Hi,
I was looking for an alternative mast float for the H14 an possibly my H16 then the Hobie bob.
The reason for wanting one is that I Sail in a reservoir which is not overly deep in places so a turtle could prove to be a real PITA in the event of the mast been buried into the silt at the bottom.
I have a traditional bob on the H16 and though this serves well for this purpose it poses difficulty in stepping the mast, that extra few kg's at the end of the mast makes a huge difference when stepping and proves rather precarious in the lightest of breezes, I also solo quite a bit so further complications are compounded.
I started to look for an alternative, I found an old advert in an issue of HotLine Page 7:
http://static.hobiecat.com/2010_archive/hobieclass/eHCA_Hotline07-08_2008.pdfThen found the following for a Laser dinghy here in the UK
Another link with image and instructions on how it applied.
http://www.v-rigger.com/epages/es140267.sf/?Locale=en_GB&ObjectPath=/Shops/es140267/Products/EX2600&ViewAction=ViewProductViaPortal&gclid=COnjhvONub4CFScHwwodt7YABABut basically:
The simple design of two inflatable tubes connected with a piece of sailcloth.
The sailcloth can be folded around the luff rope inside the sailtrack.
The mastfloat is hoisted with the sail.
Each tube has a length of 80 cm and can contain 4 litre air, so total buoyancy is 8 litre.
I appreciate the above Laser / Opti dinghy may not be up to the job due to displacement but knocking up something to do a similar job should not be too hard to achieve such as using a couple of swimming noodles held together by sail tape etc.
Would be great to hear your thoughts and opinions regarding this?
Regards,
SRG