Hobie Tandem Island mast broke

Took a look at my mast today. There are some "wear" lines from the downhaul rivets. You can just feel a little wear with your finger. I'll let you decide from the picture. FYI, my TI is a 2015 so it's only got 2 light seasons on it.


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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

Looks to me that the smart thing to do is remove that cleat. You could just replace it with a grommet or strap, but you won't be able to adjust on the fly but I doubt that's more important than having a reliable mast.

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

Yeah, I'll have to figure something out. I don't think the downhaul is as important for our islands as other sail boats.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

Until you need to furl, then it's everything.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

Well, you could keep the cleat. Drill out the rivets and countersink a tiny bit into the plastic. Then screw through an screw in and bolt on the non mast side so there's nothing to score the mast. If you have a handi stitcher and a nice piece of leather, you can sew it to the sail to protect the mast as well. You can even take that backing plate off and stitch the cleat on that one side only. Point being, you should do something to protect your mast from damage from those rivets. And Hobie should "have a talk" with the sailmaker about fastening that cleat differently (I usually stitch those on since I'm not a fan of pop rivets on a sail--to be fair, I also don't make production sails; all mine are one-of's).

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

Regarding furling, I dont think anyone is getting rid of the downhaul itself - just getting rid of the cleat.

The bottom of the sail is maybe 5 inches from where the downhaul attaches to the base of the mast and you will always have some rotation of the sail itself compared to the mast. Anything point abrasive (like the rivets) at a particularly bad spot on the mast.. not good..

With the cleat removed, there are still several ways to use the existing strap that is sewed to the base of the sail. One is to simply tie a knot (like a bowline) to the strap and tie the other end to the hole at the base on the mast.

Or put a stop knot on the line and thread it through the hole at the mast base, then through the strap on the sail and then tie the other end to the second hole (on the other side) of the mast base.

The furling comment is of course important as that may be where that strap sees the highest forces.. I sailed my TI yesterday in some fairly high winds (reached 11.8 mph) with the cleat removed and the existing strap plus a new strap I sewed on just under and farily close to the existing strap. I used both holes at the mast base (bowline knot tied the line to the stock strap, then line through one hole on the base, then looped through the new strap located just under the stock strap, then tied to the second hole on the mast base). All worked just fine. I suspect no problem with just using the single strap and furling but dont know for sure as that is not what I tried.

I never did use that cleat for adjusting downhaul tension either on the fly or from outing to outing. It always just stayed at one tension level and that tension was not that high. Which is also why I think you likely can get by with just removing the cleat completely (fairly easy to do) and just change to downhaul to something like one of the two ways mentioned. Possibly even other ways to do this also. I never did think that cleat was very useful..

Just to throw out an idea.. here is my second iteration with that cleat removed. I wanted to try and limit the rotation of the sail on the mast and I havent used this yet but initially it limits the sail to about 15 degrees or so of rotation. Its not really adjustable for tension but I think that will be OK.. I will probably get to try it out in several days. (picture hosted on FB so it will eventually go away.) Likely this is over done.. more than is needed I think.

If the rivets rubbing on the mast is an issue, isn't the simple solution simply to stick a strip of rubber/teflon/plastic/etc between the rivet ends and the mast?

Mike.

Thought about that too. We used to use self adhesive Teflon strips on wire bundles inside the F-16 to prevent chaffing. It should probably be something provided through dealers though. Kind of like the seat clip upgrades.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I think someone who deals with mast warrenty breakage could tell quickly if the rivets are significant by looking at the broken mast they have replaced. Are most broken in the place like the original poster or most in a different location. FYI, the highest stress point is right where the mast exits the assy on the Aka. But that is not where this mast broke. If it is the rivets, seems like doing something to reduce wear would also reduce mast warranty issues??

Something like that would probably work well.. Or a sticker of the right material around the mast in that area that endured the rubbing and didnt fall off.

For now, wrap it w rescue tape. Probably what Hobie would end up sending everyone anyway.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

Thanks for the suggestions about how to protect the mast from the rivets. For those owners who aren't skilled in sewing, and who don't want to use tape, another solution is to slide a thin-walled tube down the mast. This is a loose fit on the mast, but still fits easily inside the sail tube. It's actually just a squeezy detergent bottle with the top and base cut off. Just browse around the supermarket with your measuring calipers until you find one of the right diameter!

I'm not convinced that this is leading to any failures, but adding a small wrap of tape would certainly protect the mast if you are concerned about it.

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

You may not be convinced, but what has engineering stated? I'm just being cautious. $1k for a new mast is not a drop in the bucket for me if it were to break. As such I will be purchasing some UHMW tape to protect my mast from further chaffing.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

It's your boat. It's your problem if the mast breaks. Hobie will stand by defective materials or workmanship or even an occasional design defect, but the burden of proof is steep for a design defect. If it were me, I'd remove the cleat back and stitch the cleat back on-then you won't have to worry about replacing sacrificial tapes or anything down the road. It'll take you a half hour. Half hour vs $1K and fighting Hobie company about it? I'd fix it.

For those who have already lost their mast...you pretty much either have to convince Hobie, rely on their sense of fair play or just pony up the $1K and bad mouth them the rest of your life.

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