Something interesting...

My father was here for the weekend, and he noticed something that may not be known.... Look at your pylons in your hulls, and then look at your mast... its the same thing... sail groove and all... they just cut them into pieces and fiberglass them in the hulls... Now thats an efficient use of material... What do you all think?

I noticed the same thing. Pretty nifty.

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Warm regards,

Jim

Look at your crossbars too. On older boats they are the same extrusions as the mast.

Extrusion use...

Right!

When the Hobie 14 was designed, it used just two extrusions. The mast section is the same as the pylon posts and the crossbars. The sidebars are the same as the boom.

When the 16 came out we made the mast stronger / larger, so then the 16 used 3 extrusions.

Current production is more complicated.

Mast extrusion

Crossbar extrusions, sloted (integrated traveler tracks)

Boom / Sidebars

Pylons are now different too. A seperate extrusion. A teardrop shaped tube with no luff track slot in the back.

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

Especially "Pylons are now different too. A seperate extrusion. A teardrop shaped tube with no luff track slot in the back."
That is one less place to have to seal shut with silicone or expanding foam.

By the way- I may have mentioned this on earlier posts: we used to fill our side and crossbars with expanding foam, and pull the corner castings and fill the pylons too. This added very little weight and kept water out. Think about how much water can slosh around in the tramp frame. I think it aided in righting the boat too because the entire trampoline frame and supports had floatation in them. I learned the trick from a Worrell 1000 participant- which is where my 16 earned it's sea-legs.

If you do this, be careful how much expanding foam you use. Use a 4 foot length of clear tubing fitted to the nozzle. Insert as far as possible in one end and squeeze the trigger while withdrawing the tube at a fairly quick pace- repeat on the other end of the bar. Stand back and watch the foam profile of your rails grow out of each end. Cut off excess when dry. Reassemble and enjoy.

Um- this isn't like not class legal or anything is it Matt?

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.

Will be heavier, but not against any class rules.

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