Hobie Cat Forums

I was told that the jib halyard,on an older 18, after raising the jib, ties or is cleated down near the base of the mast. In looking through some of these forums, I believe I see a different method. Is this correct? That you run the jib halyard through the zippered sleeve on the jib that attaches it to the forestay?

I keep rereading the forums but it is not clear to me.

Second question: Where is the 18' Hobie (older) mainsheet secured?

There is a weird metal ( might be a jam cleat on the starboard side of the mast) but I am not sure that is what I am looking at.

Thanks,

A

All you questions will be answered after you print this Hobie 18/18SX assembly manual: http://static.hobiecat.com/digital_asse ... Manual.pdf

1) The jib halyard has 3 parts. There is a thin metal cable that goes through the pulley on the mast and has a shackle on one end and an eye with a small block on the other. There's about a 25' line that I think is supposed to have something called a "sister clip" that I attaches to the eye with the small block. I just tied a loop on one end and pass it through the eye and pull it back through the loop so it's attached but easy to remove. The third part is a short line that attaches to the shackle at the furler/adjuster. Method: Attach the foot to the shackle on the furler/adjuster and the top to the shackle on the cable. The cable and the 25' line go in the luff pocket. You hoist with the line and zip as you go. That eye and the block have a tendency to catch on the top of the luff pocket and sometimes it takes a couple of tries to pull it through. Once it's up take the short line attached to the shackle at the furler and run it through the little block and secure it with the jam cleat on the jib. The remove the line you used for hoisting and put it away till you want to drop the jib.

I've seen people remove the little block and put a cleat on the adjuster to make it easier to hoist (no block to catch) but without the 2-1 purchase with the block you need a real cleat rather than the jam cleat.

I've also thought about putting a block on the adjuster shackle and run the line to a cam cleat on the front crossbar so I could adjust the luff tension to help shape the sail but that seems like overkill and might not be class legal.

The jam cleat on the mast might be for the downhaul I think the original had a 2 or 3-1 purchase and a setup like that. I have replaced that with an 8-1 setup and a cam cleat. There's also a v cleat just to the left of the mast for the furler. I found it was not reliable in high wind (when you need the furler) and added a cam cleat for that as well.

2) The main sheet attaches to the a becket on top of the lower block then through all the blocks (lots of diagrams around for this) and out the bottom block through a cam cleat. The bottom block is attached to the traveler. That part of the line is your main sheet. In the center the rear crossbar is another is another cam cleat that rotates. Feed the end of the line through that (make sure the cleats face the right way), then through the center of the traveler (those white spacers are actually blocks that rotate (when lubricated) and through the deadeye behind the rotating cleat and tie a figure 8 stop knot. That part of the line now controls the traveler with a 2-1 purchase.

I tie a safety knot about 8 feet from the end to catch on the traveler cleat and prevent it from ever accidentally hitting the end of the track. The slugs in the traveler track are ( I think) ceramic and will probably shatter.

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

Or flying out of the track on the starboard side through the opening for removing the traveler from the cross beam.

The slugs are made of delrin, very tough plastic and not likely to shatter.

Is this an older/newer thing? Mine is an '84. Mine sure look ceramic and I'm pretty sure someone once told me they were. The rollers might be delrin.

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

How to rig a hobie 18 or at least the hard parts.
http://youtu.be/dl7kZOQ5WQk

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ALLEY CAT 1984 RED LINE HOBIE 18 MAGNUM
Sail # 10505 or 277

I just went through this myself jmecky's video helped me a lot.It took a little bit to unravel how the jib is put together.Another thing that really helps a lot is see if you can find someone around you who knows these boats.I looked up and introduced myself to a local who has sailed for a long time and he is speeding up my learning curve a bunch.People like to share what they love to do and everyone wants more people to sail with.

One more thing....
Before you 'set' the jib halyard tension, you need to raise the main sail, then haul down on your mainsheets as tight as you can. This 'sets' the overall rigging, so that now you can 'set' the jib halyard tension. Any other way, and you'll pull the head of the jib off....don't ask how I know.

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1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

I have never done this. But I do pretension the rig, before I raise the jib and I only get the wrinkles out of the jib when I tension it, so when the main sheet in tight, its not that much tension on the jib.

John Lunn, did you tear your jib up. I know you said don't ask, but I really want to know.

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ALLEY CAT 1984 RED LINE HOBIE 18 MAGNUM
Sail # 10505 or 277

Couple comments...

Pre-tensioning the forestay is definitely a good idea if you're still learning how to rig the jib. However, you can use the main halyard connected to the back of the boom rather than hoisting the mainsail if you prefer. Hoist up the boom about 3 feet and tie off the halyard. This way you aren't sheeting in the main on the beach (not always a good idea when it's windy out). Also, you don't need to pull the main blocks "as tight as you can". Just pull on enough to give the forestay a reasonable amount of tension.

As far as the actual rigging of the jib halyard, there are a couple different ways to skin this cat, but the general procedure is the same for all as is the end result. As stated above, there are three main halyard components- the wire halyard, the halyard line (long thin line), and the halyard tensioning line (which is the shorter, thicker line). You hoist the jib using the halyard line which is tied to the wire halyard (threaded inside the zipper luff sleeve). Once you get the jib raised 90% of the way up, you use the halyard tensioning line to apply the final tension to the wire halyard and cleat it off on the cleat at the bottom of the jib. Then disconnect the halyard line and stow it in the tramp pocket.

Also, if you know how to tie a bowline, then there's no need for sister clips. I'd also recommend cutting off the small pulley on the end of the wire halyard. It really isn't necessary and is more likely to get stuck on the opening at the top of the jib luff sleeve when you try to pull it through. Just pass the tensioning line through the thimble in the wire halyard and it works fine (this is how the new halyards come from the factory).

sm

I took some of that "fix everything" epoxy putty and built up a cone/inverted teardrop shape around the knot on my hoisting line. It's about 3/8 wide by 3/4 long. It does a nice job of opening the top of the luff pocket for the little block. As stated above I have a permanent loop on that end and just drop the free end through the loop to attach it.

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

If you tie the halyard through the eye of the pulley, instead of being attached to the thimble it does not get caught at the jib pocket sleeve.

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ALLEY CAT 1984 RED LINE HOBIE 18 MAGNUM
Sail # 10505 or 277

True, however the pulley really serves no functional purpose. Tieing the halyard directly to the thimble is easier than feeding it through the pulley and you can still easily pull on haylard tension without the pulley. It's kind of splitting hairs, but really, the pulley is unnecessary.

sm

SRM, you have a wonderful understanding of how Hobie's work...too true, halyard to the back of the boom works just as well. I am so accustomed to raising the main in a sheltered parking lot, where we assemble the H18's, before we roll them down to the beach.

JMecky, yup, tore the grommet right out of the head of the jib when I cranked on the mainsheet. Cheap repair, but took that Hobie out of commission for a week while we had the repair done.

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1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

I ran into a similar problem on Sunday but thankfully my jib tensioner line popped out of the cleat before I broke the halyard or damaged the jib itself. I really need to invest in the sister clip setup because dealing with my current rats nest out on the water and getting everything tucked back into the zipper in 10-15MPH winds is a PITA.

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Irie, mon....
'82 Hobie 18 SE with '85 Nationals Prism (White) sails
'73 Laser HID# 3463