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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:22 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:08 pm
Posts: 1
Hello Hobie Forum!

I've got a few modifications I'd like to share for my fellow Ti owners out there. My hobie is a 2014 red Tandem Island I got second hand last summer. I've had small keel boats, dinghies, canoes, etc but always wanted something small and capable for coastal adventuring while being able to move it by bicycle. I came across the Ti online and reckoned it more of a beach toy but what I saw online enticed me enough to rent one locally...The rest is history! I've probably spent about 30 days on the boat during about spread across about a handful of trips. My usual areas are the Gulf Islands in the PNW (I live in Victoria BC), Haro straight, and surrounding waters. I recently did the Broken Island group in Barkley Sound, then sailed back solo from Ucluelet to Victoria BC in 4 days. I thought it might take longer but I had great winds and managed from Port Renfrew to Downtown Victoria in a single epic day 50.1 NM over 14 hours with a 2 hour break ashore at Providence cove for brunch.

Modifications thus far:

Seats
Probably the most important upgrade imo for 1st gen Ti. When adventuring with two people and gear for days the seat well is a wet and uncomfortable place. I messed around with a few solutions before I ended up where I am am now and after this recent trip of almost 2 straight weeks of use I can say the chairs are holding up very well. I got them from Aliexpress and modified them a bit in the following ways:

    Reaped some stitching and removed the foam from the seat section to allow water to fall through the seat mesh, much like the factory seats do. The seats may have been fine with the foam, but I really wanted to have airflow for those longer, wet days.

    Cut the tubes to make the chairs shorter front to back, and make the chairs sit as low as possible over the boat. I have a tig welder and had some practice welding the aluminum seat frame tubing.

    Designed 3D printed fittings to screw into where the old seat D ring back rest attachment points were originally located. These fittings rotate and offer me little posts to fit the seat tubing over and onto. I currently use a resettable tie to hold the tube to the post. I also 3D printed a rear block to put the weight of the seat evenly into the channel molding on the boat.

Electronics
    Plotter- I'm a nerd and wanted to have a plotter and sounder capable of charting waters. I swapped out the rear right side handle for an aluminum pipe so I could easily mount bar clamps onto this new pipe handle. I tried out the Raymarine Dragonfly 4 pro since I had Navionics app as well but was disappointed with the lack of plotting functionality as well as the charting features being locked once your Navionics subscription runs out... :evil: :evil: :evil:. This year I got myself a Garmin Echomap 45cv (Canadian fresh lakes) because it also can record soundings and this time you can keep the data on an SD as well as routes, tracks, waypoints, sonar recordings, etc. I also had access to older G2 Canada/US charts that are still good enough for use so I decided to Garmin was the way to go. I've been really happy with the unit thus far. I cut up a neoprene sock from my local outdoor store to use as a makeshift splash guard I can slip over the device. It fully blocks the ports from splashing and I can even install it with a sheet of clear vinyl underneath if it is really wet out. I ended up only using the neoprene even in wet conditions and had some splashing but no indication of water ingress behind the ports.

    Battery bank- I found a car jumper type power bank that I really like for several reasons: Has a protected DC output jack to power the sounder, It has 15v 1 amp for charging back up AND usb input! (nice to have a few methods of charging ie small usb solar panel), and has a 9v2a usb output port. I had a look inside this particular unit and confirmed the DC output is protected by some FETs and I also tested the input on the 15v DC input up to 20 volts before it stopped accepting current. The current is stable up to 20 volts (~1 amp) so it would seem the input circuit is happy dropping 15-20v to charge the cells. This is important because I can plug my solar panel directly into this port and not worry about a DC-DC between panel and bank. For sub 50 watt panels I reckon connecting directly to the bank will result in least power loss especially since there appears to be a protection circuit in place on this port. The panel I plan to use directly in this port is around 19 volts open circuit and .9 amps sort circuit. The DC input port loads the panel out of its maximum power point but the loss is negligible considering the simplicity of the system. At 44 watt-hours, I get around 5-10 hours out of my 45cv sounder using this bank. Consumption is 350ma @ 10v without sonar full brightness and around 500ma @10v with sonar. Dropping the brightness to 70% and leaving sonar off consumes only 200ma @ 10v. That's only 2 measly watts not bad! The bank lives inside double dry bags with cable rolled up into the seal two times. Not perfect but holds air well when I squeeze it and no issues so far. This assembly lives in the mesh compartment but I may move it else where like behind my seat rest. If I capsize it might get wet but hey... don't capsize! I'm not really convinced a box and gland solution would be better, especially since I'd like to snake out or in a USB line for charging the back or devices. The roll top dry bag solution can handle this on the fly.

    Solar panels- 20 watt panel with 19 voc 1 amp isc. The aluminum mount for the panel allows it to tilt on 1 axis to better face the sun. I can reach back from the rear seat and set it and it holds position.

    3D printed parts!
    I've been messing around with 3D printers and Fusion 360 for several years now and enjoy the challenge of sprinting and design. I noticed a few opportunities to print spares or improve some items on the platform. Most everything I am printing out of PETG (water bottle plastic) for robustness and weatherability. Here is a link to some of my designs for those that want to have a go themselves.

      New handles- I designed and printed to replace the small and broken factory handles. I made the new ones a bit wider so you can get two hands on them for hauling up the beach. I think I'll make them wider still for really getting two full hands on.

