Hobie Cat Forums

Hi guys,

After my first trip out on my A.I. one of the greatest annoyances was the location of the harken cam-cleat for the furling rope - right inline with the mirage drive.

On a number of occasions the furling line ended up catching on the drive pedals. Other time, the pedals got in the way when trying to lock the furling line in place. I had the mainsheet and furling line tied together too.

I'm thinking of moving the Harken cleat to just behind the port-side mesh pocket and placing a Harken cheek-block (or similar) on the left side of the front crossbar to direct the furling line back to the cleat.

Just a thought at the moment...

If anyone else can suggest other options, or techniques, to alleviate or eliminate this issue, I'm all ears!

Cheers,

Mike.

Mike, I relocated the furling cam cleat to the left of the mast. To hold the line in place, I added a cleat on the bottom of the left mesh pocket using existing screws (hard to see, but it's under the lip gripper). I prefer the reef & furling lines on opposite sides, less clutter! Works well for me.

Excuse the pic, (I was in fishing mode, less sail & amas) only pic I had that shows the relocated cam cleat.

_________________
Bob
Proud member Kayak Fishing Association of New York
Supporting member NEKF, Supporting member Team Jinx
KW's KFA Team 3

I moved the sheet cleat to the gunwale next to my seat and now use the original sheet cleat on the Aka for the furling line cleat.

I think what bjb did is equally handy in getting the furling line out of the Mirage Drive area.

Those ideas are exactly what I had in mind!

@bjb, Nice setup and nice fish!

On my kitted-out Revo, I had the furling line of the left and the mainsheet on the right, which worked great.

@Tom, I'd be interested in a photo of your setup.

One other question I have is how do you drill and tap the new holes in the crossbar without interfering with the AKA locking sections/mechanism?

Cheers,

Mike.

See if this helps. The furling cleat has been removed and the furling line is now run through the original sheet cleat on the forward Aka.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EU0QV7ssNQ

I drilled & tapped the new holes to fit the existing cam cleat screws. As long as the screws don't protrude too much through the front cross bar to interfere with the aka bars it will be fine.

_________________
Bob
Proud member Kayak Fishing Association of New York
Supporting member NEKF, Supporting member Team Jinx
KW's KFA Team 3

Strange... on my 2012 TI, the two cleats are on either side of the right hand crossbar mount, close enough to also minimise any possible sideways movement of the crossbar in its mounts. Accordingly, the furling line does not interfere with the pedals (it is as close to the crossbar mount as the one shown relocated to the port side in the photo).

Maybe Hobie moved the furling cleat out from close to the middle.

I think the stock furling cam placement only prevents sliding to the starboard side. There is still room to shift to port unless you block this gap.

Mingle - The screws are a definitely a problem if they protrude at all. Screw tension determines the action of the cleat. Stock screws are just the right length, but only if the stockcams are tightened properly. If you go too far, the cam will bind and the screw tip will protrude.



If you change the wedge or add sexy hardware like this extreme angle fairlead, you'll likely need new stainless hardware and you should custom grind the tips.



When everything is perfect, you can set them with blue locktite.

NOHUHU, I think the original problem was that Hobie used to mount the furling cleat in the other set of holes close to the middle of the crossbar, rather than just to port of the starboard mounting bracket. I noticed this on (I think it was) Stringy's AI as well as the 2011 demo TI at my local dealer (unfortunately due to a doubling of local population in my holiday town, all sucking up bandwidth with their iThings, I cannot load a picture illustrating the problem).

With both cleats adjacent to the starboard mount, I never have any tangle problems with lines and Miragedrive pedals, as they both run down the side.

At 1.30am here, enough tourists have gone to bed to allow me enough bandwidth to post the photo of the 2011 TI showing the "central" location of the furling cleat

Bjb, what is that you've got in the mast cup? Looks like a plug of some sort.

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SailHo Kentucky
2007 & 2011 AI for Sailing
2008 Outback for Fishing
2011 SunTracker Fishin' Barge for Everyone Else

Yep it's a removable foam plug. I usually use it when transporting the kayak (upside down) and when fishing w/o sail, keeps the bearings in place.

_________________
Bob
Proud member Kayak Fishing Association of New York
Supporting member NEKF, Supporting member Team Jinx
KW's KFA Team 3

check out my system, it works very well and easy to do.
http://hobieai.blogspot.com.au/

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http://hobieai.blogspot.com.au/

Nice. I was thinking of something similar for my furling line. I'm happy to keep the mainsheet where it is, but that furling line''s gotta go!

On my Revo, I had the mainsheet on the right and the furling line on the left and found it to be a perfect setup.

Does the pulley/cheek-block screw into the holes left by removing the cleat?

I also like your self-draining scupper-hole valves - any issues with them so far?

Cheers,

Mike.

I use a short section of pool noodle that just slides down inside the Mast Cup. The hole in the center of the noodle is also a convenient and safe place to put my wind indicator when it's not on the top of the mast.

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Sun E Sailor
Ezra Appel
Palm City, Florida
2010 Tandem Island