. Then you can shackle it to the jib, attach the little plastic hank to the forestay, and raise it up. The end of the wire that's closest to the mast should have a little block attached to it with a piece of line tied to a becket on that block. You shouldn't need to be tall to deal with it. Page 19 of the assembly manual covers rigging the jib.

Also, an answer to a question you didn't ask. If you've got the old 5:1 mainsheet blocks (seaway brand) you rig those as shown in the picture on page 25 of the manual. That picture is a relic that I'm glad was never removed.

Hope that helps some.

-Jeff

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1984 H16 - #80541

Your traveler question is the same one I asked on my 18. You work the Main with the cams on the block. The other cam controls the traveler. Run the end of the sheet through the cams then the eye. It then goes front to back between the sheaves on the traveler then through the deadeye behind the cam-cleat.

So you work the main block with one end of the sheet and the traveler with the other.

One additional suggestion that was given to me here on the forum is to tie a knot in the sheet that will hit the cam before the traveler hits the end of the track. That will save the traveler in a hard gybe. Those thingies in the track will shatter if they hit the end hard enough!

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

The line should end up going cleat to cleat.

I have a nice diagram somewhere. I'll look for it.