Tips on installing new Hobie 18 tramp?

My first post.

Great site here. Very good information!

I have a '89 Hobie 18. I recently purchased a OEM Hobie tramp and shock cord lacing kit. Per the suggestions on this forum, I put out the extra $ to get the good product.

Does anybody had any good tips on installing the new tramp? I am going to do it this weekend.

Thank you.

take the old tramp out and clean the frame good. slide in the tops. then the sides then the back. lace and then tighten. the best way i foung is to tighten it slowely. go over it 4 times rather than trying to pull it all in at once.

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Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

I just did mine this past weekend.
like Rich says, it'll take a couple rounds of work to get it all pulled tight.

after sliding the tramp pieces into the frame, I started the lacing at each outboard end at the rear, just enough to pull the ramp snug front to back.
then went and laced up the center, then the rear... then did it all over again. I waited until the next morning and retightened it all again.

my center lacing needed exta work, so I had my daughter help. we used 2 vise grips, I was under the boat pulling, she took up the slack and pulled tight from the top. In fact, we used a length of 2"x10" across the hulls so we could get close to the lacing without standing on the tramp.

the result of all this work is a very tight tramp. you may also want to check and retighten the inner and outer crossbar bolts beforehand.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Clean all the frame rails/crossbars before installing the new tramp. Also, spray some silicone into the rails to make getting the bolt ropes to feed more easily. Getting the sides of the tramp installed can be done more easily with two people- have one person guide the tramp into the track while the other person pulls the tramp.

As others have said, lace the entire tramp with moderate tension before pulling the last bit, otherwise you can pull out grommets (I've made this mistake). A tramp tightening tool makes things much easier (I use a homemade Tramp-Wrench- cam cleat with a handle).

Not sure I'd use bungee, but you can give it a try. I prefer a good low-stretch line.

sm

low stretch!.. good catch SM.
on both my H16 and H18, I used pre-stretch or low stretch halyard.
after all that work, you don't want the tramp working loose because the lines stretched.

thing about shock cord, unless it has a good cover, the sun's UV will break it down by season's end and it'll be all stretched out.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

The assembly manual for the 18 has good basic instructions for installing the tramp if you haven’t done it before.

I would second the recommendation for some sort of low stretch line instead of the bungee. I never quite understood the advantages of the bungee cord thing, but some folks prefer it. The tighter the tramp, the better.

Hobie doubled the number of grommets across the back of the tramp in ’83, you might consider buying the kit and also doubling the grommets up the center. Not very hard to do at all, and it reduces the stress in each grommet so they don’t pull out as easy. It also makes it a little more difficult for the mainsheet to slip down between the tramp halves and run in the water.

The only other thing I would offer that hasn’t already been mentioned is to lay out the tramp halves in the sun on a hot day (if possible) for a couple of hours to get them good and warm and expanded before tightening things up.

Good luck.

Mike Bennett
Madera, CA
1981 Hobie 18

A third vote for low stretch line, and an equal amount of confusion as to why anyone would use bungee, maybe a bungee advocate can explain it.

Speaking as someone that has done the doubling up of grommets up the center of the two halves, I have found that it really doesn't help that much and if I were to buy a new tramp, would not go to the effort, trouble and expense.

The idea of laying out the new tramp on a hot sunny day and letting them get warm and soft is a good one and well worth the time and effort because it will make getting the tramp nice and tight much easier, and we all know how much we like a tramp that is good and tight.

Seriously tho, getting the tramp good and tight is more important on the H-18 than almost any of the other boats because the boat gets a great deal of its torsional rigidity from the relative tightness of the tramp.
When the tramp is loose, the hulls tend to "walk" over the waves, and the boat will not point as well and is actually slower because the energy gets soaked up in the independent movement of the hulls.
When the tramp is nice and tight the hulls move over the waves in unison and the boat is not only faster, but will actually point to weather better.

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If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

Ya, just why is there a bungee lacing set in the Hobie catalogue anyway? ...with the line "Many sailors prefer lacing their trampoline with shock cord" Huh?
I'd bet many of those sailors are first timers who don't know any better, or no longer living

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Sheet In...Max Out
www.fleet297.org
sailflatlands at gmail dot com

Thank you for all the great ideas.

Sounds like the bungie is a bad idea. I did order it from Murrays. I thought it might be a godd idea since it was OEM, but I agree with the comments in this post.

Can I buy the low streatch line at my local marine supplier? If so, what size and length would you recommend?

Gentlemen..... gentlemen

You asked for him ... so here I am ... your bungee advocate ...

First trick: Liquid dish soap, mix 50% soap/ 50% water and apply too all tracks and edges of tramp ... keep appling as you slide the tramp into the tracks ....

