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PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 10:15 pm 
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
I recently wrecked a hull pulling my Tandem Island from the water about 8 feet, with the AMA's on the boat on a sandy beach. The top side of the scupper holes tore from the forward force of the trax cart pulling through the soft underwater sand. Hobie replaced the hull promptly, and my new hull is working very well (thank you Hobie for being the best in the business). I started looking at how to prevent this problem from occurring again and came up with a simple fix that might help a little. I noticed that the scupper holes are around 1 1/4 inch diameter, but the scupper cart legs are only 1 inch diameter, and quite loose in the holes. I measured up and discovered that 1 inch dia class 40 PVC tubing fits into the scupper hole nicely, and also fits over the 1 inch trax cart arms. I cut off two 5 inch pieces of PVC and doped them up with RTV silicone, then pushed them into the scupper holes. Hopefully the PVC tubing will help distribute the stress on the hull a little better, and prevent any damage from normal use launching and pulling the loaded TI in and out of the water in typical beach conditions.
hope this helps
Bob


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PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 3:03 pm 
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Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:12 pm
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Location: Hilo, Hawaii
Fusioneng,

That's a great idea. Have you also thought of improving upon the pin that's being used to prevent the cart from sliding out. Always thought there should have been two pins and I tighter fit.

cheers!

cliffs2yak


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PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 8:39 pm 
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The pin on my cart came loose and fell inside the tube my first use...I've just grown to live without it :)


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PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2011 9:41 pm 
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Location: Hilo, Hawaii
JG,

One less part to worry about. :)

When pulling my TI through rocky terrain via two HD carts, I often have to lift one of the carts to clear a high spot. Doing okay with one pin, but the cart would pull down in a weird akward angle with a potential of tearing a scupper. I figure having two pins will help keep the cart level.

You probably don't have to worry much since you're pulling through nice silky sand. :mrgreen:

cheers!

c2y


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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 9:44 pm 
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Posts: 9
Hey - the pin on my cart came lose on my first use also and the bungee snapped into the cart. I haven't been able to figure out how to attach it back to the cart. Should have taken it back to the dealer but they are about a 1-1/2 hour drive one way. Just blew it off. If anybody has any ideas on a better "pin idea" then I would love to hear it.

On another note: I just heard that the new rudders are getting ready to ship and that makes me not really care about the cart. I cannot wait to get the new rudder on and hit the water. These AI's and TI's were not meant to be on land.


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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 10:36 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:21 pm
Posts: 2498
Location: Central Florida
On my earlier carts, I use a lynch pin to hold it on the hull.
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PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2011 7:25 am 
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
My re-enforced scupper holes actually work better than I expected. I took the uprights on the trax cart and slightly bent them with my arms (so they are not exactly parallel, just a very slight bend). What this does is makes the cart stay in the scupper holes without the need for any clips at all. Works so well I am now retrofitting all my Hobies with the same mod to the scupper holes. There doesn't seem to be a downside, and it is cheap and easy to do (about $1 worth of 1" PVC pipe, and a little silicone. On one of the scupper holes near the back of my TI there was some mismatch in the hole between top and bottom, I needed to file away a small amount at the top of the scupper hole on the boat (to remove the ledge, about 1/32"), and grind down the end of the pipe slightly so it would fit easily into the hole, the other 3 slid right in. I then dabbed the whole works in silicone and pushed it in the hole. I highly recommend this really simple and easy mod (especially TI owners). It actually works, and is easily removed if you sell the boat.
Bob


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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2011 4:48 am 
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Location: Saint Johns, Florida
Squall wrote:
Hey - the pin on my cart came lose on my first use also and the bungee snapped into the cart. I haven't been able to figure out how to attach it back to the cart.

Squall,
To re-attach the bungy cord just pull the metal pin out of the plastic end, put the end of the bungy in the hole in the plastic end, and beat the pin back in. The only tricky part is getting the bungy out of the cart and keeping it out so you can re-attach it. I use locking hemostats which work great.

