Aka Lock in Button - Potential Problem

A week after picking up my TI, I received this message (on 5/19/10) from my dealer:

"We were informed yesterday by Jim that there is a problem with some of the
production molded parts in the lock system. Seems a raised area near the
button keeps the latch partly "un-latched" or close to it. Just yesterday
Jim and his engineering staff developed a fix. This will require the
replacement of the small plastic part at the end on the connection casting.
There will be "more meat" for the latch to catch on. We will be announcing
this to dealers likely today. Parts should become available in about a week.
Get your needs to a dealer, we will get the parts out asap. In the meantime,
you could use lines to tie-in the the crossbars if you want to sail the boat
in rough conditions."

Haven't heard anything since. Any update on this "un-latching" problem ?

Posted the other day by Mat
viewtopic.php?f=68&p=109629&sid=bd879e5d904d5482dcfe2900358c53ad#p109629

Did see Matt's earlier post, but that fix seemed to be for a problem dealing with the difficulty in unlatching the akas. The problem I'm inquiring about refers to a situation where the akas would unlock on its own while sailing in certain rough water conditions.

Maybe the correction in the tech notes section addresses both of these conditions.

Matt,
Just got the new TI AKA LOCK COLLAR (#79522201) replacements.
The holes in the collars do not line up with the threaded holes in the akas!
I have tried all four replacement collars on all of the four akas. There is a slight
misaligment of the bolt holes in the new collars with the aka holes by a fraction of
a millimeter. Just enough misalignment that the flat-head bolts will not thread into
the akas. The lock collar holes are slightly outboard of the aka threaded holes.
I made certain that the flat side of the collar rested against the hinge casting. I used
a soft rubber mallet to tap the collars onto the casting. Looking carefully at the collar-casting
contact, there is no space/gap at the contact...but the holes do not match up enough for
the bolts to be screwed into the akas.

Laying the original collar and the new collar on a flat surface, it is obvious even to the naked eye that there is about 1 millimeter more plastic on the hinge casting side of the new collars than the old. The new collar is visually thicker than the old! This thickness shifts the new collar bolt holes just far enough outboard to keep the holes from aligning.

What do you suggest?

I could use my drill press and drill bit to make the collar holes slightly oval to allow the bolts
to fit. But didn't want to proceed without feedback from you.

Thanks

Slight sanding of the flat side of the part allows full insertion and hole alignment. This is something that seems to be caused by a variance in some of the castings. We don't have to sand when installing these here at the factory I am told.

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

I found that by flat-sanding the hinge side of the collar down to a visible casting (seam) line,
the collars did line up their bolt holes. It appears that the injection molding process left
an extra 1 millimeter of plastic which prevented the collar from sliding far enough in.
I noticed that the new collars have triple the ramp thickness which holds the aka
clips. I didn't realize that the old collars had such thin ramps (1 mm) holding the akas on.

Thanks for the quick advice.

Same problem here too. I tried all the above today as well - multiple collars and rubber mallet - however, the holes just don't line up making it impossible to get the screws in. Here's a photo below. It sucks I have to do this, but I'll try sanding next.

We are being told in Annapolis that the new collar won't be available until July 8... what's up with that? I would assume that Hobie won't be delivering any new boats until they get those of us with dangerous akas fixed up...

_________________
Dave Fick
current boats:
'10 Hobie TI
'06 Hobie Getaway
'95 OK Scrambler (5)
'10 Walker Bay 310/Tohatsu 9.8
'07 Yam VX110 (2)
'08 Carolina 2590/Yam 115 (aquaculture)
'08 Judge 22/Honda 150
'05 World Cat DC250/Honda 150s
'08 Island Packet SP Cruiser

Might be worth the wait if the replacements won't need any sanding or adjustments to make it fit.

after my TI was in the shop for a week or so getting the rudder fixed they claimed to have fixed the aka things as well with either the parts or the diy I am not sure. I had it out 2 times since the fix and the first time was perfect the aka behaved as it should but yesterday in about 10+ mph wind the rear left aka started to come out again, and again. what is the deal with this thing. how come it won't just stay in like it should? am i doing something wrong?

Sounds like it isn't locking for sure. Maybe the button portion needs to be adjusted as earlier described. See your dealer.

As far as sanding the collars... these are the only parts there will be and if they don;t line up... sanding is required. All of this is intended for your dealers to do under warranty.

... collars were shipped weeks ago to dealers.

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

my dealer is the one who performed the fix action and then returned it to me.

Get it back to them. They can do another version of the fix by removing the locking buttons and either replacing or filing off a little material to let them seat in the collar better. They may be a little distorted or something.

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