Hobie Cat Forums

I use this system to right my 18 first time every time.. It allows me to solo the boat with absolutely no fear of a capsize. It is dirt cheap to build and really easy and quick to use. I can even pass it off to other capsized solo sailors if we are out and both single. It can be used equally well on a 16 or 17 by placing the inboard end in the V of the deck lip inline with the front crossbar. I have tested it on the water on all three boats and it works really well on all three. It can also add a really nice safety margin for people out sailing with kids that are really too light to help them in the righting process...you can even preload the kid on the hull and then right the boat by yourself.

Are you selling this device or offering the design to the Hobie Community to use as they see fit? Detailed (Dimensioned) sketches, with materials and measurements would be helpful to re-create your design.

It seems to work well, and I’d be interested in making one if I were to do more ocean (solo) sailing.

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John Latimer
'79 Hobie18 - Magnum
Sail#4854

looks cool, I might want to make one to use when I am single handing the boat.

Nice and simple. Could you provide details on the pole construction and foam?

I have no intentions of doing anything commercial with the righting pole because it is SO SIMPLE TO MAKE. It is a section of 1 and 1/2 inch aluminum conduit with a small section of closed cell foam (swimming pool noodle )stuffed into each end to make it float..$34 at your local electrical supply store. The pads on each end are just small pieces of treated 2x4 that are through bolted to the tube with 1/4 " x 5 inch bolts and covered with squares of 3/8"or 5/16" outdoor grade plywood that are screwed to the 2x4 with treated deck screws, the one end having a 3/4 to 1 inch protrusion (with the sharp edges rounded off some with a wood rasp) , that either engages the daggerboard well on my 18 or rests against the bottom of the deck lip roll on the 16 or 17. I covered that short extension with a product called liquid electrial tape to "rubberize" it and give it some non slip properties.
It is 7' 2" long because that is the length that nests nicely in front of the front crossbar and tucks in some under my SX wing struts, and it also bungees really well to my Hobie 16 front pylons at the exact same length.
That length allows me to carpet both ends so that it doesn't mar my boat's finishes, and most importantly offers me PLENTY of leverage to right the 18 with 175 pounds of body weight. A 140 pound female friend solo righted her Hobie 16 with this thing.
I had the time to make this pole much nicer than it needs to be. Some of my friends at the lake after seeing how easily I was popping my 18 back up, just bought a treated 8 foot 2x4, cut one end to form the 1 inch extension and covered it like I did with the rubberizing liquid, drilled two holes to thread the rope ( about 35 feet) through on the other end and strapped them onto their boats....they are a little slick when they are wet and may mark their hulls a little, and they may or may not have used the trigger snaps at just the right location, that makes my pole faster to connect and retrieve since they just tie them on...but they work just as well.
I am not as young as I used to be , not heavy enough to right the 18 solo in less than gale force conditions with wind and wave assist, not always able to find a crew, or not wanting crew, so I can just sail solo, flying hull and trapping off the wings . I wanted something that would right my boat first time and every time, no matter how tired I was. I tried the buckets and shroud extenders....In stark contrast, this thing takes very little balance skill because you have the the ropes to hold onto like handrails...you don't have to climb up to get a righting line,( which can contribute to driving your boat turtle, and can also result in a slip and fall) It requires very little upper body strength. It can also be adapted quite simply to work on multiple models of Hobies and other catamarans.
It's kind of hard to believe I spent so many years without it. It just adds so much safety margin to the sport, for solo sailors of all ages, aging sailors like many of us are, and guys who are sailing with crew too young or inexperienced to really be effective in helping to right the boat.
Glad to answer any and all questions to help make your sailing days safer, and add years to your sailing.

oh, I covered the top side of my latest pole with rhino liner material to give it a non skid surface...it can be bought in spray cans or brush on form. I had used hockey stick/baseball bat grip tape on my first prototype, and it worked very well, but it got sticky in the sun and put a black tar substance on my ropes.

Fastfriend, Nice job, I like your multi-cat design. For my H18, I tied permanent loops around the crossbars (gap between the tramp and hulls) and I simply clip the pole support line to the loops with aluminum carabiners. The carabiners serve a dual purpose as they help keep my pole centered and in place when stowed (see pic). But I suppose your tie-around-the-hull method better supports your multi-cat design, huh?

I, too, mostly sail solo and the pole gives me a lot of confidence that I otherwise wouldn't have. And hey, what fun would it be if you weren't testing your limits? Very nicely done!

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

Looks great. As the majority of my sailing is solo, I too will get one of these poles made up.

One question is ...... how effective is the pole when you are 100% turtle (upside down) ??

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Richard Stephens

Brian...I too first tied my lines to the crossbars where they are exposed inboard of the hull ....but then I realized my lines weren't really pulling on the crossbars at all , they were loading the crap out out of the tramp edge instead, and pulling down on it hard where it enters the side track,which I quickly decided was not a good idea... I was headed that way on my second effort. ( I had decided to make a second pole that would be dedicated to my 16 and leave the first with the 18)
I was thinking after I had them both fit to each boat I would lay them out and compare them, with an eye toward marking multiple attachment positions on the line for different boats.......but in working on the 16 unit, it became apparent that the center of effort for the righting process on the 16 has to be focused on the front crossbar or it will roll forward or aft. That means the front attachment point has to be well forward of the front crossbar, and the only way to do that is by throwing a loop over the hull, and it can't be slipping back,,,using the stainless steel trigger snaps($7.48 each at my local hardware store) I found that once they are around the rope, that just fits in their jaw, and slid up tight around the hull, they held position nicely on the 16.....and that's when I decided to try the "around the entire hull attachment" on the 18 too, and then in turn I discovered that this makes the fastening point lengths for attaching to an 18 17 and 16 so similar that I can pass the pole off to someone else who is flipped in the water, if I am also solo.
When we were young and dumb we used to come up on another flipped buddy, furl the jib or let it fly, tie the rudders across, jump off and swim over to the flipped boat....Two man right the down boat and then sail down the first unmanned unit...crazy stuff..I'm too old for that ...needed a better plan and this is it.

