Newbie questions: Mast tang on boom, righting line, mooring

I am fairly new to Hobie sailing. I picked up a neglected 82 Hobie 14 last year and I am putting it back into shape. I have been searching the posts and other on line sources for these answers, hoping to avoid asking what are likely common questions.

My boom has something just like a mast tang for attaching stays. It is on the bottom of the boom, about 30 inches from the mast and "pointed" towards the mast. Can anyone let me know what it is for? I can post a picture if it would help.

What is the best way to tie a Hobie to a mooring? I know that some people are against it, but I many have no alternative for a couple weeks.

I can find instructions on how to right the boat with a righting line, but how do I rig the righting line? How long of a line should I use and how should it be run? I thought I had seen something on line over the winter but darned if I can find it when I need it.

I have a Turbo jib. I noticed today that there a thin string that ties the head of the jib to the forestay. It is wrapped around many times then thread down a sleeve in the luff edge of the jib and was tied off near th jib clew. The string broke in the sleeve. The section tying the head to the forestay is fine, but is it critical that it travel down the luff edge and be tied off?

I appreciate any advise or direction.

Thanks

It's an attachement for a vang or a preventer (helps keep the boom out to one side when sailing dead downwind in light air). Most of the racers use a bungie with a hook in it for that. You hook it into the tramp opening in the front crossbar (in the corner).




I can't emphasize enough how bad that is for your boat. You need to make sure that the rigging is tight and the mast doesn't rotate. The motion of the boat in the smallest waves will shake it to death if you don't. For mooring, use a bridle tied to both bows.

14 feet long, tie it to the dolphin striker and lace it loosely through the center tramp lacing. When you flip, pull it out and throw it over the top hull, grab it, lean back and right the boat. Tuck it away after you get back on-board.

Sorry, can't help you with the rest.

We recently had a Hobie 16 donated to Sail Sand Point in Seattle, that had been moored near the shore on a lake. All the rivets on the castings had sheared off, and the hulls were water logged. We could only use and save parts of the boat, the hulls were trashed.
Caleb Tarleton
Sail Sand Point, Seattle

Thanks for the advise. In the pile of rigging that came with the boat there was a a 12 foot long shock cord with a block on each end and two blocks that travel along it. Each of these travelling blocks has a loop on it, about the size of a fist. Could this have been used for the vang? My local (100 miles away) Hobie dealer thinks that my boat was rigged for racing because my main only has five battens rather than six.

I am beginning to think that this boat is really a misfit. I don't have a dolphin striker or a dolphin striker rod. Is this a problem? Should there be some sort of indent or hole in the bottom of the front crossbar to receive the dolphin striker? Mine doesn't have anything, and there are no signs of wear either from a dolphin striker under the cross bar or on the castings from nuts on the ends of the dolphin striker rod. Actually, on the castings where the dolphin striker rod would attach there are small lines (about 8 inches). Each is tied in a small loop for attaching something. By the way, I think that it an 81, not an 82. Since I don't have a dolphin striker, then where do I attach the righting line?

I knew that there would be warnings about mooring the boat. I keep the rigging tight; I adjusted my shrouds down a hole on the adjusters to tighten things up a bit, I am now in the bottom hole on the adjuster and it can go no tighter. I also don't want to put too much rake on the mast. What is the risk caused by mast rotation? Would it help if I attached the mast step link to stop rotation? Is a mooring worse than tied to a dock or are they equally bad? If the boat is going to be sitting for a couple weeks with no use, would it help if I dropped the mast?

Where I'll be vacationing, the boat will be in the water for about a month either tied to a dock or moored. I might be able to pull it out on a boat ramp for short periods during the day, but other than that there is no way to have the boat out of the water. I am concerned about the hulls getting waterlogged; I had some leaks in the hull seams that I repaired and I am in the process of touching up the gelcoat and then waxing the hulls. Should that help?

Since we are talking about the hulls, each of my hulls has something large loose in them. If I pick up each hull and tip it side to side or end to end, you can hear and feel it moving around. My Hobie dealer says that it is hull flotation that has become loose. It seems to have some weight to it, if it was floatation then I would expect it to be light and not have such "thud" as it moves around. I thought about cutting some holes in the tops of the hulls so I can check things out and then install some deck plates, but it seems drastic. Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks

The large loose items in the hulls is likely the positive flotation foam block, between the two pylons. These are placed in the hull before the deck is bonded to the hull. If the hulls were to flood completely, they keep the boat from sinking.

You can tie the righting line around the forward pylons. Then pull the slack up to the center lace to hold it out of the water when sailing.

The 5 batten main is older vintage. The newer sails all have 6 battens.

The shock of waves hitting the hulls... one and then the other will jar the boat and cause problems. You have to restrain the mast rotation and hold the rudders up tightly if left in the water. Can you pull the boat onto the dock? Or make a float you can pull the boat onto?

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

The shock cord is probably for the Trap wire return system. There are lots of ways to hook them up.



I use 2 separate righting lines on my H16, I tie one to each of the front pylons and then cross them to the opposite rear pylon. Untie the line that goes to the rear pylon that is in the water and toss it over the upper hull.



You could pull it out in the morning and drain what ever water is in the hulls


As I understand it, the floats are a denser (more dense)?? Styrofoam block. I would not worry about the thumps.

Hope this helps a bit
Sam

_________________
Sail Like you Have a Pair
Bluish gray 73 - 83 H16
Super Nice Yellow 84 H18

The small line wrapped multiple times at the top was the means for setting the luff tension. If it was fixed in place, as the sail stretches over time there would be no way to get the right tension. You really have to just set it at best guess, rig the boat and see how the jib luff looks. If there are horizontal wrinkles there is not enough tension. If there is a vertical wrinkle that doesn't pull out when the sail is sheeted in and full, then it's too tight. The multiple wraps were just to be able to use a small line that was already in inventory line the batten tension line and the miultiple wraps allowed it to be strong enough. It really ended up being less windage than a single larger line too.

Is that a good enough explanation? If not, I'll try to better explain it.