Teflon chips

Hello all

We went to Lake Tarawera recently (near Rotorua in New Zealand) where we camped on the far side of the lake which has natural hot pools (good for warming up in when you've got cold in the lake) and usually beautiful conditions for waterskiing when it is calm or sailing when it is windy. It took about 90 minutes saling to get there.

Lucky for me it was windy every day so I introduced a whole lot of new people (who we were camping with) to the fun of sailing on a Hobie.

We were over there for 4 days and each night I'd drop the sails and pull the boat up on the beach. I found when I sailed back for the final time and dropped the mast (it had been standing for four days) that the Teflon chip in the mast base had ridden up the side and the mast was really just grinding away metal to metal.

I've noticed this other happening times, although not to the same extent because I've only been sailing for four hours or so. I'd imagine this is not what is supposed to happen. How do I get the Teflon chip to stay in the centre of the mast base and do it's job properly?

Look at this page on the hobie catalouge:
http://static.hobiecat.com/2010_archive/support/pdfs/06_33.pdf

Its on the lower right hand corner, the molded mast step bearing. It is black in color.
James

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

I had one of these in my spares that came with the boat. Do you need to drill a hole in the center of the step to accept these bearings?

I store my boat mast up. When I dropped the mast for the season, I noticed that the bearing had slipped. Never thought to check it periodically. There is a lot of wear on the ball and cup now.

I'm pretty sure that you have to drill a hole. I've actually never used one, I just use the ordinary teflon chips. I like the design though and may end up getting myself one as well.

You definately want something in there. I've heard that all of the weight being placed on the ball and cup can actually fuse those two metals together, I'm pretty sure their both alluminum. The chip or bearing also helps with the mast rotation.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

This might sound kinda redneck but there are lots of other things to use intstead of the teflon chip. I have used 1/2 a plastic golf ball, butter lid, piece of leather. They all worked great.... the leather actually was my favorite just because it was a little thicker and damped everything so it didn't clang around as much.

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

No, I don't think its redneck. It's better to have something in there I would imagine than to not have anything at all. I've heard of using pennies too.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Last summer I used a penny in a pinch and also a small piece of a plastic milk jug.

Cory

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82 named SeaBass

The screw-top to a plastic bottle works great (say from a 20-oz or 2-liter) and you can usually find one anywhere (if you are desperate you can even scavenge a park trash-bin for one, or head over to the Kwik-E-Mart and get a Coke).

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Tim
Unofficial Fleet 72 Communications Officer and Div 4 Webmaster
http://www.hobiefleet72.org
http://www.div4.hobieclass.com/

This is the mod to the new bases (per Matt Miller)

Use a small drill bit and put some shallow holes in the bottom of your base

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hobiejohn at earthlink dot net
Fleet 297

That sounds like a good idea John. Just need something rough for the chip to squash into and get stuck?

Chip Keeper

Works GREAT! One chip lasts a long, long time.

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

I like that idea. What size drill bit do you recommend. How deep do you drill?

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

I made the mod to my H16 years ago and used a 1/8" bit. You only need to go about 1/16" deep after the entire drill point is below the surface. You are only trying to give the Teflon somewhere to deform to. It takes about 5 minutes for the mod.

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Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Thanks, I'm definately going to do that one.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

I'm going to do it to. Sure will beat fiding the teflon chip up the side of the mast cup, doing nothing, at the end of the day.