Hobie 16 weather Helm

[baconbiscut]

Alright we have a hobie 16 it's mast is raked pretty far back due to short shrouds. The rudders are (I beleave) at full rake. Well when that brezze kicks up man It really tries to rip the tiller out of your hands. It kind of scares me. sometimes I have to use two hands for the tiller and I like to keep a hand free for the Mainsheet i'm really worried about pitch pulling this bad boy and breaking equipment. Anybody have any ideas on how to fix my helm issue.

Thanks much, Dan

 

[tommays]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

There are a lot of tuning guides on the web

http://www.cat44.com/hobie-16-tuning-tips.htm

http://www.hobie-cat.net/download/manuels/tuning_16.pdf




How much wind ? As it does not sound normal

Why are the shrouds short ,The boat needs to be rigged pretty close to standard

The rudders need to be all the way down or they will have crazy leverage


But when your getting a strong puff you need to point higher BEFORE your overpowered which will depower the sails , when you get a feel for it you can hold it right in that spot pretty easy until the puff dies down



I sail a J24 and we run out of rudder all the time in wind above 18 MPH if your dont react before a puff

 

[baconbiscut]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

we bought the bought the boat with short shrouds. I used to sail small monohauls and race them. Well my grandfather wanted me to get into catamaran sailing so he bought this boat so I could learn and race it. My grandfather use to race J24s he had one then He bought a Hobie 33.
Thanks for the links

Dan

 

[rad1026]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

If the shrouds are too short you will have too much mast rake and will definitely have weather helm. You need to find some stock shrouds and start from there. The best rigging system I have read is Rick White's three W's. Wind, water and weight determine the shape of sail you want and the rake of the mast for the prevailing conditions. Once you have the proper size shrouds and can set the boat up for the conditions you are sailing then you can work on the position of the rudders. I had to fill and redrill my rudders in order to really get a good set up. I have a very slight weather helm and in medium winds can pretty much set my boat up and let her go. It takes a little work, but once you get her all dialed in it streams through the water like a dolphin. So pretty.

 

[Bsquared]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

Modern H16s rake the mast way back and load up the rudders on purpose (shifts side load to the rudders off the hull and helps you go upwind, plus it reduces the tendency to pitchpole). They also come with adjustable rudder castings that allow you to rake the rudders under the boat (tips move forward). If you take a line right down the rudder pin, you want about 1.5 inches of rudder forward of that line.

If you don't have the adjustable castings (with a bolt on top of the tiller arm), then you either have to fill and redrill the rudders, or rake the mast back forward. As you have found out, really can't sail the boat with mast rake and straight rudders.

Filling and redrilling isn't too much of a job; fill the holes with epoxy and chopped glass, then hld the rudder in place on the lower casting where it needs to be, mark and drill that hole (drill press is nice to get it straight through), then install and match up the tiller arm where it needs to be.

 

[nwslider]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

Basically all you can do to help reduce the weather helm is rake the mast back like you have done. This has to so with the forces at work with only a mast and rudders and why you cannot point well with a Hobie 16 (or any other cat without skegs)

Basically the only way to truly "fix" this is upgrade to a cat with skegs like the a Hobie Tiger, Tornado, etc.

 

[Bsquared]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

nwslider has apparently never sailed on a new (or old) 16 set up properly Raking the mast on an old 16 gives you MORE weather helm, not less. A 16 won't point with an F18 or Tornado, but they get upwind just fine all the same. It's all in the rudder balance.

 

[nwslider]

Re: Hobie 16 weather Helm

I stand corrected, BSquared is correct.

Here is a link to more detail on the tips BSquared described in the first post:

http://users.tpg.com.au/kkmiller/hobie/weather_helm.html