To make a Hooter work you will need a lot longer bow sprit. The foot can be shorter (sheet from the sidestay), although it is more effective from the rear of the boat. (bigger sail).
Rick
Thanks. I appreciate the expert input. I did not see a length in your article. What would you recommend? The current pole is 6 feet long mounted to the front crossbar.
In some of the pictures it looks like you have the pole resting on the front tramp, which makes it look short. How far in front of the main beam is the front beam? That would give us a feeling for overall effective pole length (distance from main to forward beam plus pole length). I'd guess you'd want at least 12' of effective length. Too much and you'll get more lee helm, and it may become difficult to support the pole properly. When I added a spin to my Hobie-18 I went with about 12.5', it worked out real nice.
Another thing you'll have to eye-ball is how the sail is setting - it may be that to get the sail you have to fly nicely you'll have to play with the various dimensions.
Good luck - you'll have fun with it when you're done!
