Upgrading rudders on the Getaway

Hello everyone,

I have done some research on both this forum and Google but could not find a clear answer. Can the rudder system on a pre-2005 Getaway be upgraded with the EZ lock system ? The way they are fitted on the hulls seems completely different from one system to another.

Thank you in advance.

Hi,

I have a 2002 and 2019 getaway. I have never tried swapping the rudders, but the way they attach to the hulls looks almost identical to me. Both boats have two pintles on the back of each hull and both types of rudders slide onto these pintles. The old style are secured with a pin through a hole in the bottom pintle. The new rudders have a clip that slips in the ridge on the upper pintle. I know the new getaway still has the hole in the bottom pintle even though it isn't used to secure the EZ lock rudders. I don't recall for sure (and the boats are stored at the beach so I can't check now), but I don't believe the upper pintle on the old getaway has the groove for securing the EZ lock rudder. If that is correct, you would need to replace the upper pintle.

I had also discussed upgrading my old getaway rudders with my local dealer in the past and he told me this was possible, but I never did it.

I would think Matt could provide a definitive answer.

Good Luck!
David

Ok off the topic, I have to know what the performance is like with the new design getaway compared to the old one?

> Ok off the topic, I have to know what the performance is like with the new design getaway compared to the old one?

We have sailed both boats side-by-side with comparable crew weight and the new boat is definitely faster. However, I'm not sure how much of this to attribute to a new main sail versus one that is 16 years old. Both boats have new jibs. Aside from that, the new boat does a better job of not pitch-poling when sailing at high speed. When you bury the hull, it bull-dozes through the water and gives you more time to reduce power and recover. The old boat goes over much quicker. I suspect this is due to the hulls being slightly longer and also the change in design to the front of hull. Beyond that, the new boat feels like it floats a little higher with comparable crew weight, but that may be just perception and not reality - its hard to know for sure.

There are also lots of little changes that are nice - drains on the coolers, better cooler lids (seal much better than old style), batten pocket protectors on main sail, ez-lock rudders

You can mount the EZ Loc rudders on the older Getaway. It requires longer (new) pintles. Removing the old ones could be an issue if the screws are seized.

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

Hello Hobie forum! I just saw a post on a stiffer rudder to help point better, and am Also wondering if the EPO or Fiberglass ruders for the H17 would work on a 2020 17 ft getway?

Just got the 2020 Getaway last Friday, and it is a blast. I have not sailed in many years, and even then only sailed monos. Rigs easy, has some nice refinements, like those mentioned above. Easy to sail and fast so far in winds around 10-15 knots, small to moderate ocean swell. Plus if it had a boom my wife would have had a nasty introduction on our first trip !

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ben

2020 Getaway

Before trying to swap rudders to glass or EPO, get used to the new boat. Tune your rig so there is only a hint of weather helm (I suspect you don't have sufficient rake). You likely are also not watching the teltales correctly. For a multihull, it is OK for the inboard teltale to fly up or be half up as long as the lee teltale to stream on the jib. Also, the only thing keeping the jib luff taut is the mainsheet, so it is common to slightly oversheet the main (and don't forget adequate luff tension on the jib fabric which takes some time to achieve). That's how to point better...but if you are looking for best speed, then everything flowing is good, but you'll lose 5 to 10 degrees of pointing. Depending on windspeed, you have to determine which is faster VMG to go to weather.

Coming from monohulls you will be disappointed in the pointing ability of any multihull.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

i got a bit ahead of my skis there! Wise words on tuning first, thank you

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ben

2020 Getaway

I too would like stiffer rudders but more for reaching in strong winds. One or other rudder seems to stall out at high speed and as mentioned before in another thread, kick up without hitting any object or weed in the water.
The latter problem has been partially overcome by tightening the main bolt on the rudder stocks but rudders still kick up to a smaller degree.
Adjusting the luff tension in the jib is important but is there an easy way to do this? The line resides at the top of the forestay!

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Ashus
Mirror, Bosun, Laser, Fireball, Hobie 16, Dart 18, IOR 1 Tonner, 1720, Ozgoose, Hobie Getaway

Two ways of achieving variable luff fabric tension, both ways start with lowering the mast to get at the tension line. Way 1 is to replace tension line completely with a very long line that you thread along the forestay next inside the jib luff around the lower end of the top swivel turnbuckle and tie down at the jib head grommet. At the tack, go down to a turnbuckle in a lower adjustment hole and apply tension by cascading up to the jib tack grommet then back down to that turnbuckle-tension for the days wind and tie off. This is called a zipper luff halyard even though your jib luff doesn't have a zipper. The other method just shortens the tensioning line at the top and at the bottom you use another separate line to cascade between the jib tack grommet and a turnbuckle through a lower adjustment hole. Either way allows you to adjust jib luff fabric tension each time you sail. Way 1 has an added advantage that you can position the jib higher along the forestay for days of very light wind. It also allows you to bring the whole jib down without lowering the mast if the line is long enough.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

the guy who set my hobie up from the dealer was very good and knew lots of setup "tricks".

i don't know if cavitation would contribute to your kick up issue, but what my dealer did was take a scissors and sort of foiled the trailing edge of the plastic rudders, and added a very slight hard edge, like on a surfboard. He said it would reduce cavitation / humming

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ben

2020 Getaway

Not that it matters worth a hill of beans since the result is the same loss of steering ability, but it is not likely that the rudder on a getaway can cavitate. Cavitation occurs when air entrained in the water forms a bubble at a nucleation site (ie, boils)--high speed props cavitate due to low pressure at the rapidly moving blade but unlikely that a boat rudder will cavitate at any speed the hobie getaway can reach. Ventilation is more likely and occurs when air is sucked down the leading edge you can sometimes hear the "whoop" when it starts. Fix that typically by raking the rudder forward a tad (not really possible with the getaway). The third (and most common) loss of steering is when the sailplan is stalled. You can tell when that happens since the only way you can steer is by releasing some mainsheet. The guy who trimmed your rudder did that to eliminate hum. Most often that is done by making the trailing edge a 30 degree blade with a fiberglass rudder.

I was not unhappy with my getaway pointing-perhaps because I had a farrier trimaran previously and was used to larger than monohull tack angles. I do know that once the rig was balanced I outpointed a Windrider 17 as well as a Weta. Was also faster than both of them. Granted, I had a lot more experience than either skipper.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

One last thing. It is fun to get on one hull; but that also removes a lot of the leeway resistance. Best upwind trim is to have weight aft so bows are up and the athwartships trim is pretty flat--keep the windward rudder in the water. Keep the windward skeg in the water as well if wind speed allows. Speed is sacrificed a little due to additional friction, but we're talking pointing. I actually never did a VMG study on boat attitude so I'm just bloviating. Flat gets mast pointing up higher in the most wind so you have a little more power when flat than if you are up on one hull. It is more fun to get on one hull though.

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R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Abso;utely right... comfirmed by experience racing Dart 18s

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Ashus
Mirror, Bosun, Laser, Fireball, Hobie 16, Dart 18, IOR 1 Tonner, 1720, Ozgoose, Hobie Getaway

Having reread the post more carefully there is one thing I disagree with and that is trim.... In Dart 18s we trimmed bow down for upwind in most conditions which improved pointing. Doing the same in the Getaway, seemingly with the same results.
See my reply in dropped mast on ball thread.

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Ashus
Mirror, Bosun, Laser, Fireball, Hobie 16, Dart 18, IOR 1 Tonner, 1720, Ozgoose, Hobie Getaway