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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 2:53 pm 
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If mooring my boat is the only practical way to go sailing, what ought I do to diminish the wear and tear on the hull and rigging? I live in a city where I haven't got a place to store my boat anywhere near, nor a vehicle to tow it with. I can leave it moored on a lake in the city, which I did last season, and had a blast.

A couple of the shrouds frayed, though, and I had to replace them. (This may have had as much to do with their age as with the constant banging around on windy days.) Is there anything I can do to reduce the wear on the shrouds and forestay? (Short of taking the mast down and ... carrying it two miles to leave it behind my apartment building?)

The hulls had lots of water in them when I drained the bilge at the end of the season. This may have had to do with a couple small leaks in the hulls, related to running aground on a rock at some point. (There are three kinds of sailors...) So two things on this:
  • What's the best way to patch up holes in a Hobie hull? My father has some fiberglass patch kits he use for patching up the bows of his canoes when they've had a few-too-many dry foot landings. Would these work, or is something else advisable?
  • I've read about how the gel coat on Hobie hulls is somewhat porous and will, after a season of mooring, allow water to leak in and soak the fiberglass, which contributes to soft spots and the like. The damage done is already done, but is there something I can do to stop this problem from getting worse this season?

If it matters, this boat isn't for racing; it's mostly a platform for summer fun and shenanigans. And even then, at the end of the season, waterlogged and at my less-than-masterful hands, it was still quicker than most of the other dinghies and pocket cruisers around the lake. So I don't care if I make a few concessions to performance for the sake of keeping my boat afloat for a little longer.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 3:41 pm 
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Can you moor a floating platform? Then pull the boat up onto it.

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:56 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 8:28 am
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Location: Clinton Lake, KS
Mooring on a floating platform would be the only way I would do it..


I have my name in at the local puddle for a slip which normally for the lake holds a pontoon boat. If I ever get a space (doubtful) that would be my plan.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:15 pm 
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Location: Harsens Island, Michigan
With regard to minimizing the banging of the mast on the shrouds, I have a great solution. Since I store my boat mast up, and sometime on a floating dock, it was a real concern. I hook a bungie cord between the shrouds just above the trap handles, then in the center of it I hook another bungie, feed it down thru the center lacing below it and back up the bungie between the shroud handles. This takes the slop out of the mast and still allows it to be a little flexible. Rather than banging side to side, it now has constant tension keeping it centered that progressively gets tighter as it flexes. It seems to work great for me. Any time I leave my mast up, weather on solid beach or on a floating dock, I tension the mast this way.

By the way, if you use a floating dock and plan to store mast up, be careful that the base of it is wide enough. The mast catches a lot of wind and with the weight up there my floating dock is pretty unstable.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:00 pm 
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
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Location: Jersey Shore
I would just connect the jib halyard to the bridle adjuster and then pull tension on the rig using the halyard. Essentially use the jib halyard to tension the rig just without hoisting the jib. As long as it's pulled good and tight and cleated securely, the mast won't bang around. You can also stick the mast step pin into the mast base so the mast doesn't roatate from side to side and destroy the stops. Just remember to remove the pin before sailing.

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PostPosted: Sat May 09, 2015 3:19 pm 
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I am also a Hobie 16 sailor on Calhoun. I have a big raft that I store my boat on, up out of the water. The mass of the raft also somewhat slows down the speed of rocking while it's tied up out there. I then bungee-strap a tarp over the tramp and sails, to protect the tramp against UV and against the ducks. Then the boat is strapped to the raft. Having the raft is nice because I can rig the boat up out on the water and go. When it gets warmer out, I don't even bother with the tenders and we just swim out there.

This year I think I am fabricating a new raft as the one I have is a bit of a death trap. I think you can fabricate a raft for about 3-400 bucks. I see many people on craigslist selling 30 gallon barrels for a few bucks a piece. It is somewhat of a miserable time launching and hauling out at the start and end of the season, as I have to make two trips to lakeville, one with the raft, and one with the boat.

If you're on the north wall, I'd really recommend building a raft as the wave action along the north wall can be pretty brutal when it's windy. If you're in the main buoy field then it's not so bad.

I've have seen a guy that takes his mast down and ties it up onto the tarp when he's not sailing, and raises it every time, but that seems like a giant hassle to me.

I'll keep an eye out for you out there.


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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 7:32 am 
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If Hobie would be moored and constantly in the water, it would have lots of barnacles grown on its hulls. Grown barnacles and other nasty stuff would severely slow down the speed.

Also, it is a pain in the bottom to raise the main while floating.


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PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2015 1:55 pm 
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Location: Detroit, MI
TrueStory wrote:
If Hobie would be moored and constantly in the water, it would have lots of barnacles grown on its hulls. Grown barnacles and other nasty stuff would severely slow down the speed.

Barnacles don't live in fresh water - the OP says he's mooring it "on a lake in the city".


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2015 12:22 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:26 pm
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Location: Harsens Island, Michigan
After keeping mine on a small floating raft for 2years, I can confirm that it is very difficult to do anything well like that. You will be constantly losing pins and shackles in the water, as it is difficult to do anything with it swinging back and forth in the waves. After that, I found a small area of beach that I can pull up to, and what a difference!! All of the challenging things were SO easy when standing on the ground. I thought I had a pretty good system figured out, but it was still a major pain to do everything. If you need to keep it stored on a raft, that is feasible, but do yourself a favor and find a place where you can drag it onto something solid for rigging.

By the way, my raft was only the width of the boat with the 50Gallon barrels in the 4 corners. It is VERY UNSAFE to try to raise or lower this mast in this situation. If the mast starts leaning left, you instinctively go to the left of the tramp to push against it. This causes the whole raft to lean further to the left, and the mast crashes down with you scrambling to not fall in the water.

Good luck.

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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2015 6:19 pm 
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Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:30 pm
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Location: Benicia, CA
jgys wrote:
Is there anything I can do to reduce the wear on the shrouds and forestay? (Short of taking the mast down and ... carrying it two miles to leave it behind my apartment building?)

Buy some inexpensive yacht braid...quarter inch or so diameter. After each day's sail take the slop out of the rig. Couple different ways to do this...my favorite is to tie one of the lines to the main halyard and hoist one end up to the top of the mast; then tie the mast off forward on the crossbeam tighter than the forestay so that the lines are taking the forestay load. Next; make a bridle of the side shrouds with another line and gather them together and haul back to the rear beam and tie it off. the mast is now stabilized fore-aft-and athwartships.

What's the best way to patch up holes in a Hobie hull? My father has some fiberglass patch kits he use for patching up the bows of his canoes when they've had a few-too-many dry foot landings. Would these work, or is something else advisable?

These should work just fine (assuming your hulls are fiberglass and not plastic). Just be sure to grind the holes down to solid and "good" glass. There are LOTS of books and illustrations on how to repair fiberglass.

[*]I've read about how the gel coat on Hobie hulls is somewhat porous and will, after a season of mooring, allow water to leak in and soak the fiberglass, which contributes to soft spots and the like. The damage done is already done, but is there something I can do to stop this problem from getting worse this season?[/list]

All fiberglass/gell coat hulls will have some porosity. If you are serious about stemming the flow for a season you can add a thin coating of epoxy or epoxy paint. It won't be permanent, though.


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