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Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moored?
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Author:  Toller [ Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moored?
I am thinking of buying an AI.
I think I can fit it in my hoist (little thing, made for a rowboat) but might have to moor it.
Can it safely be moored?
Either way, would I leave the mast up, or take it down when not using it?
Leave the sail furrowed on the mast? (is it UV resistant?)

thanks
Author:  Defy [ Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
Should easily fit folded and it takes literally 5 seconds to take the mast out. I would not leave it up.


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Author:  tonystott [ Sun Aug 05, 2018 10:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
Hobie recommends against mooring Islands. As above, removing the mast is az simple job, as is sliding it into the supplied bag to protect it from UV damage (replacing the bag would be waaaay cheaper!)
Author:  fusioneng [ Mon Aug 06, 2018 6:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
We used to travel a lot, and most places we stayed a week or two. We car topped the TI on the road and would take it down when we arrived, ( which takes an hr or so to get down and setup, (the boats were massivly modified and souped up). Once down we transferred onto our trailer or used the scupper cart. We would go out often times a couple times a day if we could. Of course we tried to get camp sites next to the water, if we did we would just beach the setup boat, or anchor or moor the boat just offshore completely setup for the duration of the stay. Once setup it only takes a minute or two to just jump in the boat, put the mirage drives in and go. Many of the places we stay at in the keys have docks on canals so we can get to the ocean, but sometimes it can be a mile or so to get out of the canals, often under low bridges so we need our masts down, (we had 3 masts).
The main sail is dacron which is very sensitive to uv, it’s best to store the mainsail in the sailbag, the bag protects the sail from uv and more important prevents tears from accidental bumping against stuff. On ours you could see the uv damage, and all the little tears and rips from handling, (not good). But we always used the daylights out of all our boats, (we owned 3 TI’s over the years, way more than most I assume). In our situation our sails needed to be replaced every 4 yrs or so, (worn out), yes the sails and mirage fins are consumable items and need to be replaced periodically, (no different from any boat). But we were heavy users, all our boats had a hundred mile per day max range, (10 hr x 10mph = 100 miles), we had a lot of 60 mile days, and our typical outing was 15 miles. When used that much stuff does wear out, you go thru sails, mirage drive, ( which can be rebuilt), and steering cables, (basically standard maint). No different from any other boat. Obviously leaving the boat in the sun for extended periods takes a huge toll on everything. The rocking motion when parked on the water with the mast in quickly wears out the mast bottom, (furler drum) and mast holder, etc and is not recommended, (we have worn out several of each). But we used our boats probably 10x more than most, (they were our only family boats), and we live near the ocean in sunny florida, also salt water wears everything out 10x faster.
I wouldn’t leave the mast in if you don’t have to, and always put the mast in the sail bag when storing, ( those sails and masts are not cheap). Cleaning and lubricating your mirage drives regularly will make them last much longer.
Hope this helps
FE
Author:  Toller [ Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
Okay, the mast should not be kept on the boat.

But...
1) If the mast is removed, would it be okay to moor the boat?
2) My roof rack takes 125 pounds. Is it easy to strip everything off the hull so I can carry that alone?

Thanks again.
Author:  fusioneng [ Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
We had a friend who kept his AI in the water in the same slip he kept his big powerboat in. He kept it in the water moored. The boat sank twice, and looked like it survived WW2 after a year, ( sun damage). Short periods are fine but not extended.
We stored on our roof racks, but you want to make sure to tie the front and rear securely with V ropes to prevent side to side force, and forward to back rocking. Yes the roof racks can be ripped off the roof, we have seen quite a few when out on the highways, a TI or Oasis ( we have owned both), on the roof of a car could flip the car in higher winds on the highway. Just going over railroad tracks is enough to cave the roof in, (yea we did that). We wrecked the roofs on all 3 of our Yukon Denalis hauling kayaks on the roofs, be careful.
Hope this helps
FE
Author:  Toller [ Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
fusioneng wrote:
We had a friend who kept his AI in the water in the same slip he kept his big powerboat in. He kept it in the water moored. The boat sank twice, and looked like it survived WW2 after a year, ( sun damage). Short periods are fine but not extended.
We stored on our roof racks, but you want to make sure to tie the front and rear securely with V ropes to prevent side to side force, and forward to back rocking. Yes the roof racks can be ripped off the roof, we have seen quite a few when out on the highways, a TI or Oasis ( we have owned both), on the roof of a car could flip the car in higher winds on the highway. Just going over railroad tracks is enough to cave the roof in, (yea we did that). We wrecked the roofs on all 3 of our Yukon Denalis hauling kayaks on the roofs, be careful.
Hope this helps
FE


