fusioneng,
EXCELLENT OBSERVATION Thank you so much for pointing this out.
Before mine broke it looked
exactly like the picture that larryhts posted of his original crossbar. I definitely remember seeing a "grey line" along the outside edge of the welded area, as well as some paint flaking off. I (wrongly) assumed that this was just normal wear and that if a
"real crack" ever developed, it would be obvious for me to see. If I had closely examined the weld with a magnifying glass, or had your expertise, I would have seen the crack and replaced my crossbar long ago.
Now with this knowledge people who have an early production run boat can at least know what to look for! Matt's last comments regarding when he thought the new crossbars were being installed were this:
Quote:
Post subject: Re: TI FWD XBAR FAILUREPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:16 am
Yes, the revised bearing plate through the beam / weld system is in production for the TI. Been a month or so they say.
If it's possible now for Hobie to determine and tell us which boats were likely to have the defective crossbars installed based on their Hull #'s, then coupled with a visual inspection, these people could contact their local dealer and get the newly designed ones.
Hobie is sending a new one out to me this week, Thank you very much guys
and I hope to be back out on the water this weekend.
Correction: I thought my TI was made in late 2011 but according to my Hull #: US-HCCP0887J011 it was manufactured in October 2010. I can't find the link right now regarding the proper identification of Hull Numbers, but I know the following information is correct to when my boat was made:
HCC is the Manufacturing Company (Hobie Cat Company)
P............ Model (Tandem Island)
0887........ Serial Number (0887)
J............ Month of Manufacture (October)
0............ Year of Manufacture (2010)
11........... Model Year (2011)
What's frustrating is that it's impossible to see the crack that was on my original crossbar now that it's broken. Maybe the engineers at Hobie can learn something from this photo and I'd be happy to mail it back to them as well.
As I mentioned previously, I was lucky. If the information that we're putting together in this post helps anyone from having the same experience I had last Saturday and potentially avoiding a serious accident, then I will be happy.