Hobie Cat Forums

Thanks Matt, and I ask of those who already are using the tramps, do they prevent the sailor being bombarded by waves rolling into the yacht?...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

The Hobie tramps have two grommets adjacent to the gunwales.
I put short bungee lines through the grommets and pulled them
over the gunwales and onto posts in the webpockets.(the posts
were installed to attach my dodger). I think that you could run
the bungees to other attachment points also.
The bungees hold the tramps nice and snug against the hull...I am
getting almost no side splash.

The tramps are so nicely fitted that I am probably going to reconfigure
my bow wave deflector. Originally it extended along both sides from
the bow to nearly the rear akas (to help stop side splashes as well as
waves over the bow). I am going to shorten the spray shield so that
it extends just to the forward akas. No need for double shade cloth
along the sides.

With the spray shield, the tramps and my dodger I am pretty well cocooned from most spray.

That really is a hamburger with the lot
I guess paddling and fishing would be out of the question

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Mickey
2011 AI Golden Papaya
2011 TI Golden Papaya

Fishing should be fine with the tramps and spray shield. I fish with my single narrower tramp and spray shield all the time. I've never hooked either, but keep hooking the bungees on the ama

Also, when bottom fishing (for bait), I sometimes sit on my hard sided cooler with my feet in the seat well for a different prospective and a rest from "seat time".

Kayaking Bob

These tramps are sounding more and more like a 'must have' item to own. Thanks for the info guys...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

The Hobie tramps are so superior to my shade cloth home-made ones
that I am glad that I bought them immediately. My next Hobie wish
is a manufactured spray shield that uses some of the design concepts
displayed here in the Forum.

Hobie has a little "how to" write up with illustrations on how to right an Island once it has turtled. Basicaly one must fold in one of the amas, bungie it to the hull and rotate the boat around the folded ama by grabbing the main hull handle opposite the folded ama. (It is written up in Island's owners manual)

Now, with both tramps in place, how is this procedure affected?

Seems reasonable you would have to unbuckle at least one tramp to fold in one side, but would the remaining tramp prevent you from righting the boat?
Would you need to unbuckle both tramps?
Using the originally suggested method the installed tramp would come down on you.

It may be important to know the best method with tramps because you may not have the luxury of experimenting while floundering in rough seas.

On a related note using the tramps should minimize risk of capsize do to a rare brace failure, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

Not being a worry wort by any means but Hobie might want to check this out.

With 2 Islands I have to at least get 1 set of tramps.

I dunno ... I was out on a windy day last weekend - never used more than half of the sail. The tramps definitely caught air and I saw that contribute to some ama hopping.

Actually, it was a lot of fun. But I could see that increasing the possibility of a capsize in a really big blow.

You may want to 'reef' your tramps as well as your sail in very high winds.

Good point!

Which means wind could be a huge factor in righting a capsized Island with tramps installed.

The wind could either prevent flipping the boat back up, or violently bring it back over - depending on what side of the wind you were working on.

I better watch out or Roadrunner will be out there flipping an Island with tramps on to figure out the best methods of recovery.

BlueMark made the comment a couple of threads above, about the
new tramps catching side winds.
Since I got the tramps the winds have been fairly gentle. This afternoon I took my AI out with the new tramps for the first time in a stiff wind.
My anemometer showed 10 knot winds with gusts to 18. With the main reefed...I set course with a beam reach. The upwind tramp
bellied upward and caught the wind! The downwind ama
really tried to bury itself.

I leaned my weight over onto the windward tramp to try to rebalance
the AI, something that was very ackward to do, previously, without having a tramp to lean on.

At first I liked the solidity of the tramps sleeved onto the forward
akas. But now I realize that it will be almost impossible to 'reef'
the forward ends of the tramps. The rear of the tramps use straps
which would make it easy to fold the rear over, effectively reefing
the rear of the tramp...but the sleeved front of the tramps will make it impossible to reef the forward half of the tramps.

I like having tramps to help stop beam waves from splashing up onto the hull...but it now looks like I have traded one situation for another.

If this becomes a real problem...I think I may cut the tramps down the middle from forward to stern, including the fibreglas rod in the rear.
That way, I will have the option of a 'half-width' tramp which I could
still leave next to the hull, and slide the outer half off the akas before
I set sail in stiff winds.

We sailed them here extensively during high winds while developing of the product - they will tend to get some air under the windward tramp (more-so if they weren't really tightened - don't be shy when pulling the buckle adjusters on the back - get them tight!) however the beauty of the tramps, in those conditions, is to get your weight outboard and onto the tramps. (Doing so gives you a much better pace and a greater sailing sensation in my opinion)....now, if-only the tiller extension were available already so I didn't have to lean in to steer! ....

All very interesting
Particularlly for those of us who have not yet got a set.
The half width option looks like a reasonable solution in windy conditions and might be useful if you still want to paddle

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Mickey
2011 AI Golden Papaya
2011 TI Golden Papaya

Jaque Why do I get the feeling a tiller extention is in the making.
Mike

We are always looking into new ideas - the Tramps were the first step, now we're hard at work on some other products, it just takes time, we like to only introduce something after we've gotten it all figured out!

As soon as we have something we'll make it known, just keep on the lookout~

Tramps have arrived Downunder. Picked mine up this morning.

Pity it's bucketing down with rain.

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