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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:36 am 
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Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:16 pm
Posts: 605
Location: Colorado
This is something I have been using for five or six years now on my 2015 Hobie TI and it has saved me from a collapse and possible turtle at least three times when I have hit something hard enough to break the nylon Ama brace sheer pin. After all this time, it still seems to work well and is easy to us, especially useful if you like to collapse an Ama for getting on and off a dock. The quick video below shows what this is and how it works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYbChRTUvrM


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:20 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:13 pm
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Great solution and one of the best I've seen here. Nice work Walt.

But it shouldn't have been necessary. I'll never understand Hobie's highly questionable engineering philosophy that protecting the amas/akas is more important than protecting the life of the crew. I think that we can all agree that absolutely nothing is more important than protecting the life of the crew. This dangerous design is constantly putting the crew in harm's way. Hobie TI owners have been trying to find ways to mitigate it ever since its inception. Boat owners should not have to find solutions for dangerous engineering. This should have been redesigned by Hobie years ago.

The thing I fear most when sailing my TI in challenging conditions is a capsize. That can easily be life-threatening, especially in bad weather which I've come across many times despite being careful. The TI is highly resistant to capsizing as long as the amas remain extended. That part Hobie designed excellently. But then to place a plastic shear pin in the aka which can break at any time and immediately capsize the boat without warning makes no sense. After putting up with it for several years and always worrying about it, I finally made the decision to replace the plastic shear pins with stainless steel bolts. I will gladly repair any damage to the akas if I hit something hard enough. Better that than to risk capsizing and possibly drowning, any way you look at it. Many others here obviously agree and have come up with all kinds of ways to prevent an ama collaspe. Too bad Hobie has paid little or no attention and has done nothing to fix this.

In the six years that I've owned my TI, I've never hit anything so hard that it would cause damage to the amas/akas, and I've even taken my TI on river runs and bounced it off of docks and rocks. It's amazingly rugged, again Hobie did a great job there. However, the plastic shear pins in the akas are, without doubt, one of the worst marine engineering examples I've ever seen on any boat. Who in their right mind would want a breakable plastic part in the critical support structure of their boat simply to save some relatively and unlikely minor damage at the potential risk of their own life? Imagine if the steering mechanism on your car was designed to break off if you hit a bad bump in the road.

What should have been designed is simply to use an inexpensive gas strut that would allow the ama to momentarily retract and absorb a shock when hit and then immediately extend back into position. That protects both the structure and the crew.

No design should ever put people's lives at risk merely to prevent some damage to a replaceable component.


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:38 am 
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Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:16 pm
Posts: 605
Location: Colorado
I like the gas strut idea!

One thing to add about the leash. A friend of mine had the "ball" attached to the hull that the brace clips on to come loose and fall out. The brace unattached, ama folded in and they went turtle. The leash idea protects for both a sheer pin break or a failure in the brace attachment to the hull.

You always have tradoffs in any design and overall I think Hobie did a great job with the TI.. except maybe the safety issue of a collapsed Ama. You can add weight and make this issue go away but then you need a boat as light as possible in order for the mirrge drives to be fun (ie, adequate speed). Or.. beef things up to the point where you only would collapse the ama for setup or take down. And of course the manufacture has cost targets along with weight and performance. I picked the TI because it had the mirrage drive, if mine was stolen, I would get a another one.

I busted a sheer pin one time hitting a boey with the Ama. Wife was sitting in the front seat blocking my view so I didnt see it. I put this one in the category of a little careless and bad luck. And of course there is the category of busting a sheer pin doing something stupid LOL.

In the doing something stupid category, I posted this video several years ago and the discussion turned into something about right of way. Well.. this had nothing to do with right of way, it was more like two teenagers steeling a couple of cars and doing dumb stuff. We were having a little too much fun and I hit the back end of my buddies TI and popped the sheer pin. Kept sailing until I looked down and realized that the pin had broken and the leash was holding the Ama out. I just put in a new sheer pin out on the water, did a bunch more sailing that day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsoQX7txv6M


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