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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:28 am 
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 2:21 pm
Posts: 1
Location: Pelion, Greece
Hello all,

I have a question related to an strange contraption, almost obviously made for adjustment of the rudder rake, found on an older HC14 I purchased a few years ago. As the question and potential answers are most likely not going to be useful to a lot of people, I thought I would give you at least a little bit of background to make it worth your while reading this post. If you're not interested in the story but only in my query, please skip to the last 2 paragraphs.

I am an old(er) French guy (63), who became fascinated with Hobie Cats while living/working in the US in my 20s (the 1980s...), spent most of my adult life doing the wrong things in the wrong places to be able to do anything about this envy/passion, but eventually made a (small) pile, found and renovated the seaside house of our dreams in Greece a few years ago, and retired early in order to enjoy life, and at last, start sailing on a Hobie (and other things).

Half of me likes adventure and (moderate) risk, while the other half likes preparation and control (a delicate balance I have tried, not often successfully, to adjust all my life), so I ended up choosing to purchase a used (and somewhat storied) H14 Turbo made in the US in June 1982 (serial number is CCMC1527M82F) so I could teach myself how to sail it (I never sailed on my own before, and very little with others, none of it on small boats). A 14 footer seemed the right choice, so I could right it by myself (a lot of that in the early years, now not so much). A Turbo seemed more fun, and it really is!!!

The boat is exactly 40 years old now, mostly original, and still in fairly good condition (it and I sort of suit each other well in that respect).

I bought it in Hyères (on the French Riviera), near the Toulon naval base. It had belonged to the captain of an aircraft carrier (yes, France has aircraft carriers, or I should say used to have aircraft carriers (2!), as we only have one these days, albeit more modern/able etc.). He bought it while his ship was on a layover in a US port, and would have his crew put it together for him whenever weather and schedule allowed him to sail it, and disassemble it thereafter. It then was passed on to a (medical) doctor, who goes sailing around the world in boats he builds himself, and was using it to enjoy himself when resting at home from his far fledged adventures, until he became too old for it (there's my future looking at me...).

After spending a few seasons discovering the strengths and weaknesses of both boat and sailor, making small improvements here and there, without spending too much money on a hopeless task (on account of the age and skills of the driver!) I have reached the point where I feel that I am now able to sail the boat close to its potential (but I am still not a very good navigator, alas), and I am (very) happy with that as it is.

So, before anything else (and after a very long introduction), many thanks to the inventor of this fabulous toy and to all the people who made and still make sailing on one of these boats possible and so enjoyable.

Now here is my query (I have not found if and how photos could be added to my post yet, but I think - I hope- it is understandable nevertheless):

Having recently noticed a much bigger wobble and change in rake in one of the rudders, I disassembled the blade from the casting (which I had never done before, as everything seemed ok until now). I found a non-standard part inserted in the blade where the bottom casting bolt goes through, consisting of a one-inch diameter (more or less) round plastic disk with an eccentric bronze tube going through it, that quite obviously is meant to be used to adjust the rake of the rudder by rotating the disk. What I didn't find was a mechanism whereby the round disk could be set in its orientation (once adjusted), leaving me to believe that it was glued in place (again, once adjusted), with the glue having slowly come apart with wear and tear and the disk now being free to move around in its hole depending on the sailing conditions (accounting for the variable rake and increased wobble).

Questions:
- has anybody ever seen anything like this? (This is not for younger forum members obviously :-); as for myself I haven't been able to find anything on the web)
- from discussions I have read on rudder rake adjustment on older boats, it would seem that the 'normal' way to adjust would be by 'moving around' the upper hole in the blade (for the upper casting bolt), not the lower one; could it be that whoever put this contraption in mistakenly inserted it in the wrong place (lower instead of upper hole)?
- how would you suggest I go about fixing the issue? If I were ambitious (foolishly so?) I would try to extract the gizmo, fill in the whole left behind in the lower part of the blade, drill a new lower hole in the 'right' place, and try to insert the adjustment mechanism where the upper whole sits (although not really keen on this, as it would sit close to the edge of the blade, and maybe weaken it?). Alternately (and more wisely?), I would fill the lower hole, drill a new one in the 'right' place, then consider whether to do the same on the upper hole if needed to adjust the rake so it is symmetrical with the other rudder. But I need a little bit of help/comfort from more experienced members as I have never worked on the boat's structure/material until now (obviously, the blade is not literally structural, but I hope you understand my small hesitation nevertheless).

Thanks for reading this.


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 07, 2022 4:17 pm 
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Site Admin

Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15021
Location: Oceanside, California
See the rudder FAQ:

https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=467

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


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