lateral hull play

Hello,

On my hobie cat, year 2000, the left hull seems to have some lateral play. I'm wondering if it is a symptom of ovalized pylon hole?
I'm also looking for the pylon sleeve on internet, but don't find them. Does hobie cat still sell it?

I attach a draft of the play

PS: Sorry for my english, I'm french...

Sounds like the corner casting is sloppy. You can use thin metal strips for shims. I had brass ones on 1 boat. Shims could be made from an aluminum drink can. You just need to bend them in a U shape to hang off the top of the pylon when installing.

_________________
JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring

The movement could also be the result of a detached pylon shoe.

I'd suggest you have someone grab the hull and move it around while you look/listen/feel around the pylon to determine where the movement is coming from.

sm

Hello,

Thank you for your answers.

I just take a look, and it seems that the problem is between the pylon and casting. When I pull the tramp at the forward left casting, It can move at about 1"... So I think the holes in the pylon are now oval.

I saw that a solution is to drill holes larger on the pylon, and put a aluminium tube in?
I will also shim with the can method.

Do you think it will be good?

Nicolas

Can you post a picture and show us the gap? It seems like an inch of play would indicate something is terribly wrong here.

_________________
Steve
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795
1985 & 1973? Hobie 14 "Sea & Ski"

I think that the bolts in the corner castings are to keep the hulls from falling off of the castings and not supposed to keep the pylons tight in the castings (you could end up cracking a casting if you tighten the bolts too much).

You can also try lifting one of your bows and see if the other bow follows right a way to see if your frame is tight. If the cross beams and/or pylons are loose in the corner castings, then your frame will not be stiff and it could adversely affect performance and lead to more wear. Shimming the pylons to the corner castings is easy, shimming the cross beams to the corner castings is a lot more involved.

You can always go for a permanent fix of epoxying your frame.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

The pylon bolts don't have any impact on lateral (side-to-side) movement of the hull. Lateral movement would be controlled by:

1) The fit of the pylons into the corner castings
2) The fit of the crossbars into the corner castings
3) The fit of the pylons into the hulls (i.e., the condition of the pylon shoes).

1 & 2 can be improved by shimming or epoxying the hull frame.
3 would require repairing the shoe if it is broken free inside the hull.

sm

Hello,

Here are the pics.





The pylon doesn't seem to move in the hull.

I collected some cans, and will put sheet of cans on the pylon.

I also need to fix the holes. What is the best solution?
I measured the hole, it is 15,20 mm. I planned to put an aluminium tube (10mm inside, 13,14 or 15mm outside) in the hole, and fix it with epoxy glue. What dou you think about that?


Nicolas

Put boat back together, re-drill corner castings with the next size up bolts and nuts whilst applying quick curing epoxy to lock everything solid? Looks like the posts are deformed, you don't want to have to put new posts in

_________________
Tim Grover

Memphis, TN fleet 134
Hobie 20! G-Cat5.0 and 2 Hobie 14's
Photobucket now wants $100 to post pics on forums......... pass.

aluminum tube with epoxy sounds good. It may be a pain to get it in at the proper height. your pylons look worn so shims will really help. You may want to epoxy the pylons into the corner castings while your at it. Also check the connections of the corner castings to the cross frame members. You probably have some wear there also.

_________________
JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring

The problem with your idea of using an aluminum tube (sleeve) to take up the slop in the worn pylon hole is that the stainless steel pylon bolt is going to corrode the tube and the whole thing is going to seize up. Then you will never be able to get the boat apart without cutting off the corner casting.

From the picture you showed, the bolt doesn't even look like it is the correct diameter. The bolt diameter should closely match the "un-worn" part of the pylon hole (the top area), but the bolt is actually much smaller diameter. This would explain why the bolt caused the hole in the pylon to wear into an oval. I'm wondering if maybe there is a mismatch between the diameters of the holes in the castings and the hole in the pylons.

sm

Yes the pylon is worn, I will shim it.I already have the cans ready !

The bolt is fitting correctly at the bottom of the hole. The normal position is at the top? not the bottom? The bolt is a 10mm diameter.

I didn't think about the aluminium/stainless problem...
I saw some "metal epoxy" like loctite's one. fill the hole with that, and then drill new holes would be a better solution?

What is the metal used in the pylon?


Nicolas

Based on what I see in your pictures, the top part of the hole looks like the factory drilled part and the bottom part of the hole looks like it is where the bolt has worn into the pylon causing an oval shaped hole.

If you look in the Hobie parts catalog, illustrated parts list, it shows that there are two different bolts for the pylon:

Old = 1/2" diameter bolt.
New = 3/8" diameter bolt.

My guess would be that the corner casting for your boat was drilled for the "new" 3/8" diameter bolt, but the pylon was drilled for the "old" 1/2" diameter bolt, so whoever assembled the boat just used a 3/8" bolt. The smaller bolt has allowed the hull to move around excessively inside the corner casting and is why the hole has been worn into an oval shape - the smaller bolt is cutting into the pylon.

If it were me, I would try to source one of the pylon sleeve inserts. I would install the sleeve and drill it and the corner casting hole out to 1/2" diameter. I think that is the only way you are going to get the bolt to fit tight in the hole as a long term solution.

sm

Hello,

The different diameter of the bold should explain that. So I will carefully inspect the others pylon. Unfortunately I didn't success to remove the casting from the pylon on the right hull, it didn't move, even not a millimeter.

I looked for the sleeve on internet, but only found mast/pylon sleeve for Hobie 14. Is it the same size for the 16 ?


Thank you for your help !

Nicolas

older 14 and 16s use the same size pylon extrusion, so a 14 should work. At some point the 16s changed in later years. I'm assuming the sleeve slips inside the pylon.. You still would have slop on the outside of the pylon and the inside of the corner casting to deal with. Is the other pylon in the same kind of shape?

_________________
JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring