Moving up to a '77 H16 in Northern Illinois

Hi all,
New forum member here with some questions and a short progress report. Got into sailing last year with a couple of foam boats - an old Formex boat and a Snark. Lots of fun at our small local lake, and minimum hassle not counting breaking stuff in high winds.

I don't have a lot of catamaran experience. Did some cat sailing about 20 years ago on other peoples boats, but we didn't do any of the rigging back then. So I'll put up my questions first:
1) Shroud tension - how tight should they be? They have to be a little loose for us to be able to connect the forestay. Then when we crank the jib halyard tight, we can still push the mast side to side a little bit. If I move both adjusters 1 hole tighter I can make that go away, but we would need to loosen them up for stepping and dropping the mast.

2) Rudder cam tension - we had a broken cam and replaced them both. The guys over at the beachcats forum let me know I had to grease the cams, which I did last night. When down and locked, it seems easy to push on the bottom of the rudders and get them to unlock. We have the delrin screw in as tight as it will go. Is this normal/OK? I am worried the drag on the rudders will pop them back but I don't have the experience to know.

3) Mast stepping - when raising the mast, the ball on the bottom of the mast seems to go forward of the socket. We always need two people, one to push the bottom of the mast aft to get it to drop into the mast base. Are we doing something wrong?

4) Mast base - the hole for the stepping hinge is cracked. Not all the way through, but I think I'll want to replace it sometime. Do I need to replace the mast base and step as a pair? Or would a new base be compatible with my old step? I don't want to change the rake if I don't have to. It seems that I'd need new shrouds and also it sounds like the 5:1 mainsheet is not optimal for a more raked mast. Hard to justify a $400 6:1 on a $400 boat/trailer.

5) Jib Halyard - it seems to bind at the top. Is there something to look for or am I just not used to how it tensions up? Hard to see what is going on with the little pulley when it is up that high.

6) We have one trap harness and for the life of me I can't figure out how to wear my PFD and the harness at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any advice and help. Here is the story of the boat and what we have done to it:

We bought the boat and trailer for $400. Definitely a rescue. This has not been on the water for a long time and had been passed around a few times. We put all new lines on it. The hiking straps were shot, so we pulled off what looks like the original tramp and I sewed new straps on it. The left hull had the classic Hobie crack on the transom. We made some flox out of sawdust & chopped fibers to fill it in. We put new rudder cams on. The main and jib were each missing a couple of battens and most of the tensioners. I bought some used battens and we 3D printed the missing tensioners and luff end caps. The #1 main batten had a bad delam in one spot. I sanded that down, glassed it over, and shaped it back to the original profile and stiffness, or close to it anyway. The cleat for the traveller was missing the bullseye and also was bent down. The gooseneck was missing the vertex and one of the forum members gave me one. The cheek block for the downhaul was trashed so we riveted a new one on. I think that is what we did on the boat. For the trailer we stripped it down & painted it. New leaf springs (one was broken), wiring, and hubs. I made an aft mast support using a 2" receiver so we can remove it to get the boat off.

It looks like the forum does not host pictures, and I've not gotten any pics on hosting sites since I was burned by photobucket. But you can see some pictures over at the beachcats forum and here is a short edited video my kid did from one of our practice rigging sessions.
https://youtu.be/yxnXHrzOkf0

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

First time out. Not the most awesome sailing on YouTube but a big deal for us.
https://youtu.be/GOX88EIhWDw

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

Looks like you were having fun. Rock Cut is nice during the week not crowed.

We were shooting for first sail during the week, but due to weather and completion status of the project we went Sunday. Winds were 10-12 mph, with lots of clouds and scattered showers. That kept the crowds low so there were less kayaks to mow down. Are you local to the Rockford area?

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

My neighbor John often brings his 16 to Rock Cut. I occasionally bring my Getaway there. It's a pretty small lake, though. I've got a Sunfish that is my usual
Pierce Lake vessel.
I usually sail at the Madison lakes, Mendota primarily, once in a while on Monona. I'm not crazy about Waubesa. Lake Geneva can be good too.
John often sails at Koshkonong and I've been there too a few times lately. Lots of room to stretch out! Big 20 MPH runs!

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

Hey Bob, we met last year when I was sailing my little foam sailboat. I'd also met John when he was sailing his 16. I'd definitely like to get the scoop on the lakes you mention and where to launch from. We are going to outgrow Pierce Lake pretty quickly.

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

Some family fun:
https://youtu.be/3Mew_e3mBMI

Rock Cut State Park

_________________
Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

I hooked up the shop vac exhaust to the drain plug. Warning, if you have a big shop vac it can be too much. The hull made some alarming noises and I turned it off. I ended up drilling four 3/8" holes in my shop vac adapter tube that I had made, to reduce the pressure getting into the hull. Here is some video of one of the pylon leaks:
https://youtu.be/nSVUYlWflG8

Hopefully I didn't destroy anything too badly. Also there were a bunch of old patches on the boat. Looks like they may have been done with plumber's putty. They all leaked. I sanded them out and glassed them over. We may sail tomorrow afternoon, and definitely Monday. I'm hopeful there will be less water in the hulls this time.

_________________
Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

Yesterday my son flew the hull on the H16 for the first time:
https://youtu.be/nwSUO2dAS-Q

Suddenly, this $400 boat has become the best investment I've made in a long time. Two brothers, 18 months apart, having fun together and not trying to kill each other. Plus my younger kid is an introvert with a weird sleep schedule and it's hard to get him out of the house.

We still had some water in the hull after the patches and sealing, but it was a lot better.

_________________
Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

I have good news! My mast seems watertight. It floats nicely.

Ok, good news out of the way. I pitch poled. That bad noise I was worried about when I pressurized the hull - I think it was really bad after all. The port hull snapped up front from where the noises came from.

We got a tow in as close to the launch as we could, took off all the stuff, flipped the boat right side up so we could paddle it back to the launch. We tried righting it out in the lake but the hull was so heavy from the water I don't think we had a chance.

Video to follow.

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

Here is the GoPro video.

https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

Oh geez. John snapped his hull a couple of years ago. I found a used boat for him, but he repaired his.

There is a Hobie 16 on New Milford School Road, in the backyard of a house, that hasn't moved in at least 20 years. I think there's a 14 and trailer there also. Go south on 11th St to New Milford, turn left (east) on New Milford School Road at the Mobil gas station. It's behind a chain link fence on the right (south) side a block or two (maybe 3) up the road. When you get to the cemetery, and Atwood Park entrance, you've gone too far. I don't know that they want to sell, but they've been there forever.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

Thanks Bob! Found it on Google Earth.

There is no repairing this hull - it was too snapped. Besides I've cut it up with my sawzall and about 3/4 of it was carried away by the garbage truck this morning.

Aftermath video:
https://youtu.be/VJ3GRi3LqNU

_________________
Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

I went out there, and sure enough there is a stack of stuff. Trailer on the bottom, H16 in the middle, H14 on top. I left a note in the box and was able to google a name from the address - and found he was on linkedin. I'll see if I get any response. Thanks for the tip!

We have another lead up in Wisconsin, and hope to look at it this week.

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Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16

No response from the Rockford/new Milford guy. The Wisconsin boat I mentioned seemed to have fallen through. Unresponsive seller, and they were not sure when they were going to get to the lake. My kid found another Wisconsin boat, no jib, no trailer. It has a small soft spot forward of the tramp on the port deck, but mostly solid. Had a title and a bunch of light duty hardware store turnbuckles for the stay. Also had a mast, boom, rudders, and was registered. We got it cheap.

_________________
Bryan
Poplar Grove, IL
1977 Hobie 16 (died a spectacular death https://youtu.be/Y7O22bp2MVA)
1978 Hobie 16