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Mast Type
http://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1401
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Author:  cklepinger [ Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Mast Type

I just bought a second Hobie and now will be able to take the best from both to make a good one.... I have 2 masts, one has dual rollers on the top for the main sai, and the other has 1 big roller... which is better to have?

Author:  JaimeZX [ Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:42 pm ]
Post subject: 

I think the double style is newer. My '72 only has one.

Author:  drej [ Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:21 pm ]
Post subject: 

The dual roller should be a comptip mast (the top 9 feet or so of a fiberglass material). These are the newer masts and technically required for racing. However, the comptips are susceptible to UV degredation (more so than the all aluminum masts) and should be covered when not in use to prolong their life. Hobie USA switched to them many years ago after some lawsuits surrounding people injured when raising aluminum masts too close to power wires. The comptips are intended to provide a bit more protection from that occuring. Hobie also offered retro kits for people to convert their all aluminum masts to comptips at no charge for many years.

If you are not racing and leaving your Hobie set up, you might consider holding on to the aluminum mast - they are tough as nails! I have a friend who took one under a bridge in a strong current and all it did was scratch up the top a bit (did I mention that the bridge was about a foot lower than the top of his mast? :lol: )

Of course, I am assuming that both masts are in comprable condition.

Drej

Author:  cklepinger [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:52 am ]
Post subject: 

Well I have a 83 h16 which has the "comp tip" and an 85 all aluminum mast, I guess my question is... If I dont raise around electrical wires... which would be the best to keep? i'm parting out the othe boat!

Author:  MBounds [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:47 am ]
Post subject: 

The CompTip mast is inherently safer.

It's not only raising your mast - most people injured / killed by power lines either sail into them or drive the boat (mast up on the trailer) into them.

If you ever plan to race - keep the CompTip mast. If you trailer-sail (you take the mast down after every sailing trip), keep the CompTip mast.

A cover for the CompTip costs like $20 - or you can make one for next to nothing if you can run a sewing machine.

Retrofitting a non-CompTip mast will run you several hundred dollars now (used to be free).

Short answer - keep the CompTip.

Author:  cklepinger [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 12:36 pm ]
Post subject: 

I know you need a comp tip to qualify to race, but i have been told that the all aluminum is stronger, and with the comp tip you loose wind in the upper sail. and the comp tip mast bends much more than the aluminum one! This is from a hobie dealer in Houston Texas... He told me to keep the all aluminum mast with on exception.. if I ever plan to race, I need the com tipped mast!

Author:  MBounds [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:42 pm ]
Post subject: 

A quick Google search produced:

LITIGATION
The father of two teens electrocuted while sailing in the Trent River July
4, 2003, has answered New Bern's third-party lawsuit against him. Manuel
Lourenco, in court documents, says that if he was negligent for having the
boat strike power lines over the river, the city also was negligent for
allowing exposed power lines to remain in place after a floating crane
struck the lines in 1971, knocking out power to the city. Lourenco was
operating the 14-foot sailboat when the aluminum mast of the boat hit a
low-hanging power line. His sons, Zachary, 17, and Alexander, 14, were electrocuted.

Norma S. Lourenco, the wife of Manuel Lorenco and mother of the two boys, sued the city in July of this year, accusing the city of negligence and
failing to take measures to protect the public from the danger posed by the power lines that used to parallel the Trent River train trestle. Her suit
contends the city did not provide a warning regarding the low power lines,
did not act promptly to remove the overhead lines and failed to comply with regulations in maintaining the lines. Her suit demands a jury trial and
costs and damages in excess of $10,000 to be determined by a jury. In
September, the city answered the suit, refuting it was negligent in the
deaths of the two boys and sued the father, saying he was negligent in the holiday sailing mishap. Francine Sawyer, Sun Journal, full story: http://tinyurl.com/3trcf

