Hobie Cat Forums

There's always the Big Boy Bob.

_________________

You need to fix your leaky mast regardless of the bob if you want to right your boat with ease.

Just put your mast in the water to see where it leaks and address it.

As far as bob, I've onle seen the baby bob on 16s.

_________________
Marc...
1978 Hobie 16 Keoke, sail# 36 84

NONE at all

If you install a float, use the Baby Bob.

_________________
1979 Hobie (sold)
1983 Hobie 16 Hawiian Sunset (sold)
1981 Hobie 16 Tequilla Sunrise - still own
2008 Hobie 16 (currently sailing the crap out of this boat)
1977 Super Sunfish
John

I got to go with Gary Eudy, NONE at all, unless you sail in mostly shallow water and don't want to be a stick in the mud. SEAL your mast/comptip well, then turtling is not that big of a deal. Sometimes turtling is a godsend, there is nothing more stable on the water (well mostly in the water) than a turtled catamaran and it comes with it's own sea anchor (mast and sail sticking straight down). Since I solo most of the time in winds up to 30 knots, I've had my share of pitchpoles (I seldom capsize any other way) and have found that turtling is not such a bad thing. Actually, when I capsize my boat usually turtles almost instantly, way before I can try to stop it. My mast and comp tip are well sealed so I don't worry about how long I'm turtled. I use the time to get myself collected (GMST), release the sheets and travelers (Main and Jib) and make sure the hiking stick is not fouled (very important, long story involving being dragged in the water about 50 yards). Also, being turtled, I get to pick which side to right the boat - nice.

another vote for no baby Bob. I also have turtled the boat intentionally to right the boat the way I wanted to right It instead of waiting for it to blow around the way I wanted it I even took the time once to have a sandwich


Seal the mast properly by replacing the leaky rivets and internal seals and your concerns will evaporate

Agree completely. NO BOB. Not that Bob isn't a nice guy or anything, just completely unnecessary. Learn the boat and search for how to right your boat in the forums. There are tons of how to inputs. I solo my boat most of the time, am slightly over 200 lbs and 54 years old and have never been unable to right the boat. Though I am losing weight now and maybe when I get to 150 (hahahahaha!) I will have some trouble. If the wind is blowing enough to get you over, there is enough to right you too. Even turtled is not a problem. If it freaks you out to think of dumping your boat, just do it a few times for practice and your worries will go away. It is kind of fun in a way. A badge of honor. Go for it.

I have a regular size Bob on mine, and have flipped three times, and each time it was very easy to get her back up in no time, not one inch of the mast ever went under water, the thing WORKS !!!
Beware that if you use the mount plates that come with the Bob, you will eventually end up replacing the mast tip because the side to side motion of the Bob will eventually crack the tip. I installed mine on a home made mount that consist of an aluminum pipe mounted to the Bob base, and the rotating aluminum pipe mounted to the side of the mast. ( You will not have Bob rotation with the regular mount either ). Mounting the Bob on a rotating mount helps to reduce some drag too because it always points with the wind.
You can live without the Bob, but you will be glad you have it if you flip over.

_________________
Every second that passes cannot be recovered, so make good use of every one of them that you have left.

Most of the places I sail in St. Andrews Bay and in the Gulf of Mexico around Panama City Beach, Fl are not over 30' deep (except the shipping channels). Therefore, turtling is not good for the mast, etc.

Since I normally sail solo, the Hobie Baby Bob makes it alot easier to right the boat since it keeps all of the mast above the water so the wind can get under more of the sail.

_________________
Tim
82' H16
Sail # 88863
Panama City Beach, FL

Tim, I agree with you, righting the boat is so easy and effortless when the same wind that tilted you, that same wind picks the Sail and Mast up. If the Mast is perpendicular to the wind and pointing to it, once the wind gets under the Sails and they are blocked for a positive ( up ) high angle of attack, the Sails Jump up so strong that if you are not carefull, the Cat will almost go airborne !!!!

_________________
Every second that passes cannot be recovered, so make good use of every one of them that you have left.

That's funny because St Andrew's Bay is the ONLY place I've ever turtled without the mast hitting bottom!

_________________
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

Jerome,

You may want to check the attached NOAA depth chart for St. Andrews Bay. The Bay is basically tee shaped with the base being the St. Andrews Pass to the Gulf of Mexico. The Pass and shipping channel to the Port of Panama City are dredged to over 40'. The east and west legs of the bay are part of the Intercoastal and are over 30' in some areas. The Bay has a surface area of 94 sq miles and an average depth of 13.1'


http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/11391.shtml

_________________
Tim
82' H16
Sail # 88863
Panama City Beach, FL

Yeah...I wasn't disputing you, Tim. We were doing Mid-Winters out of SABYC and they had us go pretty far out toward the pass where it's deeper. Your post struck me because it brought back the only memory I have of unturtling and righting easily. The channels on my local reservoir are the only areas more than 10-15 feet deep....not much deeper in the Mississippi Sound. Throw in a mucky bottom and your stuck without power assistance.

_________________
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

Jerome,

Several years ago when I had a 14Turbo, I was sailing across St. Andrews Pass from Alligator Point toward Shell Island and the boat kept getting lower in the water. About a third of the way across, I realized that I had forgot to put in both of my drain plugs and so I tried to turn around to go back. The next thing I know the stern went under water and the bows were pointing straight up and then the wind hit my vinyl tramp and continued the reverse cartwheel until it was turtled (that boat did not have a Bob and I don't know if it would have made a difference with water in the hulls).

After putting the plugs in, I was not able to get the boat to stay on it's side since everytime I tried to upright it, the water in the hulls would either rush forward or aft causing it to rotate upwards or downwards.

A PWC came by to help and I attached a line to my dolphin striker while the bows were pointing upward and he was able to pull me forward enough so the boat leveled off and I continued sailing over to Shell Island where I beached it and drained the hulls.

Fortunately while I was turtled, the tide was coming in so I wasn't drifting out the Pass toward Mexico. The main thing I learned from this is to always check your drain plugs.

_________________
Tim
82' H16
Sail # 88863
Panama City Beach, FL