Hobie Cat Forums

I poked the mast back into the rubber, but is it going to come out every time I use it. I guess I just need to buy another new one. I've only used it 4 times. What material are they made of?

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Mike
2010 Hobie Outback
2010 Wilderness Ride

I've used a patch of Gorilla Tape (like Duct Tape) and it lasts about a year of weekly use before needing to be replaced.

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http://KayakingBob.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2007, 2009 & 2010 Hobie AIs and a 2010 TI

I poked a hole in one of the fins also. I sealed it with a little silicon - so far so good as it has not poked out.

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I'd rather be sailing,
Mark.

Matt what are the fins made from? Polyurethane? Neoprene????

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Mike
2010 Hobie Outback
2010 Wilderness Ride

Actually I might have used some clear adhesive. The hole is very small and mine poked out about 1/2 inch above the bottom of the rod.

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I'd rather be sailing,
Mark.

Actually it is pretty straightforward to repair holes in the turbo fins. I cut both of mine about 18 months ago when a big fish went under the boat and dragged braid across them, I repaired them and that one repair has held up ever since (so well that the spare fins I bought have never had to go on the boat !).

The technique is to melt the fin material using a soldering iron.

Whatever kind of plastic it is, it is very good to work with this way because when hot it goes all gooey and sticky just like glue and it seems to hold the heat well so it stays this way for a reasonable amount of time allowing you to stick two parts together and/or effect the repair you are trying. The consistency the material goes is a bit like smooth peanut butter and it is an easy job to spread it about over a cut and while the result may not be as pretty as a new fin, in my experience it works just like a bought one.

Repairing the braid cuts was easy: I put the fin on a flat surface then working first on one side, then on the other I put the tip of the soldering iron into the line of the cut to melted the area of the cut then smoothed the molten material across the line of the cut until it looked like it was mended. I did one side then turned it over and did the other. I might have also worked on the mating surfaces of the cut where I could get the soldering iron into them - I can't quite remember (it was a while ago). Then I left it to cool and set.

I also felt that it was necessary to build up some of the areas around one of the repairs because the material at the point of the repair (around the fin mast which, before the repair, was poking through at one point) was quite thin. To do this I cut a small amount of material from the top of the fin beside where the chain passes through a slot in the top of the fin (the slot was not in the right place to allow the chain to pass freely so cutting this bit out was actually an improvement in the fin !). Then using my soldering iron I placed this over the point I wanted to bulk up, melted it down and gradually worked it smooth over the original material.

Proprietary Monoprene TPE

Perhaps retain an older fin for use as material for welding repairs.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Then it should be thermal welded rather than glued. That is what I needed to know.

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Mike
2010 Hobie Outback
2010 Wilderness Ride

With the newer fins (built within the past couple of years), you can normally reinsert the fin carefully and ignore the hole if it is 1/2" or more up from the bottom of the fin.

If there is going to be a problem you'll find out very quickly.

It's hard to predict what damage if any. you''ll have from a fin strike. Just yesterday I hit a submerged boulder and suffered no damage; the guy right behind me hit the same boulder and bent his front mast past his rear mast, but no holes in the fin. We were able to straighten his mast on the spot and were back in business in short order.

Good point.
I looked at the fin I glued. Glue is gone (fell off?) but the hole is above like you say and I have had no add'l issues.

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I'd rather be sailing,
Mark.

Stobbo do you think the hot air welder like used to weld the boat hulls would do as well as the soldering gun method?

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Mike
2010 Hobie Outback
2010 Wilderness Ride

Stobbo,

Thanks so much for the info. I popped a hole in both fins on one set for my Oasis. I re-insrted the mast into the fin and hoped for the best. A couple of weeks ago I was out and once again one of the masts poked through the old hole. So I gave up and went and bought another fin. Your repair with the soldering iron makes all the sense in the world. Now that I have an extra fin I can keep it around for repair material. Now the question. Do you leave the fin on the mast during the repair? Thanks!! - Roger

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Roger
2010 Oasis
Lucie Belle

I have no experience of a hot air welder so can't advise about that - it was pointed out to me by someone else that welding with a soldering iron worked & I tried it & never thought about trying something else. I think one advantage is that you can pinpoint pretty precisely where you want the heat to be applied which might be more tricky with a hot air gun.

As to leaving the mast in the fin - I did and would if I were you. The plastic goes so gooey and the rubber "walls" around the mast are so thin that the hole would probably collapse if the mast wasn't in there. Personally I would shave a little bit off the top of an existing fin to get some extra material for patching up a fin.. You probably won't need to cut off a whole lot of material and it would be from a part of the fin that plays next to no part in propelling the boat. That way I would be able to retain all the fins so as to have a serviceable spare in the event that the weld failed again or that the fin got trashed again somehow.

The hole in the fin pictured in an earlier post would be a dead easy repair.

I assume the stock fin can be used for repair when using the heat method?

Hey stobbo that is interesting. I cut one of my fins with braid due to a big sturgeon last December. I put a little glue on the mated faces of the cut and then put Gorilla tape over the cut on both sides. It seems to be fine for now. If (when) it comes apart I will give the soldering iron approach a try. Sounds like a better fix!

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Fish tremble when they hear my name

A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for.
--John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic, 1928