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* From Donald Brewster: Many of us "greyhairs" remember powerline
near-death incidents from dinghy events in the 60's: when big traveling
fleets took off, clubs used parking lots, fields across the street, etc. to
stage trailers and ever-larger one-design turnouts. I seriously deflected
an overhead powerline when hauling a trailered Finn clear of a YC launching ramp (saved by wood mast?); several years later the same -still un-relocated- line electrocuted a junior sailor (for which that YC lost millions in court). Powerlines over water are generally marked on charts (but hanging them low surely constitutes negligence); powerlines over club lawns, launching ramps and parking lots are not. Wherever sailors see high voltage hung in harm's way, it's best if we bring the matter to the attention of the power company or property owner before anyone else gets zapped: the only current I want to have to deal with is tidal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel's MK friend from the Philippines passed away today after 5 days in emergency care. He was electrocuted when the catamaran he was sailing hit some high-powered electrical lines.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ask your Hobie dealer in Houston if he knew Cathy Whittington. She was the wife of a well respected racer (Rob) from Texas - electrocuted when the mast of their boat hit a power line in 1989(?). That was the year that CompTips became required equipment for racing.


Go ahead and keep your aluminum mast.

Author:  xanderwess [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 2:35 pm ]
Post subject: 

Well Matt, not real subtle, but I know I'll never let my kids or myself set foot on a non -comptip masted boat again.

Author:  MBounds [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 2:50 pm ]
Post subject: 

Sorry - that the post was a little un-subtle.

I just wanted to show that this stuff really does happen. The fact that a dealer would not support the company's (and the class') position on this is unconscionable - especially considering what happened in his own back yard 15 years ago.

The performance difference (and it's a difference, not better/worse) is completely negligible to anybody but the best racers.

I can understand when sombody buys a boat w/o a CompTip and doesn't have the money to retrofit. Or if it's a beach boat that sits in the sun all summer with the mast up.

But to have a choice?

Author:  mmiller [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Reminder

Electrocution is a sad, but true issue.

A reminder, Hobie Cat continues to offer a highly discounted retrofit kit for the earlier Hobie 14, 16 and 18s that were built before the Coleman Company made CompTips available on all Hobie Cats.

This is available to customers through a dealer or factory direct. We ask dealers to pass the retrofit kits on to customers without a markup.

From a FAQ area post:

"CompTips are slightly different prices depending on the model. For an original retrofit Hobie Cat recommends the price be set at our wholesale cost. We encourage dealers to pass them through at their cost plus any freight or installation labor. If a customer desires, they can order direct from us at the wholesale price plus freight. This deal is only valid on original retrofits, not replacements. This would be for boats older than 1985 that were not originally supplied with a CompTip. The cost of the tips are between 2 and 3 hundred dollars."

Author:  cklepinger [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:16 pm ]
Post subject: 

Ouch.... I sail at a lake called Choke Canyon Resivior and there is not an electrical wire within 1000 feet of the lake or the campground, I have ZERO chances of hitting wires, again I understand the danger.. other than lightning it wont happen, I wont be anywhere near wires of any kind! and since lightning would hit a comp tip just as easy as a full aluminmum. (The mainsail is held up by METAL wire which comes in contact with the rest of the mast) I wont sail in an electrical storm.

I was not talking about electrical risks, I was talking about durability, and easy of use, and performance, and since I have already had my sail caught in the area between the plastic and aluminum part of the mast and I had to tip the boat over on land to get it down, I will stick with the aluminum mast.

Author:  cklepinger [ Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:20 pm ]
Post subject: 

and one more thing, that article your quoting does not mention hobie. and since 99.9% of all other sailboats have pure aluminum masts....
Also, I called the phone number and asked what kind of boat it was... It was a small 12 foot dingy with a 14 foot mast, and therefore if they were electrocuted with a 14 foot mast, they were somewhere they should not have been in the first place, how many electracal wires have you seen in major locations under 50-100 feet up?

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