kayakman7 wrote:
You guys had me concerned that I was neglectful about maintaining my boat... So I checked all the nuts, bolts, and screws and found that everything was indeed still tight. Which means, at least to me, that I broke it by sailing it.
I'm just wondering exactly which conditions were to much...
Also, does the old x bar get returned to hobie? If not, I might make a TI3. All I would need are the clamps that hold the x bar down.
Cheers,
J
kayakman7
If everything was tight that's good to know.
At this point I don't believe we have a definitive explanation as to what exactly causes the weld on the bearing plate to break. Hobie has since corrected this problem with their new design and that's what is most important.
What I've been trying to establish is how the average person can determine beforehand, if their old style crossbar is about to fail. I should think Hobie would be interested to have your crossbar to see if this "grey line" is actually a crack in the weld or not.
However, you did not break it by sailing it; it broke because somethings wrong, it's not your fault. As for "which conditions are too much..." I believe the general rule of thumb is when one begins to see the whole ama a couple of inches under water. It's also been well discussed about the benefit of when to reef your sail. Again, I wish for all of us to be as safe as possible on the water and proactive through these continuing discussions.