australian setup?

Can somebody explain to me the "australian" setup? I have heard things about it but am not entirely sure what it is and what it's good for.

When I took my jib out of the bag last night to put the battens in it, I came across a line with a couple of things attached to it.. a spring-lock type cleat and a couple of blocks. Both of which say "australia" on them with a brand name that I forgot. Or am I just dumb and is this part of the normal setup? As I recall... most of the h16 is setup with harken blocks and hobie branded cleats, so I wasn't sure what this thing is. It's got clips on the top and bottom for quick install/removal.

What you found in the sail bag sounds more like the jib sheet system with cleats and clew blocks. The hardware was likely Ronstan made in Australia.

The "Aussie" jib halyard system is a line system for hoisting the jib. The line replaces the standard halyard wire. The majority of jib halyard tension is moved from the lower mast up to the head of the jib and mast tang. The advantage is the majority of load is between the jib head and the tang and not down the side of the mast which causes mast bend issues. This is a 3:1 purchase requiring about 70 feet of line when the jib is down. The masts using the Aussie system rotate easier when tacking as they are not pre-bent to one side.

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

That sounds right... I figured it was probably just part of the "normal" setup but when I saw the australian name on the parts I wondered.

I just got my new tramp installed, mast base will get riveted tonight or tomorrow, hopefully I'll have it all rigged up and I won't have any more dumb questions to ask here.

Thanks again,

Adam

p.s. I'm going to have a certain level of satisfaction after my first voyage with this cat... since it hasn't touched water since 1990! It's been sitting with a broken mast base with 2 previous owners who never fixed it. I have pretty much replaced all the riggings on it... I can't wait to fly a hull on this old '82... she's got plenty of life left in her!

This is the piece I'm talking about.



I'm still a little confused as to where it goes...

well the aussie jib halyard system connects between the mast tang (where all the standing rigging wires run to on the mast) and the head of the jib (the eye at the top that is sewn in). And I know I have an old, outdated 16, but I have never seen an aussie jib halyard like that if that really is one.

Then again, when Im with other 16s, i never look at their jib halyards...


I cant really gauge the thickness of wire and line and thus the size of the system from that picture, but it looks very small to me. It could in fact be a downhaul for your mainsail. (connected between the gooseneck that slides in the mast track, and the padeye metal strap beneath the mast base piece)

then again, my 16 has a simple single block setup for jib halyard and for a downhaul there is a 4:1 mainsheet system from another 14, so its not exactly a up to date rig.


good luck

_________________
Peter Scranton
'14 Tandem Island "Awesome"
'03 Windrider Rave "Menage a Trois"

The piece in the picture above is not an aussie jib halyard system since the cam cleat on it would be half way up the mast when the jib was up making it rather diffcult to drop the jib. It is hard to tell the scale but the only place I can think that it could come off of a 16 is the boomvang. I still have a boomvang tang on my boom but have never seen what hobie had as a stock setup. There is always the possibility that it isn’t meant for a hobie, when I bought my boat it came with a jib from some other boat.
hope this helps

Yeah... Boom vang is what that is.

Not to many use these on a 16. We discontinued the attachment hardware on new models way back in the 80's. Some 14 guys might to keep the main trimmed when gonig deep down wind.

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

Yep, funny... I was just coming to reply back and say that I think it's a boom vang. My boss, who sailed a prindl 18 for 10 years when he was a kid just came over to help me step the mast for the first time in my back yard. We decided it was a vang and I guess we were right.

Guess I'll just stash that away with my extra parts.