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PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 8:30 am 
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Location: Oceanside, California
As suspected... older boats as well.

Quote:
This is a 2013 that I bought in October of 2012


Quote:
I have a 2012 Tandem Island, love it, but. At the end of the 2014 season my mast snapped at the base in about 15 to 20 MPH winds

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PostPosted: Mon May 29, 2017 11:41 am 
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Joined: Sat May 09, 2015 8:53 am
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Location: Paoli Pennsylvania - East Coast USA
rlepoid wrote:
The mast actually broke EXACTLY at the point of contact with the lower rivet on the downhaul moulding.

The rivets on my 2015 AI's downhaul were, like much of the rest of the sail, of poor quality - to the extent that one corroded to the breaking point within a single season.

While replacing it with a sewn-in webbing strap, I too noticed wear on the mast from that device - hopefully before my particular mast has been compromised.

The poor-quality rivets aside, I call that downhaul implementation a faulty design and a needless expense - because the sewn-in webbing does the job cheaper, better, and without damaging the mast.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 1:33 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:24 pm
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Hello,

If you are travelling a lot with you TI, you might want to get one of these to fix a broken mast:
Check this web: www.compositepatch.com
These patches are used as standard on the Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe IMOCA racing boats....so should be fine.
I guess this one would be enough : https://www.compositepatch.com/en/detal ... ategoria=6

Pierre


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:57 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 2:31 pm
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Location: Kailua 96734
Very slick kit packaging! Can be cut to shape, layered and used underwater on hulls. For a mast though?



Wonder if the Americas Cup GBR team will endorse it, after their recent collision..

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:56 am 
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Location: Blacklick, Ohio
Just a bump to see if Matt got any word back from the engineers.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:51 am 
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Location: Oceanside, California
Nothing new.

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


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:36 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 6:22 pm
Posts: 23
Location: Brooklin, Maine
While repairing my aka rivets I looked at all the rivets on my boat, and my lower downhaul Rivet was worn thru -- and my mast was scored - go figure... Thanks to this thread I'm heading over to the sail shop here in Brooklin Maine and replacing the down haul with webbing.... Be nice to see a new sail design in the later 2017 boats...Image

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

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Bryan "Cujo" Edmonds

2015 Tandem Island "Supernova"
2014 Lund SSV18


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:21 pm 
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Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
By far the simplest and easiest fix I have seen to date (in the Sydney Island FB page) is to just add three large zip-ties (1/4+ inch width) around the mast, aligning with the top and bottom rivet in the white plastic sail downhaul fitting, with a third one in between these two to spread the load.

Instantly, there is no further chance of the carbon mast getting gouged, and these zip-ties, being softer than the downhaul fitting or mast, will be the "sacrificial part", giving a clear indication when they are due for replacement.

Brilliant.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


Last edited by tonystott on Tue Jun 06, 2017 6:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 5:59 am 
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Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:16 pm
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Location: Colorado
With any mod here, you have to keep in mind that the sail sleeve is still going to rotate on the mast regardless just by the way it works when used. So you have to be cautious of creating a new issue with some mod. Zip ties look like a great idea but will the zip ties now wear on the sail material after some time. Probably no problem as long as the zip tie "knob" is not located where the sail contacts the mast. Wear on the sail material is of course way better than wear on the mast.. Or something wrapped around the mast that is abrasive to the sail material would also cause the sail material to fail after a while.

Another pretty simple thing to do. Remove the sail from the mast and drill the rivets with a 3/16 bit from the outside, remove the cleat and the rivets. You have to use some sort of pliers (I used vicegrip) to keep the rivet from rotating on the inside of the sleeve as you drill out the rivet from the outside.

Then just use the existing strap with the line tied to it, loop the line through the hole on the base, back up to the strap and through the strap, then tie the line. Its almost as good as the original setup. Without the cleat rivets, the sail sleeve evenly touches the mast over a large distributed consistent area. Nothing to maintain or inspect now..


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 2:33 pm 
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Location: Brooklin, Maine
Fixed it today with needle and thread. Drilled out my rivets and resewed the same cleat in the same holes. Old school sail fix. This probably should be how they are attached at the sail factory instead of with metal. Just takes a little longer. No more rubbing on the mast...ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage

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Bryan "Cujo" Edmonds

2015 Tandem Island "Supernova"
2014 Lund SSV18


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:29 pm 
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Location: South Florida
I like that. Smart.

Keith

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 6:42 am 
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Location: Colorado
Nice!

I dont know if you have ever seen a "speedy stitcher" but I just love this little tool for sewing stuff like adding the cleat back on with just thread or for adding a strap.

This is a long video but you can see the speedy stitcher at the beginning. Did I mention how much I like this little tool.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ie5HjU6_9M


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 7:04 pm 
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Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:25 pm
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Location: Georgia
Thanx for the heads up on the speedy stitcher. Looks like a great little tool.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:55 am 
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Joined: Fri May 05, 2017 12:50 am
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I find it ridiculous to refer to a 4 year old boat as being "vintage" and "old", the implication being "what do you expect for such an old boat". Personally, I don't expect the mast on a 4 year old boat to break. I have another boat which is 87 years old, and in constant use. I do refer to that as being old.

To bring this thread to some sort of conclusion, can a Director of Hobie please answer the following questions:

Does Hobie accept that the downhaul cleat rivets wear grooves in the mast, and that these grooves can weaken the mast sufficiently to cause the mast to break?

Does Hobie intend to notify owners to check for wear on the mast, since the loss of propulsion by the sail can be a serious safety issue?

Does Hobie intend to inform owners of approved methods to prevent wear from the rivets?

Does Hobie intend to make a design change to prevent such wear and weakening of the mast?


Does Hobie intend to


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:47 pm 
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Location: Florida
Read this entire thread. Interesting! It appears mast gouges or wear caused by rivets could be a problem even if it looks superficial. In my mind any cutting of the mast fibers can't be good so rivet removal and replacement with a fabric tab seems like a good fix.

For anyone worried about the mast after it has this minor damage one solution is to paint some fiberglass resin and even a small piece of fiberglass cloth around the affected area. The resin and hardener are cheap & easily found at an auto parts store. I had an old AI mast with spitting ends where the carbon fiber/fiberglass was separation and this fixed it up better than new. However, instead of using the fiberglass cloth that normally come with the kit I carefully wrapped the affected area with fat fishing line (old school heavy braided line not mono-filament). Once I had the affected area tightly wrapped I painted on the resin and let it harden. This is similar way one fixes re-attaching eyelets to big fishing rods just on a bigger scale.

Anyway, any fiberglass type repair is strong, light, waterproof and very flexible.


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