How do I rig the jib?

I am a new Hobie 18 owner. I havent yet purchased the Hobie 18 Perfomance Manual, and none of the sailing referances I have, show how the jib is rigged. My question specifically is the pulley on the forstay, below the swivel. It has a steel cable on it, with eyes on both ends, one with a pulley. I am guessing that the eylet is attatched to the head of the jib, the othet end with the pulley runs down inside the zipper and is tensioned on the clevice? I'd like to take the cat out sailing today and this is one of the last pieces to the puzzle of my cat. One of these days, maybe someone will do a detailed You Tube video dealing specifically with some of the finer points of the rig. I have watched the two part video on You Tube that shows basic rigging, and that was a big help. Nice one-handed knot tying too-



How to rig a Hobie 18 solo Part 2 of 2: http://youtu.be/_QLltz31cy8

Thanks for your help!

_________________
Hobie 18, Coronado 25
Shelton, Washington

You know your a sailor when....
You check the price of "for sale" boats, even though you're not buying one.

You are correct, in that one end of the steel cable is attached with a small shackle to the head of the jib. The other end is attached to the jib tension line, which should be 1/8th by 5 1/2' long. The tension line, in turn, is attached to the jib halyard, which is supposed to be 1/8th x 20' long. (or 2 or 3 mm.) See page 60 of the current catalogue. The cable and tension line and the halyard get tucked inside the zipper pocket as you raise the jib.

Tension the jib halyard more or less once it is raised, then detach the halyard from the tension line, and save the halyard for when you want to lower the jib. You will now use the tension line to secure the jib. You are probably confused by all the line and what to do with it. Does this explain the two part halyard process?

Time to put tension on the rig. SRM will advise you to haul down on a hiking handle, from behind (to the stern side of the mast). My advice is to be careful of the wind, (the H18 will easily blow over if you are not careful) and raise and attach the main to the boom, then sheet the main in as tight as you can. Both of those steps are designed to 'set' the rig.... and with that setting you will now be able to set the correct tension for the jib. At this point, you can cleat off the bottom of the jib tension halyard, through the plastic cleat, then tie it off to the lower shackle, doubled or tripled if necessary.

Then release the tension on the rig. After that, you can set the furler by rolling up the jib....
At the start of each sailing season, we dry test all furling/unfurling, spin set/retrieve etc on land.

Did you check the rake of the mast? Go to the base of the mast, and make a mark on the mast 48" up. From that point, measure to the shackle hole on the bow tang... should be between 103" to 107".

Lube your rudder cams and plungers, and you should be good to go. Post pictures... we'd love to see your 'baby'.

_________________
2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

Hi John- thanks for your input. I was able to get the cat out for a sail on a decent sized lake. The wind was hitting maybe 6 knots, but thats just a guess. We actually got to be moving along nicly. What was cool was, when we hit a certain speed, the cat started "singing"! She made this humming noise that was pretty cool. I almost yelled at my son- "we've achieved Warp speed"! Anyway it was good shake down cruise. I found several things that need adjustment. I think I will remove the ring on the main halyard and shorten the knot. I need to raise the main Higher to get it set right. I set up the jib lines as a seperate line for each side. And I need to figure out that mast rotation arm. I did rewatch the videos on you tube and discovered I had missed the section on rigging the jib. Course I didnt find this out till I got home, but it helped put your instructions in perspective. Maybe there is something about that arm in the vids. I will try and post a picture.

Thanks again for your help.

_________________
Hobie 18, Coronado 25
Shelton, Washington

You know your a sailor when....
You check the price of "for sale" boats, even though you're not buying one.

Perhaps I misunderstood your post, but you don't want to remove the main halyard ring. Rather than put tension on the main halyard and simply tying it off when the sail reaches the top of the mast, the ring should be used to catch and hook at the top of the mast, so that the main halyard can be left loose as you sail... This keeps the main sail fixed in position and really lets you stretch the sail when necessary.

As far as the humming goes, it is a pretty cool sound and feel, I agree... It makes you really feel like you're moving, BUT it's a product of rudder ventilation and turbulence... It's actually slowing you down. You can eliminate it with a little TLC in tuning the edges of the rudders. If you've got white Lexan rudders, it should be just a matter of filing the edge flat ~1/8" wide. You can find more information by searching the forum here.

_________________
Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238

oK, good to know. I will examine the mast head and take a look at the hook you mentioned. The rudders had chips in the trailing edge, so I used epoxy & micro-balloon filler. Still needs some minor filling, but was good enough to go out for a sail. I'll look for some info on rudder tuning too. I have heard people mention a "Hobie Assembly Manual" on this forum. If you were to choose a reference book right off the bat, which would you prefer, the assembly manual or the "Hobie 18 performance Manual"?

_________________
Hobie 18, Coronado 25
Shelton, Washington

You know your a sailor when....
You check the price of "for sale" boats, even though you're not buying one.

Just found the Hobie 18 assembly manual in the 18/18SX FAQ post. Thought the thing had to be ordered from Hobie.....

http://static.hobiecat.com/digital_asse ... Manual.pdf

_________________
Hobie 18, Coronado 25
Shelton, Washington

You know your a sailor when....
You check the price of "for sale" boats, even though you're not buying one.

I just noticed you mentioned the mast rotator arm... I didn't understand it either at first. There's a rope attached to the side of the boom, near the mast (or should be). That rope is threaded through the end of the rotator arm, and then through a cleat on the top of the boom (again, near the mast). Going upwind, you want to cleat this line such that the mast rotator arm is "pointing" at the leward shroud. Downwind, you want it pointing completely 90 degrees to the boat. For a beginner, that's all you really need to know about it.

The Hobie 18 Performance Manual, or any good catamaran sailing book will teach you more. There are several good ones out there, but I'd actually recommend "Catamaran Racing for the 90's" over the performance manual, if you had to get just one. There's more information about technique, which is more critical on any sailboat. The performance manual is just a good reference for getting your rig in the ballpark.

_________________
Mike

'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238