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 Post subject: My cat heads port!
PostPosted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:33 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:44 am
Posts: 85
Hi all,

this really is driving me nuts: my Hobie 16 seems always to head towards port. On a port tack, the boat has a weather helm as I would like (it slightly tends towards port). However, on the starboat tack, the boat has quite a strong tendency to drive off (just the contrary of weather helm, i.e. also tending towards port) which is unconfortable and a bit dangerous also.

I would like to find out the source of this problem. I have searched this forum and checked the following things:
1) Mast looks straight, no bend visible
2) shrouds are of equal length (I use second or third hole from bottom for mast rake)
3) hulls "look fine" i.e. I can´t appreciate any torsions and there is no repair work done on the hulls
4) Rudders are almost all the way raked forward and about 1cm "open" (i.e. measuring the aft part of the blades gives 1cm more than measuring the front part)
5) Diagonals of the boat are 5 m 41.5 cm from port bow screw to starboard stern (rudder axis) and 5 m 41 cm the other way round, so only 0.5 cms of difference.

Could anyone give me some clues on how to find the source of this behavior? The boat is from 1991.

Any help appreciated!

Regards, Claus


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:17 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:09 am
Posts: 15
Location: Brazil
Seems like your starboard ruder is raked to much forward, you can adjust it pulling the screw that is located on the upper side of rudder arm a little back.

Regards
Tomas


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 Post subject: Un-equal helm
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 3:20 pm 
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Site Admin

Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15021
Location: Oceanside, California
Un-equal helm can also be caused by the rudder blades being asymetrical. Are the blades fiberglass? If the two halfs of a blade are offset, the helm can be just like that or maybe a warped or twisted blade?

Try sailing both tacks with just one blade down, weather then leeward blade. Maybe that will help find the side that is bad if it is just one side.

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


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:56 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:44 am
Posts: 85
I will try your suggestions this weekend (the one blade up idea is so simple I didn´t even think of :oops: ) and tell you if there was any success. I measured the blades and they are not exactly parallel, i.e. with the blades down and seen from behind the boat they form an inverted "V", beeing the lower ends about 2cms more seperated than the upper ones. I am not shure if this is due to a twisted blade or if the rudder axis are not exactly parallel. How would one check the blades for twist or other deformations?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 3:33 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:44 am
Posts: 85
HC16Brazil, thanx a lot, you were right. Today we got the blade 4cm back and now we have wheather helm on both tacks. Maybe a little strong but now we can play with the rake to find the right adjustment. Much better now, thanx again!


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