Hobie Cat Forums

Thinking of painting lower castings.Is there any complications I should know about with taking out,(and putting back in) the plunger,spring and delrin screw.

If it is an older casting you prob. will not be able to remove the delrin screw from the bottom of the casting. You would then need to remove the cam and take everything out from the top and just paint the delrin screw in. If you wish to remove the screw you can drill it out and simply replace them with new ones, they are part number 60450000, $6.83 or you can replace the plunger, spring, and screw with a rudder locking kit, part number 10311900, $14.20. Hope this helps let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,
Brad Stephens
http://www.sunjammers.com/
Hobie Division 15 Chairman
Authorized Hobie/Vanguard/Hunter Dealer
brad@sunjammers.com
850-235-2281
Panama City Beach, FL

Painting Castings?

From history... a bad idea to paint them. Corrosion will bubble the paint over time. Any scratch can induce corrosion.

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Thanks for the heads up.Is corrosion a concern in a fresh water lake, or just the Ocean?

Worse in salt, but possible in all waters.

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Thanks again.Saves me of painting.I guess I just am having sailing withdrawls,and am trying to occupy myself with some boat activaty.

You could take them to get powder coated.

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Warm regards,

Jim

Powder coating vs painting

They are virtually the same on the corrosion issue.

We powder coated casting in the early 90's on the Formula boats (White metal work)... not pretty.

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

If you are already getting cabin fever and still want to remove your delrin screws anyway, a couple of suggestions.

Be careful/patient drilling them out. Damage the threads and the gudgeon could be done for. Someone had given a good technique for heating a large bladed screwdriver with a torch and quickly hammering it into the screw to get a better bite. I tried that and it worked pretty well. Part of it came out, but I still had to essentially chisel the old screw out.

The other suggestion is, before you put the new delrin screws in, go to a Home Depot or Lowes and get a large lag bolt with the same thread pattern as your delrin screws. Grease it up really well and screw it into the gudgeon. It will smooth out the threads (little nicks can catch on the delrin screws) and evenly distribute the grease.

Ever since I did that, removing/adjusting the delrin screws has been a snap. I just add a little bit more grease very year or so.

Hey...found the post I was talking about

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1109

And yes...that Delrin screw does stink when you melt it. May not be poison gas, but it is pretty noxious!

So what is Hobie using on their castings to make them black?

hmmm.... mine are raw cast aluminum (silver in color) I don't think there is any kind of coating on those...
The black aluminum parts (cross bar, mast, boom) on Hobies are anodized in black. I think that this is a process could be repeated - at the same time it is probably not cost efficient. I do not know if the cast aluminum pieces are anodized in black - but I would guess so.
IMO - do not worry about the cosmetics too much. Spend some time and effort on making the cam work well. Try to get as much play reduced at those joints. The weak point on my rudder system are the (lexan) baldes. $$$ or time spend here would improve the whole deal.
Spend the time you would have invested in the cosmetics on the water.

Patrick

Crossbars, Masts, boom extrusions are anodized and castings are dyed.

The old silver is clear anodized and black ones are... uh... well black of course.

Anodize is an electrical charged part, chemical vat-dip thing. It etches the metal surface and allows the chemical or dye into the metal. Ultimately it creates an altered surface in the metal that is corrosion resistant.

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

That explains why the black castings bleach out in the sun after several years.

Anodizing has a higher UV resistance, whereas the dye doesn't