Hobie Cat Forums

John,

A little more then 2-3" .... the mast rotates .... so you need to allow for clearance for when the mast is rotated 90*... so maybe 6"-8" from the centerline. And I think that approximently 1" aft of the "crown" of the front crossbar should be fine ... you want the camcleat to be only "slightly" tilted ....

I'm going down to the Yacht Club that I'm a member at ... and were my H18 is currently sitting ... I'll confirm the measurements ....

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

The cleat riveted or screwed (a previous owner put in on) is mounted on the front cross bar about one foot to the left of the mast and about one inch aft of the top of the cross bar.

Hate to throw a cat amongst the pidgeons but a V cleat under the front beam works & is right out of the way.

I put the lance cleat on the bottom of the x-bar. I think that is better as it is completely out of the jib sheets way. If you have bungee preventers then it wouldn't matter. If you don't having it on top is just another place for the sheet to hang up while tacking.

Well ... I measured how far off the centerline of the boat I have my "furler camcleat" installed ..... it is exactly 6" from the centerline on the port side ...

I stopped using the V-Jam Cleat because I have a small zippered bag for tools and spare parts tied to my lacings just behind the mast/front crossbar .... and sometimes I have a large tramp pack also tied down in that area to store water bottles in ... spare clothing ... charts .... and that D_mn "throwable" that you are suppose to carry on a +16' boat ....

Yes, I do have a bungie preventer rigged to keep the jibsheets from getting fouled ...if they do get "fouled", it's usually on my mast rotator ... or downhaul exit blocks .... it's never been on the furler camcleat .....

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

Here is my $.02 on the furler cleats.
I originally hated the V cleat on the underside of the crossbar, and I replaced it with a Harken micro cleat on the top of the crossbar as mentioned above. While it worked well, I always thought of it as a hazard and eventually ended up ripping it off the crossbar when I flew into it during a pitchpole.
After that, I went back to using the original V cleat, and found that it works really well, if used properly.

My tips:
To keep it furled I tied a small overhand knot in the line. Make sure your line is small enough to allow the knot to go through the hole on the bottom of the V cleat. The knot will be located at the cleat when all off the line has been unrolled from the furler, essentially the same as having the sail fully furled. This never gets untied. I tie the free end to the tramp lacing.

To keep it from catching while trying to unfurl, throw the excess furler line over the front crossbar and let it drag in the water. Doing this allows the line to feed over the crossbar and through the top of the cleat instead of midway down.
Then just pop the knot out of the cleat, allow it to go through the hole and sheet in the jib.

Pull the extra furler line out of the water when you are done, if you are concerned about that kind of thing.

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1992 Hobie Cat 18 #16943
Hobie Fleet 198, Rapid City, SD

On our boat, we just run the furler line through one of the tramp grommets and tie it off to the hiking strap with a couple half hitches. It's not fancy, but it gets the job done and never comes undone unless we want it to. This is not something we're adjusting frequently after all.

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