Hobie Cat Forums

Hobie Matt
How much line do I need for main sheet including main traveler and what size I have always used 7/16 fuzzy rope should I go smaller

Former Hobie Admiral Gary

68ft is what is called out in the line guide. You can go smaller - just depends on what you're comfortable with

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Jacques Bernier
http://www.hobiecat.com/
http://www.facebook.com/HobieCatCompany

As Jacques said... what you feel comfortable with. We used to use 7/16 on Hobie 16s, but went up in purchase ratio (now 6:1 vs 5:1) and down in line diameter. Smaller line flows through the blocks easier, but can be harder to grip. We now supply 3/8 as mainsheet on 16s and 1/4 as jib sheet.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Mine is laying right here, and I just measured it. I thought it was a lot shorter than the stock length. It's 47 feet of 3/8". The boom won't go out much past the edge of the boat, but it's not a boat for running dead downwind anyway. This makes it much more manageable in waves and heavy going. I've never wanted more in any conditions. When you fly the kite, the main is trimmed in pretty tight anyway. I think that was a pretty standard length for anyone that raced in the Prosail series. I certainly don't want an extra 20' over that to deal with.

Remember that every foot of movement of the boom is 8 feet of mainsheet using 8:1

Doesn't take long to use up 20 feet, but agreed, if that worked in Pro Sail... Only real concern is being able to sheet fully out to dump power when needed.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

I like to use two separate lines on my main sheet system . One is the main sheet (!989 original white line 7/16") and the other is for my traveler (black line 7/16"). This allowed me to differentiated which line does what and shortens my main sheet so there less being dragged behind the boat

I am wanting to replace these lines with new 3/8" lines but my old lines work OK.
I am sure that a smaller line would work better and it's on my list of things to do....

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Bill 404 21SE

We never had any problem depowerig when needed with the 47' mainsheet. I'm pretty sure it was copied from Pete Melvin's. I guess with a 68 footer the boom would go out almost another 7', but I never remember having the need for it to go out that far. I just happened to have our lines in the house to measure for ordering new ones.

It was funny once when I took a monohull sailer out on it once. He saw how far out the boom went and said, "That's it?!?!?!" He was also surprised with the lack of drama jibing in 16-18 knots.

The jibsheet is also almost absolute minimum, but we have a different block setup than anyone else I've ever seen, so our length on that won't do anyone else any good. There is very little slack left when the jib is furled. It's good to get as much stuff as possible out of the way on the tramp for ease of handling the chute.