Sailing without the mast bob?

I recently purchased a Getaway, but have sailed Hobies & Nacras for many years.

Those boats never had this huge thing on the mast and I am tempted to remove it from the Getaway.
I understand there is added windage because of the forward tramp that would push the boat to turtle more than without one.
Is the mast bob a necessity for this boat because of the forward tramp (or other factors) or is it more of an aide as this boat is aimed more at the recreational, family and perhaps new sailor?

FWIW, I am 6' 6" 260# and can easily right a H18 Magnum solo.

_________________
2004 Getaway with wings

I'd say necessity. For safety.

The main trampoline and the forward trampoline do force it over hard after captize, so the larger float was developed to help prevent a turtle. Turtling is the real problem. Both the Wave and Getaway have very buoyant hulls. These make the platform VERY stable... upside down. You can not easily overcome the hull flotation to begin the roll required to righting from turtle. This is the biggest issue in lighter air. Heavier winds will push the hulls down wind while the sail acts as a sea anchor... this helps to rotate the rig back onto its side.

There is very little windage caused by the floats. On the Wave, much less drag that a single crew members head. The bigger float is maybe twice that.

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

Even the villagers of Fanning Island didn't see the advantage of removing the bob from their Wave: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=53892

Ha, I think for them it is a positive addition to the down wind sail area.
Something tells me the villagers don't trailer that one very much though.

_________________
2004 Getaway with wings

besides the safety and convenience of not turtling when you get knocked down our kids have a great time using the hull that is now 8 feet out of the water as a platform to jump and dive off of. And I get a kick out of telling passersby that are curious about the big white thing up there that it is a radar dome and comes in very handy to navigate through the fog or at night.

_________________
JT Cole
Clermont, FL
'03 Getaway
'05 Wave

I'm 6'5" and 235, and I find it's a fair bit of work to right the Getaway. Hard enough that unless the mast is upwind, I can't do it by myself. I can't imagine doing it fully turtled.

After turtling in my new (used) '01 Getaway in 15 ft deep muddy lake, I bought the oem fat float. It was very difficult to right it when the wind was pushing it further into the bottom. There was no way to spin it into the wind, either.
I had a lot easier of a time years ago with a Hobie 18 in a 165 ft deep TVA lake.

I would definitely try it without the bob. Years ago I had a large mast bob on a an ESCAPE, similar size to the Getaway lb
I could not right the boat. I weigh about 160 lbs. I took the bob off and was astonished how heavy it was.
Now if you consider even 10lbs bob multiplied by the length of the mast... well its a huge "turning Moment" (engineering term) to overcome.

With the bob off, I easily righted the boat.

Regardless it may be more difficult if you have a COMTIP mast because of the extra weight of the composite material is also at the tip.

I would experiment. First off, how much does the bob weigh. If you try without the bob , make it a controlled experiment.
Calm water in a quiet bay.

Am crewing on a getaway currently and we have not yet tried to right it and the skipper refuses to take the bob off.
Hope that helps

The problem with this idea is that the They have large trampoline areas that wind can catch and quickly drive the mast down... and turtle. Getaway and the Wave are VERY stable when turtled.

These boats are VERY difficult to get from the turtled (mast straight down) position up onto their sides... that is the issue and the reason the floats ares standard.

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