bones wrote:
So my buddy and I were out in a good blow on my 77 H-16. The winds were gusting to 30mph (?). About 15 minutes into the sail, trapped out and hoot'in along, there was this Bang!!...and instantly the boat decelerated and and my crew got a good dunking. The boom was flopping downwind, the boat limping, and my traveler car hanging by one the the two bolts that hold the roller fair-lead down to the hinged part with the actual bearings. My thoughts were to jibe gently and limp our way back to the shore. My crew had other ideas...jery rig the lower block to what was left of the car. After a couple of modifications, and the eventually complete breakage of the remaining bolt, I was left with a lower block that was tied to the metal fair lead (the one that stops the traveler rope with a knot) using the traveler's remaining rope. The lower block hovered about 10 inches off the crossbeam and was limited to about a 6 in "leaning" difference between a port and starboard tack. Basically, I had no downwind as the lower block rig was literally tied to center. Downwind was facilitated by simply letting out more main sheet...it worked. While we were beaming, I was still able to keep up with another H-16 with my mangled and thus lengthened rig. It was like a demo derby. The sailing was too good to tuck tail and head home!
So I ordered a part from the cool cats at Surf City. The installation seemed straight forward. Drill out two rivets, pry up track, remove mangled car, install new car, replace two rivets, and yer off. So, old car and rivets removed, I inserted the new one and sink the first rivet of the two that are provided. Seems like a 5 minute fix...right?
Oops! My heavy duty riveter needs to be pressing flush against the bottom of the track, against the rivet. Not realizing this, I ended up with a rivet set to the top of the track. I had to drill out the replacement. The gun's tip was too big to fit down snugly and flush at the bottom. So, I ground the riveter's tip on two sides until I could squeeze it between the rails of the track. I set the only remaining rivet in the second hold from the edge. It's not flush! Curses! After closer inspection, it actually looks to have a slightly larger head on it than the originals...huh? I get a thin piece of MDF wrapped in sanding paper, squeeze it down into the track, and rub away at it for 15 minutes barely doing anything other than removing the black powder coating and turning 2 inches on either side of the proud rivet into shinny aluminum. After I remove all that I can, the new block will go over the rivet, but not too happily. It sort of drags on it. I'm sure it will just eat at the bottom of the car until it makes itself fit over it. Being down one flush rivet from my earlier mistake, I use a standard rivet for the last one by the corner casting. The car will certainly never get on top of that one! So now I have a car that likes to wedge itself over one rivet and bonk into the last one. It makes the last 2 in of the car's rail unusable. I just make a mental note to be extra careful when jibing, keeping the car away from the extreme end of the track. I swear the replacement rivets from Hobie were slightly larger than the originals. I had a hell of a time trying to make it flush. It is a 1977 after all, may 30 years of producing parts has created some slight differences in size...strange.
Well, it's a long winded babble that likely belongs in the repair thread...anyone else ever had this not-flush replacement rivet problem? I even had a Dremel down in the track, vainly whittling away at the rivet's head. No harm, no foul and who knows, eventually I may get use of my whole track back, the car just less some plastic on the bottom...ha ha. bones
You can tie a knot in the main sheet to keep the car from traveling all the way to the end. I would tie it to leave the car just a smidge from the end, then in big wind you can let it fly and not worry.
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