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Jerry D.
St. Johns, Florida
2010 TI
2008 AI


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:49 pm 
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Update:
First off adding the 1" PVC pipe inside the scupper holes has really helped alot, the scupper holes are now much stronger. However I noticed that during the time it takes me to rig the boat at the shoreline, add all the gear, add the AMA's, do up the tramps, and get everything ready for launch (sometimes 20 minutes or so, getting everything ready) the wheels are noticably closer to the bottom of the boat hull, especially on a hot day, actually when I first tip the empty boat onto the wheels, there is about a 1 to 1 1/2 inch gap between the tops of the wheels and the bottom of the boat hull. By the time I get the loaded boat in the water, the wheels are almost touching the hull (that can't be good). Well I went to Home Depot and bought some 1/8 X 2" aluminum (18" long), I drilled two 1" holes 11 inches apart, and a quart of Bondo body putty (about $15 total). I then taped wax paper to the bottom of the boat and filled the gap between the bottom of the boat and the aluminum with bondo. Below is a pic of the finished product, seems to work great, and distributes the load over a much larger area. In addition to this, I also took a look inside the hull to see what can be done to make that stronger in the area around the scupper holes. Well it turns out Hobie has a big block of floation foam right over the center of the scuppers (how convienent). However the foam has a gap at the top of around 1 inch so it's not doing anything structurally. Well I fixed that, I took some 1 inch foam (about the same hardness as the floatation foam) that I had in the garage, and stuffed the 4 inch wide by 9 inch long piece over the existing foam (between the center scuppers), it was easily reached from the rear seat hatch. I then took some 1/4 inch aluminum rod I had (about 3 ft long), and from the front seat hatch I pushed the rod in along the center line of the boat all the way back intil it hit the rear mirage drive (along the top of the exiting foam, but under the new recently added piece), I then put another piece of one inch foam under the front seat (basically jamming the 1/4 inch alum rod against the top of the hobie flotation foam block). What this does is makes the entire 3 ft long hobie floatation foam piece a structural re-enforcement for the bottom of the hull, only adding a few ounces of weight to the boat, and it's in an unused area (under the front seat back to the rear mirage, is now a structural bulkhead ( LOL)). The next bit is optional, I had some crazy foam sitting around, so I filled the little space between the scupper posts and the front of the rear mirage drive with rigid crazy foam, it was easily reached from the rear hatch, I'm not sure it going to do anything but it's in there now. Here is the final modified trax cart ( with the new better poly-urethane tires, and the "bondo cart brace"). Everything took around two hours to complete. Bob
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:44 pm 
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Location: Australia
I did a scupper hole repair recently that I was actually going to perform as a pre-emptive strike on potential damage, but took my sweet time and by the time I got around to doing it, there was indeed damage that needed reinforcing. The mod worked out perfectly. I used a Hobie paddle shaft as reinforcing bushes and not only has that fixed the hole, it has certainly made the scuppers a hell of a lot stronger.

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More info here: http://yakass.net/articles/equipment-a-preparation/899-scupper-hole-repair

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:12 pm 
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Yakass:
I'm glad someone finally tried this fix, it is well worthwhile. For those of us without an extra hobie paddle to sacrifice, the 1" PVC tubing works fine also.

Update: Since doing all the mods to my scupper holes and hull I have quite a bit more confidence in transporting my TI. Just as a test a couple months ago we went scuba diving at Crystal river (in florida) and launched the boat from the launch at the hotel but had the car parked in the parking lot a few hundred feet away. I loaded all the gear, AMA's, 4 scuba tanks, BC's, dive bags, coolers, motor, sails, spare gas, and the kitchen sink onto the boat in the parking lot by the car, then rolled the TI into the water a few hundred feet away. I'm guessing the boat was tipping over 300 lbs. I inspected and watched for any problems, and believe it or not the boat handled the load with no issues. Of course I don't recommend doing anything like this on a regular basis, I only did it as a test. But it gives me piece of mind that it was well worth the couple hours of work making the mods. I've had the boat out a few dozen times since making the mods in all types of conditions with no issues.
Bob


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:01 am 
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Location: Lake Macquarie NSW AUSTRALIA
I noticed Josh that the alignment of top and bottom moulds at the scupper holes is a bit out. Probably 3-5mm on mine. So that when the cart posts go in, there is this 3-5mm ledge that the posts can hit. If the little round knobs weren't on the top of the cart posts I reckon I'd have a real problem. (P.S. As you can guess, I got the new AI. Unfortunately, I just couldn't justify the time for the drive north. Thanks for your help anyway mate. )

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:37 am 
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Location: Texas
Really like the Bondo Idea. I bet that + the PVC do help. Great ideas.

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:59 am 
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I wish Hobie would do something like this. A few extra bucks spent during the build process would mean less warranty claims down the road.

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:01 pm 
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Apparently they are dregsfan. When Bob and I spoke about this issue in a previous thread, Matt mentioned here viewtopic.php?f=71&t=34676&p=139582&hilit=cart#p139582 that an attachment was being made by Hobie to address this. Don't know about Bob's PVC pipe idea though.

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