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PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:52 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15027
Location: Oceanside, California
Tighter is not the answer. Any weight on the windward tramp could cause the akas to pull towards each other regardless of tramp tension. It seems to me a combination of seas, movement, weight on the tramp that pushes the ama down and allows the aka to ride up and out of the hole.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
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Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 6:46 am 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 2:55 pm
Posts: 6
Thanks for the info Ian. My amas have similar gouges inside them. Once I unwinterize the boat I'll have to take a much closer look to make sure their not cracked through like yours.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Much appreciated.

~Trees


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 7:29 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2013 8:39 pm
Posts: 30
Location: Mendocino, N. California
I've been having similar problems with the aka "flange" slipping loose from the recess in the ama.
Working on it and hopefully tightening up the bungees will help
I only have double buttons on the rear Akas and plan to upgrade, but for whatever reason, Hobie did not install them on the front Akas on my 2014 TI..

But:
Matt's replies seem to suggest that there is a design problem since any weight on the windward tramp will pull the Akas together since there are only several inches of flange seated in the ama recess. Once you're out on the tramp, if the ama drops at all, the flange is out and a pain getting back in (Obviously impossible if your weight is on the tramp.)
There have been some suggestions to tie the amas up ....... Spectra, paracord, etc .......wondering do you run the line entirely around the ama ...... I don't see how else I can secure it.

Anyway, hoping tightening the bungees will help.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 2:55 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:58 am
Posts: 2893
Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
The method of adding spectra safety lines is very simple.

Using either a pair of needle-nosed pliers (or better, the tool Hobie has made specifically for the task), unscrew one of the black fittings which hold the bungee into the ama.

Feed some spectra (chosen because it has such high strength for its thickness, and its ready availability as Hobie rudder line) through the hole in the top of the fitting. Tie the end under the fitting to as stainless steel washer or some other piece which would not fit through the hole.

Pull any excess spectra up through the hole and screw the fitting bsak into the ama.


Tie a bowline in the upper part of the spectra so it just fits over the existing button on the aka. The less slack you can have, the less the aka can move inside the amas.

You have now bullet-proofed the joint, as well as reducing the flex between the aka and the ama,

As you can see, I chose a slightly different approach which did not need a second button on my 2012 TI.
Image

Of course, you can also add to this joint by doubling up on the bungees. You can do so without needing a second button (although now that Hobie has added a second button ass well as including double bungees, you can easily replicate that solution by adding a "top-hat" button yourself (these are readily available at yacht chandlers).

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:23 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Of course you can do anything you please, and any way you wish, however I tend to use those little mushroom heads on the AKA bars for a half dozen things, ( my spay skirt attachment point, my tramp re-enforcements, our ladder that we use to get in and out of the boat with our scuba tanks on, etc) and often have 5 or 6 things attached to them, if you stretch the 5/16 bungy cord over them you can't use them for anything else.
This is the setup I've been running for 2-3 yrs now and it seems to work really well, it's what I call quintuple redunency (5 levels of redundency).
Image

By doubling the number of bungy to two on each side, I am effectively doubling the strength of each bungy, and also the usable stretch (like a 2 to 1 pulley would do). If any one of the bungy's breaks the other 3 continue to hold, then the spectra rudder line prevents the AMA from dropping down more than an inch or so (the grey rudder string is around 500 lbs break strength, and zero stretch).
We can have two people sitting completely on each AMA with no issues (we do that all the time when snorkeling). Also the easiest way to get on board the boat is to scurry up over the AMA's and onto the tramps when swimming and snorkeling (we actually spend more time off our boat (in the keys snorkeling) than on it), basically the boat gets us where we want to go...
My old 5/16 dia bungy finally wore out, (it was too loose for a long time and unsafe). I just bought some 1/4" marine bungy (only use black (no other color, ever)), and used a needle nose pliers to unscrew the caps, pulled out the old bungy, slipped in the new with a couple knots, I tied a knot around the safetety spectra line underneath so it wouldn't pull thru the cap. I don't think it took more than around 15-20 minutes to make the whole works.
Pretty simple and fool proof. (no need to over think stuff)
FE


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