      Rudder pin- I wanted to have spares of all the consumable parts so I decided to sketch up a rudder pin. Nothing complicated, just works and yes it does still pop when it needs to... I back into my fence and the pin popped like it should but I have yet to pop it inadvertently while sailing. Happy with performance so far.

      Batten caps- One of mine were missing so I decided to print replacements. I think I found some online and designed a replacement one for the long batten to match the ones I had printed.

      Aka pins- I sketched up some of these too. A bit trickier to print in PETG due to their small size and my old run down printer but going super slow gives me good results on such small detailed parts.

      Seat posts- As I explained above regarding the seats, I printed the posts that thread into the existing holes for the back rest straps. These swivel to allow the seat to lift and lower as well.

      Other small parts- I printed some large flat washer that interlock under the tiller handles. I printed them in such a way that they can be installed without needing to take off the actual tiller handle or pin. Sort of a split two half design. The washers between the solar panel and bracket the panel are 3D printed.

    Other small modifications
      Drive plugs- I drilled two one inch holes into the drive plugs. Both my drives were leaky and a pain to deal with so I decided to just open them up. I loose some buoyancy for sure but it's better if I can easily dump the water. I may fill them with expanding foam in the future.

      Hatch seals- I was tired of fighting with the old swollen seals and replaced the cockpit hatch seals with some foam insulation tape around the hatch lid. Does a pretty good job at keeping the water out and is way easier to open and close. I may try some new seals one day.

      Ortlieb panniers- Not really a modification but worth mentioning as they have been awesome for adventure use. Ortlieb panniers are roll top water tight and very durable. I use a 1/2 inch aluminum tube and some rope to provide a solid attachment point for the panniers locking tube clamps. Works very well and easy to access on the water.

      Motor mount- I made a simple wooden motor mount out of some hardwood pegs and a 2x4. It's not the prettiest but it works well to support my custom 5kW brushless outboard I made last year. Runs on 52 volt ebike batteries inside a water proof case. Still a work in progress currently undergoing an ESC upgrade.

    Future modifications!
      Ship solar- I've got a 14x14 inch 20 watt glass panel (19 volts open circuit and .9 amps sort circuit) that I am going to install between the rear D fitting that holds the handle and main sheet, and the rudder. My plan is to make an aluminum frame that will allow me to reach back from the rear seat and tilt the panel side to side to better catch the sun. I used the threaded D ring plugs I removed from the cockpit back rest attachment point and replaced the two very rear post plugs. The aluminum bracket will slot into these D plugs and get lashed down and forward against the metal D fitting. Sort of hard to explain but I'll post photos when complete.

      Aka leashes- At the very end of my 2 week trips I had my front left aka arm (lee ward side!) pop out from the brace. Thankfully the brace pin held and I was able to gibe and reinsert the arm without incident. I have seen some folks leash their arms into place and tie tight against the braces on the kayak. I like this idea.

      Cart/roller solution- I've got a Hobie cart that a chopped an inch off of the vertical tubes that go into the boat. Now I can stow it in the front hatch and load in the wheels seperately. It works OK but is a real pain to get on solo. I saw someone using 4 inch ABS pipe as rollers and that got me thinking of an inflatable roller solution- sort of like what you see when ship yards roll big ships on those big inflatable rollers. IF they are strong enough for a massive vessel I reckon a packable, inflatable solution could be found for a 250lb boat? I'd like for something that doesn't require me to hoist the boat a foot in the air to install. Perhaps a low rider cart or pair of carts that still index into the holes provided but are easier to slip under.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. I will post some photos below and update the project and designs as they evolve. Long live the Ti!

The seats I am currently very happy with.
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The white round block pictured below has a 1 inch post for the seat tube to mount on to. This component is printed in two parts, one that threads into the hole left behind by the old back rest support D ring. The second part has the post for the seat and they are held together with a stainless bolt but printed in such a way to allow them to rotate.
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The seats also allow you to stuff clothing and other items between the mesh for easy access as seen below with Nitinat narrows in the background.
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Electronics

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The factory Garmin mounting base I destroyed with my ape like tightening dexterity. I partially blame garmin too but this new red one I sketched up ratchets even more securely and matches the boat. Win win!
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3D printed parts

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Other photos of interest

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The outboard and some other gear. The seat pictures here did not work well.
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Camp chair parasols! Amazing for light air stinking hot days we get in the PNW. Makes pedaling for several hours much more enjoyable when it's hot out.
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Waiting for the tide to do it's thing.
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Thanks for reading!


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 8:56 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:44 pm
Posts: 44
Wow, nice…you’ve done a lot of work. You’re in a beautiful location, I’ve sailed around the San Juan’s and over to Victoria Island. Given how rocky some of the inlets can be, I think the Hobie is well suited for that area… How does it handle the current? I know some areas can be very strong…


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2021 11:37 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:19 am
Posts: 42
Location: Northern VA
Cool ideas and upgrades. Possible for you to post the rudder pins and aka pins models to Thingiverse?


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PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2023 7:02 am 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat May 20, 2023 6:48 am
Posts: 1
Awesome work! After a few seasons beach camping around the Puget Sound I'd imagined similar upgrades, esp. the DIY raised seats.

I love the thruster and solar charger. Those batteries look beefy! And the umbrellas!

You're approach is showing the promise of 3d printing!

Respect


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