Hobie Cat Forums

My AI partner and I have been sailing with the tramp set for two seasons. We've started to think about placing a bench board between the akas, on the far edge near the amas, parallel to the boat. The idea is that the person not skippering the boat might like to ride on the windward bench, possibly keeping butt dry. We have imagined using large u bolts to clamp the bench board to the akas but we need space on the akas, so the tramp area has to be reduced. About a 25% width reduction seems about right. Does anyone have any recommendations for what to use for the bench board and fasteners, where to get a 3/4 or 1/2 width tramp set, or whether an existing set of trams could be modified to an reduce width.

Thanks!

Timo

The Batboat has them Timo....

viewtopic.php?f=69&t=33992&hilit=batboat&start=15

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

The bat boat looks wonderful but unfortunately there's nothing in that thread about materials and procedures for making the benches. How frustrating! They look like great ones.

Timo

There was a link to the kayak club in Hawaii. It had up close pictures that could be used to reverse engineer the bench.
I see if I can find it and will post it for you.

http://hawaiikayaksailingclub.com/hkscf ... opic=16.15

Looks like PVC cut in half and mounted with metal belt clamps. I would guess the wooden boards are screwed from bottom/inside of the PVC.

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G'day timo.
I see no reason why the original tramps could not be cut down, however once done you could never bring them back.
Sorry cannot help you with the bench but I imagine if you used U bolts to the aka's, it would hold but could not be then swung in. If you require the amas to be swung in, then the bench would need to be fitted to single pins/hinge point on each end. Would something similar to alloy scaffold planks work or a fiberglass/timber laminate like an old water ski?

I've cut a Hobie tramp in half and had sewn 1" strapping along the cut edge to reinforce it. Works much better in strong wind than the full Hobie tramps, though I prefer my fishing 1/2 tramp made from strapping, shadecloth and windsurfer masts.

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

If you still had the unwanted halves, you could sell them off to Timo Bob..Pirate
(Always thinking )

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Well, with multiple Hobie's, they're not unwanted. But we can talk. email or PM me if interested.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OOTGlPQAfg

Found a video of the batboat.
At the 28 second mark you can see the second half of the PVC pipe is under the aka so there isn't any metal on metal when mounting the bench.

Hope this helps.

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Many thanks for the pointers and helpful comments! We never fold the akas so that's not an issue for us. Clamping on with halved PVC pipe does look like an option. Time to start looking for a source for the bench itself ...

The boundless creativity of the AI/TI community is remarkable. I expect we'll see a hovercraft conversion before long.

Timo