Brian, I just went back and enlarged your picture.. I also tried stowing my pole under the center of the tramp, but because of the curved nature of the crossbars hulls and trampoline I soon found that the bar made a nasty lump in the tramp center, that I eventually decided was just too hard on my knees, and unless it was REALLY stowed up super tight it would hit the tops of the waves and slam it up against the bottom of the rear crossbar repeatedly.
The tramp itself was also too short for a bar length that would easily right my boat with my 174lbs, so the bar also then had to protrude either fore or aft of the tramp, and also stick out each end to be able to tie it successfully up to the front and rear crossbars, which I found left ends to catch lines and skin on.
That's when I decided to quit trying to make it shorter and just let it be a few inches longer, which made it easy to pad both ends. That padding lets it ride on top of the hulls, just in front of the front crossbar....stowed up there it only hits waves that were coming over and hitting the front crossbar anyway. Padding the outboard end also gives me a happy little platform to aim my butt or feet for if I ever have to get completely out there to sit or stand during the righting process.
I looks like you are using an old boom extrusion from a sailboat for your pole, and even though I gathered up an old broken vault pole from my local high school junk pile and a broken windsurfer mast to try...it never dawned on me to look for an old boom...kudo's for that one.... Probably most people are going to be able to grab the inch and a half aluminum conduit cheaper and easier, but hey, like I said use anything strong enough you can get your hands on...just build yourself a pole.

Richard, I have never taken the the bungee V retracted righting line off my boat, for several reasons. One of those being that I have it attached to a smaller tail at the rudder end with two big sister clips that allow me to detach it back there and then use it to get my body outside the leeward hull to bring the 18 up from turtle. I probably never would replace it completely with a righting pole because I also use it as a "sissy line" for the crew trapped out on the wing when it's rough to prevent them from ever taking the dreaded trip around the forestay. You probably know how far you can stuff an 18 into a wave, and have it stop and actually move backwards some as it resurfaces, which will really launch an unattached crew on the wire. AND I am stil perfeclty capable of climbing to grab the retracted line to use even more quickly if I have capable crew with me. The pole is really for solo sailing...although I find little reason to take it off the boat, because I am pretty much 50/50 solo/crew and it's just sitting there ready to go if I need it. I soon see the day when I may not want to climb on that slippery dolphin striker post and hull to grab for that line.
Now you have me thinking again though...there is plenty of line on that pole to use in the "up from turtle" process...let me get back to you on that one...lol. hmmm maybe if you move the snaps off the hulls and attached them to the dolphin striker post and around rear crossbar center....hmmmm can't turtle the boat in the back yard...heck all I have to do is flip my old parts 18 in the grass!!!!

Fastfriend, I hear you, you can definitely feel my bar underneath the center lacing as you're moving across the tramp on a tack. Having said that, the rear bungies I installed around the deadeye (clipped to rear tramp lacing w/two plastic Hobie bungie hooks - see pic) provide enough give that the pole won't "kneecap" you. Also, my mesh front pocket isn't hard up against the forward (sloped) end of the tramp. I left enough slack so the pole sits flat against the majority of the center tramp lacing without bulging it up in the middle.

I've been out in some pretty heavy conditions and I've never had any issues with the pole banging around underneath. Could be the length of my particular righting pole, the shock chords, the carabiner clipped to the center lacing, the front pocket or some combination of the five. Who knows? I will say I've got close to fifty pounds on you....sadly...so I don't require as much righting "leverage".

My pole is actually made from 1 1/2" square aluminum tubing. If you've ever seen the Sietech beach dollies used for Sunfish, Lasers, etc., that's exactly the aluminum material I used. I simply hacksawed the "T" section that rests on the keel and had it welded on by a guy here in town.

Anyways, congrats on your design. It's creative, simple and suitable for a host of different cats. I really like it.

Click to enlarge


Front pocket:

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

Brian, beautiful workmanship...I am assuming that the plexiglass rendition was the final version, and that the hinge in that picture set, was an earlier design that you used before you cut and welded the base of the bar to the angle you needed to slide the plexiglass plate into the daggerboard well? Were the nice plastic caps you have on your t-bar from the seitech dolly you cut up, or can they be had elsewhere??? Was that heavy plexiglass hard to locate, or is it available in a big box store?...I used wood for my inner end engagement lip mostly because it was cheap, easy to work with as a prototype, simple to carpet, and was a natural extension of the plywood square I was using to build the end box . In the end I was pleased that the wood covered with liquid electrical tape to rubberize it allowed me to so easily swap the pole between my boats, and it is kind of sacrificial...by that I mean that I feel comfortable that it would just pop out or break away, before it would damage the deck lip on the 16 or 17, should the pole ever bind in some odd way if I was being thrown around by waves.
You have some really neat features on your pole...WAY nicer than my two buddy's 2x4's...lol... they are just learning the ropes, but even their first edition, low tech renditions of this concept are allowing them to sail with a lot more confidence. I am pleased to be on the pole bandwagon with a person with your vision and craftsmanship skills.

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More proof of function

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCbihZsXESg