greetings

Hi all!

I'm Jake and I'm new to the forums, and to Hobies. I rescued a 1972 H-16 from Alameda, Ca (IIRC hull # 1842). The boat was free and came with a brand new trampoline in a box.
Since I picked it up, I inspected and washed the sails, inspected the hulls, the standing rigging and the trapeeze wires, installed the new trampoline, replaced the cheek block on the mast and replaced some loose rivets on the starboard aft corner casting. For the most part things seem to be sound. The hulls have minimal delamination with no delamination forward of the trampoline pylons. The standing rigging is sound with little rust and no broken strands. The jib halyard has a broken strand, and may need to be replaced (possibly with an Aussie rig). The starboard upper rudder gudgeon is broken and will need to be replaced. The sails are serviceable and have all the battens, but I need to fix a batten pocket that came unstiched and replace a batten pocket protector. I bought 44 feet of mainsheet. The boat has a 5:1 Harken system.
Can anyone think of anything else that should be inspected or replaced prior to a shakedown at the local lake (assuming that I take care of the stuff that I already identified)? I intend to use the boat recreationally to teach my son how to sail.

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JAKE

If there is any rust whatsoever on the shrouds, they need to be replaced.
The broken strand on the forestay means that it has failed and also needs to be replaced. I understand that we are not talking about an offshore deep water boat here, but to be safe and reasonable, these ought to be taken care of. Especially if you are going to have your kids out there. You owe it to them to have a safe and fun time to introduce them to this wonderful recreation.

Gotcha. Would people here recommend an Aussie rig or the old-school metal rig? BTW the forestay is sound as are the bridles and the jib luff wire, it is just the jib halyard that has a broken strand.

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JAKE

Hey there,

Sounds like you got the main stuff, but I would add 2 things to your list.

1. Check the rudder cam mechanisms. Make sure that you can lock the rudders down and, with a little bit of force, pop them back up again. If they don't stay down, sailing with the rudders up is very difficult, especially in wind. For your son, it would make things very tiring and unpleasant. If they work, fine...your shakedown should have no issues with it. But for the long term...There is a delrin adjustment screw that you access from underneath the gudgeon that would allow you to tighten or loosen the tension on the cam that locks the rudder down. The srew/insert forces tension on a spring that puts the pressure on the cam. Unfortunately, the spring, with age, becomes overly compressed and loses its adjustability. Also, if not replaced, the delrin screws becomes brittle with age and the threads on the gudgeon sometimes get burs that catch the delrin insert.

On any boat I get, I like to take those screws out, add some grease to a bolt I purchased with the same thread pattern and thread it up in there to clean out the threads. Then reinsert the delrin screws. Doing that once a year or so just makes sure you have the adjustability you want.

2. Don't forget a righting line...bummer to flip the boat with your boy and have issues getting her back up again.

Good luck!

wrx,
We're having the Round TI regatta in a couple of weeks in your front yard (Crown Beach). If interested I would be happy to take a look at your boat while there. I'll have my mobile parts trailer there, and could also hook you up with some of the racers that could help you with rigging etc. Call me anytime. 831.359.5918

Replace all of the rigging including the anchor pins unless it was done in the last few years or so.

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Sail Revolution
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Not to spend your money for you... but depending on how old/heavy your son is, in addition to the righting line, you may want to carry a righting bag too. I recently flipped with my 110 pound daughter, and the two of us (combined total about 280 pounds) was not enough to right my heavy 1973 boat. Two guys with 340-350 pounds between us and we can pop the boat right up without any problem.

Once you get the boat in the water, you may want to go out and intentionally dump it with a chase boat standing by... so your son knows the routine, and it's not a total surprise when you go over unintentionally.

Thanks for all the info! For a righting line, I have the old mainsheet. It may not be the premier choice, but I think that it will function sufficiently well. I have been thinking about a righting bucket, as my son and I combined weigh around 260. I will be checking out my rudder cams ASAP.

Surf City: I may try to get to the regatta. I am on Travis AFB, so a trip to Alameda is not a huge undertaking.

Thanks to all.

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JAKE