Amazing! I have carried 26' rowing shells on my roof rack several times up to 600 miles without problem. It is a little spooky to have something up there that is nearly twice as long as my car. And you can't tie the ends down or the boat will snap on a bump.

How could the boat sink? Isn't everything watertight?
Author:  fusioneng [ Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
Almost all cars can have an aftermarket hitch reciever installed. Places like Kurt and reece sell them, they are easily self installed in about an hr. We installed one on our pontiac solstice roadster for towing our TI on the trailer locally. You can buy reciever mounted T bars, that are not that expensive, (ours was around $75 bucks) for roof topping with our yukon denali’s when we didn’t have our camper in tow. The t bars support 500 lbs and make car topping much safer, and make loading much easier.
We spent a week in the keys once and the cabin next to ours (fiesta key) had two proas, ( oc1, oc2) that were 21 and 24 ft long, and weighed about 30 lbs ea. He had a ford excursion with a tbar in the back and another tbar in the front of his vehicle, appeared to be very secure. Lol they were pro’s practicing for the olympics or something, they left us in the dust with our TI every morning, (lol).
When we could, we used our trailer, saves a lot of headaches.
The problem we had was in key west there is no free parking, parking anywhere is $2.50/hr, then another $2.50/hr for the trailer, so we always kept our kayaks on the roof. For sometimes a month or two at a time, (what a pain that was).
We typically stuff pool noodled under the boat when car topping to even out the load.
We have around 1/4 million miles car topping with our Hobies on the roof and quite a bit of that with camper in tow.
FE
Author:  powersjr2 [ Tue Aug 07, 2018 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Do I just leave the mast and sail up? And can it be moor
Agree with the comments above.

Short term (1-2 weeks) mooring or docking while actively using the TI/AI should work fine. Beyond the short time period it is better to pull the Island out of the water.

I use a trailer to transport my TI. I have taken several long trips from the North East down to Marco Island FL. When not on the road or on a boat ramp....I keep my TI and trailer snug in my garage.

I typically tie my TI up to a floating dock overnight. I leave the mast in and pull the drives. The TI gets used everyday and I love just dropping in the drives and some supplies and then heading out for a 30-50 mile run in the coastal Gulf of Mexico. The outboard addition is a big plus for long runs and adds to the overall safety margin.

One note: Based on your location you may have to watch out for barnacles (arthropod constituting the infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea). I had my TI in the canal in Marco for two weeks and upon doing a deep cleaning I discovered the start of barnacles growing on the bottom of my TI. Took me several hours of cleaning and scrapping to remove them. Even got into the dagger board and well. Mooring for longer than 2 weeks in these waters (Marco) would be problematic. Free-living barnacles attached to the bottom of the TI by cement glands that form the base. The shell grows quickly! This occurred in late February 2017. I returned to Marco Island this year in April 2018 and did not have this problem with barnacles for a similar duration of two weeks docked. I suspect seasonal spawning larval stages may have contributed to this difference but I have no data to back up this claim.

Just about all the small to mid size boats that are "docked" in the canals in Marco are on boat lifts (putting the boat totally out of the water) for this very reason.

See a few photos of the barnacles attached to the bottom of my TI after just 2 weeks docked in the salt water of Marco Island. See more photos in this flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmnSxKiK

ImageBarnacles on Hobie TI by Jim Powers, on Flickr
ImageBarnacles on Hobie TI by Jim Powers, on Flickr
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