Cart Post Collar Clamp and First Gen Outfitter

I just purchased the Hobie Heavy Duty Cart to replace my aging cart. The new cart has the post collar clamps to keep the kayak bottom from resting on the cart crossbar. On my first generation Outfitters the clamps do not sit well against the hull and place all the load stress in two small areas. I tried spinning the clamps 180 degrees, flipping them upsaide down, raising them as high as I could while still being able to use the cart keeper, but no matter what I did the clamps did not distribute the load well. The engineer in me says this is bad... See the photo below.



Are the scupper hole bottoms different on newer kayaks? Should the clamps not be used on older kayaks? Or am I just worrying about something I shouldn't be? It almost looks like the posts are too close together for the clamps to properly distribute the load.

For now I adjusted the clamps so some of the weight will still be on the crossbar, at least when heavily loaded. My old cart had no clamps and after many many trips on the cart, some quite long and over rough terrain and loose sand, there is no deformation on the hull bottom.

Is anybody else using a newer cart with post clamps on an early Outfitter? And does it look like my picture?

I did notice the following in the instructions:

"Bushings are not a net fit to scuppers. They may contact the hull near the scuppers."

Perhaps "net" was meant to be "neat" and by "not a neat fit" and the rest of that Hobie means exactly what is in my picture and all is okay?

Peter

There are several past posts where other owners have used a pair of tennis balls that have a hole drilled through and inserted over the vertical cart posts. This will provide a good "conformal hull fitting cushion/spacer" to alleviate your concern.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Searching on "tennis" brought up the posts you referenced as well as comments from Matt stating you won't get a perfect fit with the collars. Also saw photos using a section of pool noodle rather than a tennis ball. I will go with the noodle or tennis ball approach and sleep peacefully.

Peter

Different bosts here (Revos) but if I used the collars all the weight would rest on just the collars, so I am oting not to use them at all so the padded crossbar bears all the weight. i used tennis balls on another pvc cart, but I like the pool noodle idea FWIW.

Many of us just slide a cut pvc pipe over the shaft then put the collar into the shaft. This prevents the collar from sliding down.
On our TI which has a similar rounded center hull to your outback. I took a plastic bag put some 4lb expanding urethane foam in the bag. Threw the bag in the hull where the scupper cart sits, and let it expand so it now is a column that touches the upper deck. This prevents the hull from caving in at the center (creating a crease in the hull). The whole works can be easily removed if you ever sell the boat.
In summary, I re-enforced the hull inside in the center, then placed the collars on the Pvc so the hull touches on three points.
Note: All this was done a long time ago before Hobie came up with their own solution for the TI which is an extra hull conforming platform that is supposed to be purchased separately for the TI only. After getting the platform, I left the foam in there fuguring it's not hurting anything ( the was like 3yrs ago and the foam is still in there.
Hope this helps
Bob