Hobie Cat Forums

I picked up an '82 factory Turbo that I have not yet rigged or sailed. It came with a brand new Hobie jib that the previous owner had never used. The upper fore-stay cable has a broken strand and needs replacement. I did a search on this forum and found a similar post indicating a new Hobie upper fore-stay is 12 inches long. The fore-stay I got with the boat is 18 inches long (with swivel). Can one of you Hobie suppliers here provide me an accurate length of a new fore-stay before I order one. I'm not sure what I have as these older boats tend to be a collection of original, used, replacement and/or aftermarket parts.

Wire guide.

http://hcana.hobieclass.com/site/hobie/hcana/downloads/resources/HobieCatWireGuide.doc

sm

I found another wire length chart at the same NAHCA web site which shows it at 18 1/2" with swivel. Anyone know why the contradiction? Isn't this some kind of governing body? Any Hobie parts dealers here who can actually measure one?

http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/default.asp?id=2167

Not surprised that you are confused... I have been. I got reports from time to time that the wires are too long, so in 2001 I had a change made to the upper pigtail from the original 15 3/8" drawing to the current 10" pigtail (without swivel).

I now have the following finished length (pin to pin) information for the Turbo 14:

Shroud 15' 3 1/4"
Bridle 3' 10"
Luff wire length in the Jib... 13'.
Pigtail 10"... not including the swivel. (12.5" including swivel)

Appears that the class info is old and includes the swivel, so about 18". That is the difference.

So, from what is working out there... what is correct?

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Wow. Very interesting. I bought an '84 Turbo 14 about six months ago and I am gradually swapping the rigging out with new stuff. My new pigtail /w swivel is the same length as the one that came with the boat. Both pigtails I have are 12.5" pin to pin and the swivels are 2.5" for an overall length of 15". I'd learned earlier that they don't match the wire guide I downloaded awhile back. I think my wires are somewhat on the long side. I'm going to check the rest of my rig against Matt's numbers.

Confused in Tampa

Thanks to Matt. Mystery solved (I think ). I've measured the bridles, shrouds and jib luff cable and they all check out. I guess I'll go with the 12.5" pigtail and see what happens. I'll assume the only rake adjustment then are the two holes on top of the furler?

Yes...

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

I don't know yet which works best but, for those who like lots of rake, maybe the 18 incher is the ticket. I sail alone in the Chesapeake Bay and tend to crash a lot. Without a jib halyard to tighten the rig, I think I'll start with the shorter version. I get discouraged easily when the boat and mast go their separate ways.

I brought this to the attention of the HCANA Webmaster - that was a page from a prior version of the website (circa 1999). It's has been / will be deleted shortly.

Well I finally got around to rigging the boat this weekend. Using the 12.5" pigtail (incl. swivel) I had to use the top hole in the furler and the second (from top) in the shroud adjusters. This gave me a fairly snug rig with easy mast rotation but virtually no rake. And just to reiterate, I'm using no aftermarket products - new jib, bridles and shrouds all from Hobie. Also, I have the all aluminum mast. If folks were complaining that their wires were too long with the 18" pigtail then the 12.5" is right at the other end of the spectrum. Not really too short but no means to adjust rake.

I too recently purchased a 1988 turbo 14 and rigged it for the first time, so this is all very fresh to me. My pigtail is original factory 15 3/8". My furler was stamped with the Hobie logo, was probably original, and had two holes for attaching the jib. I attached the jib to the top hole. I tightened the rig as far as I could, and was at the 2nd to bottom hole on the shrouds. This is where the previous owner had the shourds set. The rig was fairly tight, I doubt it could be tighter without some kind of purchase on the trap line. There was still plenty of room before going block to block with the mainsheet.

If new pigtails are 10" and everything else is the same, then the extra 5" would have to come from a chainplate attached to the furler. I have seen this setup in pictures of european boats. In my opinion, (and having sailed my turbo only once, I'm no expert, but...), the additional chainplate would put the jib too high and cut off the main.

I would prefer to lower the jib to the bottom hole and lengthen the pigtail, opening up the slot. Maybe I just need to add a long shackle to the pigtail. I might even think about shortening the shrouds to get more rake. This rig needs more rake. I had plenty of room before going block to block.