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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:07 am 
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Location: Boynton Beach, FL
A TI trampoline buckle clip snapped this weekend while carrying a couple of children, ages 7 and 3 (< 120 lbs total).

Image

Broken trampoline buckles seem to be a very common issue on the TI.

I wonder what weight capacity these plastic clips were truly designed for? We need to remember that the boat moves up and down on the water over the waves. So it needs to absorb some level of shock as the weight on the trampoline rises and falls.

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Marc K
2010 Hobie Tandem Island
Boynton Beach, FL


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:41 am 
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Location: South Florida
Hi Marc,

Recognizing that materials are degraded in sunlight, I would wonder if that were a facter in the "fatigue" of these buckles?

Keith

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:11 am 
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Hi Keith.

I believe sunlight was not a factor in my case. My tramps rarely ever see the light of day.

When not sailing, the boat and tramps are inside the garage.

And when sailing, I usually store them off the akas and rolled up neatly inside the hull. The tramps have seen sunlight maybe 12 days in 1.5 years.

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Marc K
2010 Hobie Tandem Island
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:47 pm 
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Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:52 pm
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Location: Navarre Beach, FLorida
Hey Mkrawats,

First I would like to say that is was unfortunate that something like that has occurred with trampolines with the children on top. I hope the kids were not hurt. I do believe I will be upgrading my buckles after reading about your accident. I have couple of kids of my own and even though they do wear their life jackets, my heart would definitely skip a beat or two if I saw my kids suddenly fall into the water because of some equipment failure. Scary stuff.

Tidalwave was kind enough to post the link to a website where someone can purchase some straps with aluminum side-release buckles attached. The website was "strapworks.com."

Good luck with your repairs and hopefully something like that does not happen to no one else. All we can do is continue to follow good safety practices to prevent the worse. Later.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:51 pm 
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Location: Navarre Beach, FLorida
I apologize for any confusion, but the link and topic, that Tidalwave posted concerning the buckles was under the topic "Weak link on trampolines?" Just in case someone may want to look into the topic further.


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 Post subject: buckle replacement
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:37 am 
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Location: CLEARWATER, MN
I also included my 'technique' for replacing the buckle and strap on the other thread. It might not be the most efficient (best) method but I didn't see any other comment on how to do it. Other owners have mentioned a buckle breaking but not how they actually replaced it. If you have a simpler way, please let us know.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:02 am 
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Location: Boynton Beach, FL
TidalWave,

I simply cut off the old strap and replaced it with a trailer strap I found in my garage.

Image

This is just my temporary fix to allow the children to continue to go sailing. We sail mostly in salt water. I am pretty sure the metal clip will rust pretty quickly in the salty Florida environment.

I too am happy that the plastic buckle is the weak link in the entire tramp system.

We should also keep in mind... adults were never allowed to use my tramps. Only 1-2 children weighing a combined total of < 120 lbs have ever been allowed to use them. These plastic buckles broke under weights considerably less than its designed carrying capacity.

I trust Hobie is listening to us and I look forward to a Hobie sponsored solution.

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2010 Hobie Tandem Island
Boynton Beach, FL


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:32 am 
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Location: CLEARWATER, MN
After the hassle of replacing the first tramp buckle on one tramp...opening the tramp rod pocket and sewing a replacement strap loop, I realized that there was a much faster and easier method to replacing the buckle. I ordered a couple of strap adjusters from the same distributor that sold me the aluminum replacement buckles. The strap adjusters come in black powder-coated metal to match the buckles. The adjuster has two strap slots to feed the straps. I inserted the rod buckle strap through the single slot in the buckle...wrapped the two loose ends over the rod and fed the straps through the strap adjuster (tight fit). I could then tighten the two ends and the buckle was now tightly attached to the rod. No cutting of the rod pocket and then sewing it back up later.
The adjusters cost me $1.00 each including shipping. The aluminum buckles cost about $4.00 each with shipping. So for about $5.00 I replaced a plastic buckle which lasted less than one sailing season with an aluminum replacement, which should last as long as the TI. And it took about two minutes to do the replacing.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:43 pm 
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TIDALWAVE wrote:
The adjusters cost me $1.00 each including shipping. The aluminum buckles cost about $4.00 each with shipping. So for about $5.00 I replaced a plastic buckle which lasted less than one sailing season with an aluminum replacement, which should last as long as the TI. And it took about two minutes to do the replacing.


