I will be reassembling my '82 Hobie 16 here in Vero Beach, Florida after doing some painting to the hulls and tramp frame and installing a brand new mesh tramp. Is there anything i should put on the ends of the sidebars that slide into the corner castings? When i disassembled them, it looked like some type of masking tape was on them. Is this to deaden the metal to metal creaking or some other reason? Thanx for any reply. By the way, I'm painting my hulls with Interlux Brightsides poly and primer. I'll let ya all know how they turn out. Been doing so much sanding and prepping on the hulls lately that i think i am getting quite intimate with both of them! The idea is to turn my recently acquired faded yellow banana boat into a sleek white, updated cat complete with new hull decals and all. Ok, enough rambling on here...i need to get back to some more hull prepping!

you might want to make that a sleek off white cat.

You don't have to do anything to the ends of the sidebars. Tighten the tramp so the sidebars bend in about an inch. The tighter the tramp the the more firm the boat will sail. Before tightening the tramp, besure to square the boat, so the diagonal measurements form each bow bolt to opposite rudder pin are equal.