Hobie Cat Forums

I recently got my first hobie 16 after sailing 420's and 470's. I have been out a total of 3 times. My second time out my starboard stay snapped.
After replacing all the standing rigging with the spare set that came with the boat I went out again. This time the fore-stay pulled out and the starboard stay frayed pretty badly.

I am about to order all new standing rigging from saltydogmarine and was wondering if i should splurge for the heavy duty rigging?

Just because old, crappy rigging failed, doesn't mean the wire (when new) isn't strong enough.

Whenever you buy a used boat, replace the standing rigging. You never know where it's been.

_________________

Great, thanks. I was getting disheartened about the hobie after the failures, even though they where more my mistakes than the boat failing. I will order the rigging today.

Standard Hobie 16 shrouds are 1/8" diameter = 1780lbs breaking strength.

Heavy duty shrouds are 5/32" diamter = 2800lb breaking strength.

57% increase in shroud breaking strength = very worthwhile investment in my book.

sm

This seems like overkill.

_________________
Bodhisatfa

It only seems like overkill until the second you hear that bang and see the mast floating in the water beside the boat.

Everyone's situation is different I suppose. If you only sail on sunny summer days on busy bodies of water or putz around on a small lake in conditions where dismasting is unlikely and not a big deal if it does happen because you would just need to flag down the next passing power boat for a tow to shore, then yes, probably overkill.

If you like to push the boat hard by sailing in the ocean, or other large body of water on rough days when there are few other boats out and where recovering from a dismasting would potentially mean a call to the coast guard, then having stronger shrouds definitely seems like cheap insurance.

sm

So Matt can you tell us what size rigging Hobie 16's use, and if there is a chance of failure with stock rigging. Personally i have sailed for over 25 years with stock rigging and never had a failure, 25 to 30 knot winds on a flat prairie lake.

_________________
Bodhisatfa

http://2010.archive.hobiecat.com/support/pdfs/WireGuide.pdf

Stock rigging on a H16 is 1/8" diameter 1x19 stainless rigging.

It's rare, but of course rigging on any boat CAN fail and higher strength (larger diameter) wires will be less succeptible to failure resulting from damage, corrosion, or cyclical stress.

sm

With the larger standing rigging, something else will break first - like the anchor pins, the bridle tangs or the hole will break out in the mast tang.

Larger diameter rigging is just extra weight on the boat (and less weight in your wallet).

I guess that's one way of looking at it... not the way I would though.

To me, using heavy duty shrouds means one less critical component to worry about. If your tangs or anchors break, it would be because they were damaged/fatigued, or because they were over-stressed in some way (like using a 10:1 mainsheet or sailing with 4 people on the boat in 30 knots), not because you used stronger shrouds.

By the way, the heavy duty shrouds are the same diameter as what's used on the 18, 20, 21, etc, so they're not massively bigger, just one size up. The weight difference would be negligible, approximately one pound for the pair of shrouds.

The stock shroud size on the 16 has a proven track record and under most conditions it is sufficient. However it is certainly not fail proof and I've personally been witness to some breakages - the most recent being last year when a fellow sailor broke a shroud ocean sailing on a relatively new boat (maybe 4 years old) and had to be towed to shore. Certainly a quick way to ruin a day.

sm

Four years is getting up there in age for salt water stuff, especially if it lives on a beach.

I agree, about four or five years should be the limit on standing rigging in salt water. Our boats are on the beach about five months of the year, so it's not constant exposure, I'm sure there are guys on our beach that go double or triple that time span between changes.

Heck, the guy could have kinked a wire or dragged the shroud behind his boat trailering it to the beach, I have no idea. There is no substitute for proper maintenance. Point is, the stuff can and does sometimes fail. $40 extra over a 3 to 5 year period for a shroud that's 50% stronger is a darn cheap insurance policy in my book.

sm

I think an overlooked rigging problem is letting the standing rigging flog around when the boat is on the beach, even if the sails are not up. This will fatigue the wire just like bending a paperclip over and over. I suggest when you leave the boat to tension the rigging, and even if you are there having a good time, but not on the water ,drop the jib, and release the downhaul.

_________________
Bodhisatfa

Heavy duty rigging would not have prevented the failures in original post. Heavy duty will fray and pull out of Nico press fitting when old and cracked just the same.

Your stay should never get up to 1780lbs even in 25 knot winds. 1000lbs will dump the boat before stress can get high enough.

Maybe if you had 3 trapeze lines on each side and a hull full of water in a hurricane then you might need the heavy duty stuff.

_________________
ALLEY CAT 1984 RED LINE HOBIE 18 MAGNUM
Sail # 10505 or 277