Rudder & Hull Alignment

As I was preparing the boat to go out today and for the heck of it, lined up the tiller arm with the center of the hull, then checked the other tiller arm and found it pointing outboards. So I lined up the rudders and measured the distance distance between the leading and training edge. Seems they have a slight (1/8") tow out, meaning the distance between the leading edge is 1/8" more than the trailing edge.

While I had the tape measure out, and someone to help. I measured the distance between the center of the bows and stern. Found a 3/4" difference. The bows measured 68-1/4" and the sterns measured 70".

So I was wondering, should the hulls be parallel, or with the bows pointing in slightly?

As for the sailing today, its was great. Sunny, 74 degrees and 15mph winds.

Charlie

Rudders - Toe-out is not a desirable condition, although 1/8" is not that much and may be within the "slop" limits of the system, depending on how tight everything fits together.

The Hobie 16 and Hobie 14 both like a bit of toe-in - the leading edges of the rudders are about 1/8" to 1/4" closer together than the trailing edges. Boats with centerboards / daggerboards like their rudders parallel.

Misaligned rudders will stall prematurely and ventilate sooner at lower speeds.

The hulls should be parallel, too, but I'm not sure that you can do anything about that on the Wave. Check to make sure the boat is as square as it can be - measure from one bow to the opposite stern - should be the same dimension when you measure from the opposite bow to the opposite stern.

[edited to correct per Matt M.'s comment below]

Matt's backwards on this one...

Toe "in" is the leading edges closer together...

Toe-in is prefered in the 14 and 16. I even go a little toe-in on othere models to prevent toe out, which can cause rudder ventilation. Especially when the rudders are a little sloppy.

Waves are a bit flexy, so not sure you can easily get a perfect parallel (I assume parallel is the designed preference). Bows in a little seems to be pretty typical. I would try to get the rudders a little toe-in though. Check to be sure the stops on the crossbars are firmly seated on all four corners. May be a slightly bent tiller arm?

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

With the way the Wave is assembled, there doesn't seem to be any way to adjust the Alignment of the hulls except for adding shims between the "stops" riveted on the cross members and where they meet the hulls. Don't know if I want to start doing anything like this.

As for the Rudder system, its the EZ-Lock and the tillers are straight, no bends that I can detect. So, if the tiller arms are straight, the distance between the gudgeons should match the distance between the pins in the tiller cross bar (that attach to the tiller arms). Right?

Anyway, the distance between the crossbar pins is larger than the distance between the gungeons. This would angle the rudders causing the leading edge to be farther apart than the training edge. So the crossbar would have to be shortened a bit.

Looked through the catalog but didn't see a tiller adjustment kit that would work with the wave. Has anyone ever adjusted the rudder alignment on a wave, or am I the only one with OCD.

Not to many people sailing the Wave that are so in tune with these things, but still... correct adjustments will help the boat sail better. I am quite certain that the boats do vary a bit out of the box. This is always the case, even with the fiberglass cats. The Wave is plastic and this type of process does offer variances beyond possible differences in extrusion and hardware attachment issues. There is no easy solution except possibly inducing a little bend in one of the tillers. To adjust tiller crossbar length, I suggest you could change to the 1953 system. Maybe elongate the attachment hole on one of the end fittings or trim the length of the tiller crossbar?

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

Matt,

I understand about the variances in manufacturing, especially "plastic" items. Overall I'm very happy with the Wave, assembly was very easy and all the parts fit together without an issue. When the wind is really blowing, these items don't really make a difference, and the challenge is keeping the Bows up.

The only item I was considering is shortening the cross bar to get the proper toe on the rudders. Looking at the end fittings, one is riveted in and the other has a screw holding it in. I removed the screw, but was unable to remove the end fitting. It seems to be in there real good and was concerned about breaking it trying to get it out. Any advice on how to get this out would be appreciated.

Charlie