"Two minutes"... I like that. TidalWave, you could share with us a photo of your trampoline with the new adjuster and aluminum buckle? And the supplier and part numbers?

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2010 Hobie Tandem Island
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:20 pm 
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Location: Texas
mkrawats wrote:
TIDALWAVE wrote:
The adjusters cost me $1.00 each including shipping. The aluminum buckles cost about $4.00 each with shipping. So for about $5.00 I replaced a plastic buckle which lasted less than one sailing season with an aluminum replacement, which should last as long as the TI. And it took about two minutes to do the replacing.


"Two minutes"... I like that. TidalWave, you could share with us a photo of your trampoline with the new adjuster and aluminum buckle? And the supplier and part numbers?

Yep - sounds good, also interested in your solution.

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 Post subject: Replacement buckles...
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:57 am 
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Location: CLEARWATER, MN
the e-retailer I bought the replacement buckles/adjusters was:
http://www.strapworks.com/
Just cursor down the left menu to 'side-release buckles' (metal)...
the company has both aluminum and nickle buckles.
You can also choose for a few extra cents (about 25 cents), which color you want anodized on the buckle and also if you want shiny or matted surfaces.
They ship by priority mail, my buckles arrived three days after I ordered them.

Don't forget that the tramp straps are 1 inch wide...so order the 1 inch buckles.
You will have to get new 1 inch nylon straps to replace the straps which wrap around the tramp rods. The old straps are sewed onto the rods and have to be cut off.

The metal buckles should be inspected for corrosion like all other metal parts on the Hobie. I don't know how long the metal buckles will last being immersed in salt water. But I believe that the plastic buckles which are resistant to corrosion tend to slowly craze from UV sunlight.

I did not replace the plastic buckles which did not break...I wanted them to still be the weakest link on the tramps...rather than the amas.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:51 am 
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I know this is old BUT, anyone searching this should know that the strapworks buckles SLIP! Not sure how Tidalwave got it to work or if he's just not putting that much weight on. I have about 70% of my buckles done with this and they slip with the weight of my 100 lb girlfriend. I have 2 versions ordered at different times (same description but strapworks changed the product). They both slip. I think I'll try the trailer tie downs next... looks beefy... and fairly cheap when you can get 4 at Wally World for like 12 bucks.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:41 pm 
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The buckles of my TI tramps snapped the first day in the water...in the meantime (after 18 months use) all buckles snapped.

I did the same as Tidalwave and replaced them with metal side release buckles. However - I sail solely in the ocean and after one year of use the metal buckles corrode (i use the ones from Thule) and need to be replaced AGAIN.

The TI tramps (as all Hobie accessories) are not cheap and probably at least 80% of AI / TI owners use the tramps. Breaking tramp buckles were reported since the tramps were introduced and I really fail to understand why this problem is not addressed by Hobie....

Breaking tramps are dangerous too - imagine you are out there on the tramps in strong winds offshore and all of a sudden the buckles snapp and you go overboard...

It is such a simple fix for Hobie - just use a bigger and stronger buckle on the tramps. The additional costs are minimal...(or at least design the buckles in a way that you can easily replace broken buckles without spending hours sewing the straps).

My 2 cents...

peace
Serbi


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 3:50 am 
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Location: Virginia Beach, VA
I talked to Penguin Man, Hobie Engineer during the Watertribe Challenge about this topic. Hobie has upgraded the trampoline buckles to a larger plastic clip. Contact Hobie and see if they have the new style straps as replacements. You might have to cut wider slots around the support rods...

I always found it hard to tighten the straps. I like to keep my tramp fairly tight so that it does not flap around in the wind. My solution was to sew small finger loops out of parachute cord on to the end of each strap. Putting on a tramp is very quick...

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 7:45 am 
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Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Hmmm I took out the buckles on one tramp but for a different reason. I wanted to extend the tramp so my kids could play in the water when we were drift fishing and was in a place where I wouldn't necessarily want them to jump over the side. Most of the water down here has good numbers of alligators and bull sharks.

I found these straps at Home Depot. Each holds 300 lbs and is velcro which from what I understand has the same holding strength when submerged under water. Each one was like $6 or $7.

Image

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