I just finished installing the new sail furling kit on my 2010 Oasis. Let me begin by quoting the old saying; "Simplicity is Beauty." In this case Hobie really nailed it. Both the installation and the operation of this unit is simple and functional.
In the case of the Oasis, I only had to drill two holes in the hull. Those were for the fairlead. All else was able to be connected to what was already there.
Starting with the furling assembly, just follow the directions as written. You will have to loosen the 4 screws to allow the assembly to slide onto the mast and after determining the appropriate height, retighten the screws to hold it in place.
In the picture below notice how I used the already installed downhaul post that was in place for the sail downhaul originally. I simply tied a stopper knot in the downhaul line and slipped the downhaul end over the post. The knot should be located so that the line has some movement but is taunt enough to hold the mast in place should you turtle the boat. A little slack is OK.
An easy way to determine the five inches behind the center of the mast is to use a carpenters square. Just center the five inch mark with the mast make sure it is close to square and make a pencil mark. Hopefully your square is not as rusty as mine and you will be able to see the gradients better. So much for living close to salt water.
Here’s a view of the pencil mark.
The older models like mine are not as easy as the newer Oasis models. The gunnels on the new models are flat in the area where the fairlead goes whereas the 2010 and older have a rounded gunnel. However I found the plastic to be quite thick in this area so even though it is not perfectly level you can put a fair amount of torque on the screws when tightening with no structural problems. You’ll note as I drill the holes I use an old hand drill. I like to use one of those in this application because I can do as much collateral damage as I can with a power tool.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to install the fairlead in the Oasis. I decided to try by drilling the initial holes and seeing if I could reach the screws through the second hatch. If that didn’t work, I was planning on buying some well nuts, drilling the holes at a larger diameter and going that route. Fortunately I was just able to reach the end of the screws with my fingertips while reaching over with a Phillips head stubby on the top of the screw bolts. Any shorter arms and this wouldn’t have worked.
Here’s a view of the near finished project. You can see how far of a reach it was to get the locking nuts on the screws.
Finally, as Roadrunner stated in his post on installing the Sail Furling Kit, I didn’t have to add the rear pad-eye for the line assembly. I was able to simply hook it into the pad-eye for the rear storage bungee and it fit perfectly. You may want to see his post from October 31 for good pictures of that operation. The line assembly comes with two stopper knots to restrict the movement of the round beads used to adjust the furling line. The knots did not match the movement I needed to successfully furl or deploy the sail. Simply loosen one of the knots and make the adjustments you need by moving the position of the knot on the line. It won’t take long and you will have a very simple, functional furling system that should give you a good service life.