It was blowing pretty well, if a bit chill, this weekend so I took the H14 out for the first time. Even with the mast adjusted as far forwards as the shroud adjusters would allow, it was raked aft so much that attempting to go upwind resulted in going into irons and staying there. The crew swam the bow of the boat downwind and climbed aboard, then we made our way back to shore.

I had one extra shroud adjuster in my truck, so we grabbed that and my spare-parts bottle. I used the jib halyard to hold the mast up in front while I removed the furling drum and forestay adjuster. Now I had two adjusters to use for lengthening the side-stays. I flipped them "up-side-down" and slide them over the current adjuster, so three holes lined up. I pinned the first and third holes on both sides and got enough slack to go work on the forestay.
I took to bridle wires and forestay and tied them tight together with some halyard line, two wraps through each eye before tieing them off. Then I took in the slack on the side-stays, and was able to move the top adjuster down to the second-lowest hole of the bottom adjuster (I'll take pictures later if this isn't clear enough). With the mast now raked considerably further forwards, we took the boat for another spin and it did considerably better. I can remove the swivel from the upper end of the forestay to rake the mast even further forwards if I have to, later.

My biggest problem at the moment are the rudders. They won't go all the way down and lock because the came (plastic cams) as frozen in the down position. I tried looping a rope around them and pulling them up, to no avail. Does anyone know of another method?
The other problem was the sail... I need to re-rivet all the batten-pockets, and buy some new battens that will fit better.

Post a picture, it is very hard to picture all the adjustments that you have made, actually its hard to picture the cat at all from the descriptions (like they say one picture say's more than a thousand words)
Darryl

I have had endless problems with rudder cams (probably because I don't know how to adjust the tension properly). But I always check the cams before I leave the beach. If one is stuck in the down position, I put a screwdriver under it and pry it up.

Also, I am told it is important to keep the cams lubricated.

If you guys ever see a 4.3 Maricat for sale over there, grab it. They are as quick as a Hobie but a way nicer boat to work on and sail.
Bern

On the cams, you really do need to lubricate them with something. You can use WD40 to loosen them, but I wouldn't use is permanently. It breaks down in salt water, so you might want to go with silicone instead. If you pull up on the cams with a rope, you will probably just rip the top part off. Then, you are in worse shape than before. Squirt the heck out of it with lubricant, then try to come up under the cam with a flat head screw driver. You should be able to get it between the cam and the plunger ball that locks it. You need to be firm, but gentle or you will mar the underside of the cam and it won't work as smoothly.

There are tools made specifically for that application, but it is a matter of finding one.

I can bring a bunch of battens with me to Hartwell and I can also do the rivets as well as batten pocket protectors. Bring that mast with the broken comptip track and we can work something out!

I agree that you need a lot of lubricant and silicone works much better than WD 40.

I am notorious about leaving the shore without checking my cams,
so I have a lot of experience "popping" them on the water.
There is a small gap between the cam and the casting, on the side,
that a flat blade can slip through and push down on the piston.
The screwdriver blade on a Leatherman works great.

I have some good pieces of comp-tip track I can bring.

See Ya,
Sam

Marine spray on teflon works for weeks even months, but you have to get every thing working first, and it doesn't attract "grit"

Hmmmmm.....

I like to use vaseline for the waterproof lubing applications!

Bob

I got into the habit of carrying a little vaseline in a tiny screw top for lip balm. So I now have a lube and lip balm to stop my lips chapping. If you keep this on the cam, the operation is predictable and you can actually set your rudder pop up. On my old 16 I made aluminum cams jigsawed out of alluminium plate. I tapped a socket head setscrew through the "Gullet" so that it bore on the steel pin that runs though the casting integral to the tiller arm. This way you can adjust rake on the old style rudder set up. I dont guess it is class legal...You are then also able to tweak the radius on the cam where the detent ball pops out, with a file. (Stick two setscrews in each hole - one to set, one to lock the screws against one another)

If these pictures don't work, try going to My F14 album

The Hobie 14 Turbo, after removing the jib furling drum, forestay shroud adjuster, and jib system. I left the jib halyard on and tied either end of it to each bow to hold the mast up while working on the forestay.


The double shroud-adjusters. The second adjuster fits up-side-down and over-top of the original, and is pinned in the bottom and top-most holes. The shrouds attach to what would normally be the "bottom" of the adjuster.


The forestay bridle, tied together with halyard line. I couldn't get any shackle to fit inside the bridle wires, as they are intened to fit snugly on the tangs of the furling drum.


My 1/4x3" SS eyebolt goes through the deck-lip, then through a 1/2" diameter aluminum rod that is maybe 6" long (I didn't measure how long the rod is, but made each side equal length), and is secured with a bolt. More halyard line is run through it and a shackle which connects the shroud adjusters to the trampoline frame.

Well, obviously that didn't work...
I uploaded the pictures to my domain and provided links below. The pictures are in the same order as listed above.
Fair warning, these pics are HUGE. I don't have an image editing program on this computer yet.

Hobie 14 T
Double shroud-adjuster
Forestay bridle
Sidestay "system"
Close-up of the 1/4 x 3" eyebolt through deck-lip

Brian, I had no problem seeing your pics on the link you provided in your first post. Incidentally, that site has an image enhancing function available for adjusting your photos.

Just a couple of observations on your mod's. The side stay extensions look ok though I'd be using a smaller diameter lashing with more turns which would be stronger and neater. What are the other ropes beside the stays? Trapeze? where are your hook rings?

I don't think you need three forestays. Usually if you intend rigging with a jib on a single stay you can dispense with the outer stays although again your lashing between the forestay and bridle wires is too big in diameter with insufficient turns and the tie-off knots don't look secure. You could put a bow shackle there in place of the lashing. It'd be stronger and safer.

Good luck with the boat.

Bern

They're 3/16th I believe, and are just what I had laying around in my G-Cats hulls for random tie-down purposes.



Yes, those are for the trapeze system. If you enlage the H14T picture you should be able to make out the "Can't Miss" rings. Now that the extra side-stay support is on, I can trapeze out on the beach without the trampoline frame bending.



Those 'extra stays' are either end of the Jib halyard, tied to the bow eyes to hold the mast up while I was messing with the forestay/bridle. The halyard pulley is just tied to the mast tang as well, so none of it really provides support while sailing.



Again, it's just some 3/16ths I've had lying about. I couldn't use any shackles or D-rings because the ends of the bridle wires are too narrow to accept such things. If you notice, I can't even have two pieces of rope side-by-side through those two fittings- the rope itself barely fit at all.



Thanks, it was neat to go out in strong winds and not feel overpowered or worry about capsizing. I normally solo an 18' G-Cat, and at 150lbs it can get hectic.