Second Trick: Needlenose visegrips, (2) pair .... you use these as you lace the tramp to keep the tension in the bungie ... lace through grommet ... pull ... clamp visegrips onto bungie at grommet (not so tight as to damage bungie) ... lace next grommet .... I actually pinch the bungie top and bottom w the tramp in the middle, this is why you need the needlenose varient visegrips, and I use two pair clamping on the next set before I release the previous set.

Now, Why Bungie? I use 1/2" bungie (not 3/8") this is very strong. IMHO I think the 1/2" bungie keeps the tramp tighter over a longer period then lacing w/ low stretch line ... unless you keep tightening the tramp all the time!!! There will always be some stretch in a tramp and lacings .... so your choice is where do you want the "stretch to occur" ... and what equilibrium do you wish to maintain. As the boat works slightly the bungie acts as a retractor and retightens the tramp keeping the tramp at a specific tension .... you see it's not how tight the tramp starts the day at, but how tight it is all day long (you need to be fast in the morning and afternoon .....) with low-strtch line once you stretch the tramp the line doesn't take up the slack .....

I get my 1/2" bungie at "Fawcett's Marine" in Annapolis, Maryland.

Currently my "old" blue vinyl tramp is so tight that the two halves actually "butt" together down the middle .... you can't make it any tighter then that

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

Does your tramp know you call her "Old Blue"???
You better be careful where you say that, or you may be spending a little less time in the saddle, if you know what I mean. !

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If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to water your own lawn.

i just laced a new tramp with low stretch. yes it is much easier with some help. initially as you are lacing, your going to make a couple or three rounds getting the tramp nice and taut.
i've went back once since the initial day of lacing shortly after to re-tighten as a touch up session. that was a year ago, and it seems like, the tramp is as tight as last year easily!

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Wes
92 Miracle 20 + magnum wings

Harry,
How long will the bungee last? I have thought about using it many times but as my boat sits on the beach most all summer I fear the bungee would not hold up. I replace my trap bungee almost every year or less and they are under the lip off the hull.

Hi,

My H18 has been sitting down at RHYC since last year .... so I've got two seasons on the tramp bungie .... what I really need is to purchase a nice boat cover!!!! I just haven't had the $$$$'s .... for years I kept my boat on the trailer (mast down) in my back yard covered w/ a cheap blue tarp ... the tramp bungie then lasted for +5 or more years .... and I never needed to tighten the tramp up at any point in time .... that was nice.

I made one mistake .... when I installed the tramp I trimmed the tail of the bungie too short ..... if I undo the tramp and try to re-install it w/ the same bungie I most likely do not have enough length to pull on when I get to the last several holes ..... leave some tail .... (Stephen will have some fun w/ this statement)

My trap bungie usually wears at the point where the bungie passes through the "gunwale pass-through" fittings , also if you haven't made your bungies a continuius system on each side you can overstretch them.

I have installed (4) Harken Air blocks on each side .... one ea tied to the padeye at the bow and stern under the lip .... and one at each gunwale pass-through ( I actually tie these to to each other under the gunwale w/ a piece of 1/8" spectra) .... Then I use one long piece of 1/8" bungie (blue of course to match the boats color scheme) starting at the crew's trap I go through the airblock attached at the front gunwale pass-through ... forward to the airblock at the bow ... around that one then aft to the stern airblock .... around that one and up to and through the airblock installed at skippers trap and tie it off to the skipper's trap ....

My trap bungie's last for several years ... this system gives me enough stretch that I have no issues also when I have my Magnum Wings on the boat also .... I never need to re-tie the the bungie system except when the bungie stretchs alittle over time and I need to shorten it

Note: technically the pulley's at the Gunwale Pass-Throughs are not Class Legal. " the bungie must pass the the gunwale fitting" .... since the pulleys are tied as tightly as possible to that point on the boat I feel that I haven't violated the INTENT of the rule of relocating the Traps ... but there are always Sea Lawyers out there who want to win by any means, at any cost .... on or off the water. All I know is my trap bungies last a long time .... the more $$$$'s I save, is more $$$$'s I have to spend on attending regettas !!!!!

Why do I like "Blue" and have my boat w/ all blue accents ????? We see a particular color because the object reflects that color's wavelength .... That means that the "energy" is not absorbed but reflected ... the object in question therefore lasts longer ..... and the sky is med blue so even more of the energy is scattered ..... that is why IMHO that med blue tramps and bungie cords seem to last the longest ....

Since I have no $$$$'s , I have to be frugal !!!!

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

I have my trapeze bungee set up exactly as Harry describes here and love it! Makes for a far better system.

"Why do I like "Blue" and have my boat w/ all blue accents ????? We see a particular color because the object reflects that color's wavelength .... That means that the "energy" is not absorbed but reflected ... the object in question therefore lasts longer ..... and the sky is med blue so even more of the energy is scattered ..... that is why IMHO that med blue tramps and bungie cords seem to last the longest .... "

No comment on that one!

Tom
1988 H18M