help

I'm as green as green can be when it comes to sailing. bought a, I think is a "Hobie 18 magnum" last year, and finding it very difficult when it comes to properly rig the boat without knowing the terminology. any help out there? rigging for dummies diagrams? any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance.

Here is a good place to start:

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

Jim

When I was just starting with a Hobie 18, I found jmecky's videos tremendously helpful! I honestly must've watched them a dozen time before I even bought my boat, and another half dozen before rigging for the first time, just to familiarize myself with the boat! I'm not saying that you have to go that far, or that his videos are perfect, but it certainly helps to be at least 80% on how to rig it before you try. Beyond that, you'll become more familiar with it and better at it as you go.

http://youtu.be/dl7kZOQ5WQk
http://youtu.be/_QLltz31cy8

One thing I strongly recommend is using two people on the trampoline to step (raise) the mast. This is the most dangerous part if done incorrectly. Jmecky makes it look easy, but when you're on the trampoline the weight of the mast is somewhere between 50 - 100 lbs that you're trying to lift over your head, and the wires in the way make it a bit awkward. Two people can manage it pretty easily. Once it's all the way up, one person can hold the mast up/forward while the other jumps down and pins the forestay.

Another thing I strongly recommend is making a concerted effort to learn the terminology. Everything on the boat has a name, and it makes it far easier to ask questions and understand the answers you get in response if you're familiar with the terminology and know the proper names for things. The manual Jim posted is a good place to start. Of course, if you hear a new term that you're unfamiliar with or don't exactly know what it means, it never hurts to ask.

Best of luck, and enjoy the boat! They sure are a blast!

Any other questions, feel free to ask! You can also try to find a local catamaran/Hobie fleet or club, as they always have guys willing to lend a hand! Where are you located?

edit: Another excellent resource for learning the terminology and basic cat sailing techniques: http://www.hobieclass.com/site/hobie/ih ... HobieU.pdf

_________________
Mike

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

In addition to everything stated above, one of the best things you can do is sail where other cat sailors sail. Either join a fleet or just find out the local launch and go there. You will pick up 90% of everything you need to know just by talking to more experienced sailors. Most are more than willing to help out a newbie.

sm

Totally agree. Where are you located?

do you have Any friend, or any kind of access to some sort of warehouse for a morning or afternoon? one with very tall ceiling? be able to step the mast with boat on the trailer,indoors? it really helped me to be able to do this. to get the rigging correct, the tensions, the line routing, "layering" if you will, indoors, out the the wind. raise the sails, (getting that damn thing to latch/unlatch), function the stuff. see how it is supposed to work. a quiet evening or morning, outside works too.
i started out with 14's, then 16's, now i love my old , really old 18. 1978
the advice about being around someone who knows these boats,,,, is very solid.....
make sure the tramps are laced tight.

thanks for all the input and advice.
I'm a canuck from Manitoba, Canada so the season is very short and cold.
go easy on me if I do not use the correct terminology, I'm learning.
I find myself having problems in three areas, one at a time.
#1- can someone explain how do you properly secure the loose end (nylon half)of the jib halyard line once the jib is raised. the jib sail has a plastic barbed "thing" at the bottom of the sail and a couple of clevises on the roller furling.

There is another line used for the luff tension (1/8" diameter x 5' 6"). You tie to the halyard wire... down to the jib tack shackle and back up to the luff wire and down to the cleat (barbed plastic). Do not over tension... forestay should be tight when doing jib luff tension adjustments.

Remove the long halyard line and stow in a tramp pocket.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

thanks
now I understand,
so other than the halyard line being long and somewhat as an inconvenience, it could be used to secure the jib sail, right?

Correct, there's no reason you couldn't use the halyard as the jib tensioner, aside from being inconveniently long, and maybe of smaller diameter. Hobie cat lists the halyard as 1/12" and the tensioner line as 1/8", but you'll have to check what you have. I think I'm using 1/12" line without issue. 1/8" sounds big for that tiny little sheave!

Don't worry, rigging the jib halyard/tensioner is confusing. It took me a few tries to figure it out too! (srm's graphics are excellent, btw! Where were those three years ago!? )

Personally, I bought like 30' of line, cut a ~5' piece for the jib tensioner, tied it to the wire halyard on one end, with a bowline tide in the free end. Then I cut a ~15' piece for the jib halyard, which I tie to the bowline in the jib tensioner. In the free end, I tie another bowline. When I take down the jib, I attach the shackle at the end of the halyard wire (head of the jib) to the bowline at the end of the halyard line, creating a loop. That way, the halyard can never run away from you (with no easy way to get it down).

I've found having a separate halyard line is really useful, because once the sail is hoisted, I untie the halyard line from the jib tensioner line and use the halyard line to create a "triangle" at the base of the mast to keep the "lazy" jib sheet from getting stuck on the mast base (happens often, gets annoying when tacking). This is a nifty little trick that a lot of 18 sailors use. you tie the line off at one end of the front crossbar, string it through the diamond wires on the mast and then tie it off at the other end of the crossbar (I double up the jib halyard to do this, so it's just the right length!). the jib sheets then go over this line, so they can't get caught on the base of the mast. Don't worry about it right now, but once you rig a few times and get the basics down, give it a shot!

They're not my graphics. Thank Hobie Cat for those.

You definitely want to have a separate tensioner line for the jib halyard. Trying to deal with twenty or so feet of halyard line tied to the tack would be a major hassle. Much better to use the system as it was designed - with two separate lines.

sm

once again thanks for all the info, very helpful, eh.
area of confusion #2.
from what I understand from reading the assembly instructions (please correct me if I'm wrong). when the boom is attached to the mast, you run the rope that is on the top/front of the boom through the eyelet of the mast rotator control yoke, correct? how tight do you tie the boom to the mast? do you bottom out the gooseneck pin? what is the purpose of doing this?

Yep, I remember getting confused about that one too!

On the forward end of the boom is the "boom pin" which extends out the endcap. The pin has a hole in it. On the mast, there should be the "vertex," a flat piece stainless steel bent into a "U" shape with a hole on either side, making a sort of clevis. the boom pin should fit between the two sides of the "U" such that the holes line up and you can pin the two together and then put a split ring on the pin to keep it in place.

Once the boom is pinned to the mast, the mast rotator line (which should have one end tied to an eye attached to the side or top of the boom) should be threaded through the mast rotator (rotation arm) and then back to the boom and cleated on the top of the boom in the jam cleat. The point of this line is to adjust how much the mast rotates into the wind (it doesn't stay in a fore-aft configuration while sailing). If you pull the line tighter, you restrict the rotation of the mast, which means the mast stays pointing more forward and doesn't want to bend aft, giving you a fuller sail shape. If you loosen the mast rotator line, the mast can rotate further to the side, which allows it to bend easier from the forces on the sail, allowing the sail to flatten more.

Fuller sail = more lift & more drag (more power), good for light winds & heavy crew or downwind sailing. Flatter sail = less lift & less drag (less power), good for heavy winds & light crew or upwind sailing. This is an oversimplification, but that is basically the idea behind the mast rotator line. It just gives you a little more tunability & control over sail shape. The general consensus is when sailing upwind, the mast/rotator arm should be "pointing at the shroud," and downwind it should be close to 90 degrees to the boat.

There are a lot of sailing books out there that explain more about sail shape and how/why to affect it. I'd highly recommend "Catamaran Racing for the 90's" if you're interested, it'll really improve your understanding of catamaran sailing and technique!