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PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:58 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:20 pm
Posts: 4
Bought a lovely 85' and have taken it out sailing, works GREAT and is a BLAST! However since its an older boat i have a few questions about potentially "old, about to break critical components" as this would be what i want to prevent so that i can continue enjoying this beautiful cat! I appreciate everyone that takes the time to answer, thank you all!

- Tiller Tube, after purchasing, and driving the cat back 3 hours to my house, after inspecting my new purchase further i noticed that (of course i would notice it AFTER i bought it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) just one of my tiller tubes was bent slightly downwards... not severely, but deff. bent, it seems to still have some great strength, but i question how much longer it has before it breaks, a side note, it also looks like someone tried to weld the aluminum back together (and did a very remarkable job, because welding aluminum to this degree definitely required a near master welder) so i ordered a have a new tiller tube, however despite being the same size and the same diameter there is only pre drilled holes on one end of the tube. so i guess my bottom question here is, sail it like i stole it and wait for the faulty tube to break? Or remove rivets for the old tube and use the new one and drill a hold and re-rivet with hobbies stainless rivets?

- Hulls ,White hulls, no serious damage or scratches in the fiber glass, but it does look like there was one small (maybe 4"x4"ish) repair that was made on middle of the outside of the hull. It seems like a good, watertight job, but its not color matched and looks ugly, could anyone recommend a potential remedy of sanding/painting/polishing or anything else to help me get rid of that blemish? And also on that note, dose anyone have any advice of how i should go about removing the marine oxidation from the hulls (as i imagine they havent seen and love in 10 to 15 years) and polishing/applying a marine anti-oxidization compound? and in which steps would be enormously helpful. Last comment on the hulls, recently i went out for probably the 2nd time in a month and the most recent time i felt that there was water in one hull as i was moving this, it was not a a-lot of water, but more just concerning that theres a small leak (the drain seals appear to be pretty water tight)

-Mast stepping While i am in my early twenties and have plenty enough strength to step the mast (and have have even done it solo once) i find that it is the most labor intensive part of the set up process, and i was wondering if anyone else has had any success in attaching (or welding) a winch to the front of the trailer right under where the mast is placed and secured when in transit, then just use a piece of wood to attach my winch cable to the mast's main stay and just crank it up slowly. it would really make think much easier if i could make this into a possibility

Thank you all for even taking the time to read all of this, this is my first post on the hobie forums and i hope that i can continue to sail on this beautiful boat for may years to come, thats why im trying to do my best to maintain it! Once again thank you all, I really would love to hear what anyone has to say.
Thank you


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:25 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:21 pm
Posts: 379
Location: Winston Salem, NC
I bought an '85 H-16 new and used it until about 2 years ago when I turned over to my daughter and her husband. I got too old for it (I'm 84) though I still plan to sail with them once in a while. I raised the mast solo most of the time. There are many gadgets and winches that have been suggested which I am sure you can find in the archives. It isn't that hard and I believe every one makes it more difficult than they should. What I did was build a tripod to set behind the trailer to rest the end of the mast. I then attached a line to the end of the jib halyard (bout 8' long) and the other end to the bridle. After raising the mast I would lean into it, reach down and uncleat the jib halyard and pull it tight to hold the mast up, then recleat it. Then you can get down and connect the forestay. There are a couple of tricks but I won't go into them here. Since you say you are physically able, you shouldn't have any problem.

I actually found it easier to raise the mast solo than to have help and could rig the boat to launch in about 20 minutes.

Where are you located and where do you sail?

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Howard


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:53 pm 
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
For the tiller arm, I would remove the rivets on the broken arm and install the new one- eapecially since you already ordered it. The reason the replacement tube doesn’t have all the holes in it is because the holes in the castings are not always drilled in the exact same location, so it’s easier to just put the blank tiller arm into the casting, run a 3/16 drill through the tube (using the existing holes in the casting as a guide), and then pop in the rivets. You don’t need to use Hobie brand rivets. Any stainless pop rivet (18-8 or 316) will work.

For the hull blemish, I would say you’re probably better off just leaving it as is - at least for now. Refurbishing the hulls is a pretty labor intensive process. Just get a high quality gelcoat polish and wax to clean them up.

Mast stepping, if you’re strong enough to do it manually, that is generally the quickest and safest method. Having a second person help you can also make the process much less intimidating. It’s critical to make sure all the wires are in position and ready to go before you start lifting the mast (route the shrouds and trap wires so they hang off the back of the rear crossbar so they don’t get hung up on the rudders or corner castings). If you really want to use a winch, there are several commercial as well as DIY systems around, but again, if you can do it by hand, that’s generally the best method.

sm


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:33 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:12 pm
Posts: 7
Location: Alabama, inland lakes
jakeplt801 wrote:
- Hulls , And also on that note, dose anyone have any advice of how i should go about removing the marine oxidation from the hulls (as i imagine they havent seen and love in 10 to 15 years) and polishing/applying a marine anti-oxidization compound? and in which steps would be enormously helpful. Once again thank you all, I really would love to hear what anyone has to say.
Thank you


I will share with you a very secret product for ancient gel coat refurbishing. I had an old Sol Cat 18 with baby blue gel coat hulls that had oxidized terribly. I didn't polish them however, and after I used this stuff, everyone was so amazed I kept it a secret for YEARS. There are pros and cons to this system. The system is a paint additive called Penetrol sold at sherwin williams stores. just take a rag and wipe on clean gel coat. It acts as a sealer to the gel coat pours and acts almost like a wax. It goes on and leaves a almost a thin layer of varnish but its clear. Just wipe it on with a cotton rag and let it dry. The cons---the varnish type layer scratches easily. I never tried it is salt water either, no idea IF it will react in salt. How to remove it? No idea, I never had to.

Many years later, my secret is revealed.

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Grateful for all the support and knowledge


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:08 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 4:35 am
Posts: 438
Location: Opelika/Lake Martin, Alabama
I use Starbright Marine Polish to keep my hulls glossy and slick.

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:45 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2019 2:39 pm
Posts: 11
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
srm wrote:
For the tiller arm, I would remove the rivets on the broken arm and install the new one- eapecially since you already ordered it. The reason the replacement tube doesn’t have all the holes in it is because the holes in the castings are not always drilled in the exact same location, so it’s easier to just put the blank tiller arm into the casting, run a 3/16 drill through the tube (using the existing holes in the casting as a guide), and then pop in the rivets. You don’t need to use Hobie brand rivets. Any stainless pop rivet (18-8 or 316) will work.

For the hull blemish, I would say you’re probably better off just leaving it as is - at least for now. Refurbishing the hulls is a pretty labor intensive process. Just get a high quality gelcoat polish and wax to clean them up.

Mast stepping, if you’re strong enough to do it manually, that is generally the quickest and safest method. Having a second person help you can also make the process much less intimidating. It’s critical to make sure all the wires are in position and ready to go before you start lifting the mast (route the shrouds and trap wires so they hang off the back of the rear crossbar so they don’t get hung up on the rudders or corner castings). If you really want to use a winch, there are several commercial as well as DIY systems around, but again, if you can do it by hand, that’s generally the best method.

sm





Hi guys,

Any thoughts on how to remove the tiller arm from the upper casting? Drilled out the rivets and soaking the connection but nothing budges.

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___________
Craig
Birmingham, Al
'89 H14T


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 8:28 am 
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Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 5:24 pm
Posts: 225
Location: New Hampshire
If the boat has been in saltwater you could be dealing with corrosion.

I would heat the tube up good and hot with a heat gun or propane torch. Hot enough that if you drop water on it it sizzles. Then try to get the tube off. I would wear some heavy gloves like welders gloves and clamp the casting in a vise or somehow lock it down. If the tube is broken or not going to be re-used grab it with a pair of waterpump pliers PAST where it is stuck on the casting. You don't want to crush it on the casting.

_________________
84 14T Redline #67 Blue Hawaii faded but still working!
82 Yellow hull16 '81 Boomer nationals 20.9 on GPS
83 White hull 16 No sails "Clean and Purty Now!"
87 White hull no sails no tramp


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