I put the old sail up yesterday.
The halyard was not in the sheave so I took a guess. I went from inside to out which means the ring is on the close side to the track. It will not lock.
Is the fix as simple as the ring pulling from the outside. And, is there any reason I should not grind the flipper thing on the hook off as it seems redundant?
Also, the mast is very raked. I have it as far forward as the rigging will allow...?

Grind the flapper off. New boats don't have them.

Eventually, you'll need to get a new halyard hook. The old ones weren't thick enough to deal with a 6:1 downhaul. The hook will eventually bend and shear off.

The halyard runs up inside the mast track, through the sheave (inside to outside) to the ring. The bottom exits through the center sheave in the mast base.

You can see how it's supposed to be in the photo:

You can also see how heavy the newer halyard hooks are.

17's like a fair amount of rake. You should be almost able to two-block the main. If you can, then rake forward a bit more.

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I have gone 8:1 out to the sides on the down haul so the centre sheave is done. I will reassess that and maybe use thicker cord for my hands. If the halyard goes through that sheave where does it end up? What is the small block in the centre for at the goose neck? It has its own pin.
Excellent photo thank you.

8:1 is too much. You'll rip the tack out of the sail unless it's reinforced.

Replace the single block on the pin at the mast base with a double. Attach a triple to the tack with a long shackle.

From the port wing, the line goes to the cleat on the mast, down to the port sheave in the mast base, up to the port side of the triple, down to the port side of the double, then reverse rotation up to the center of the triple, down to the stbd side of the double, up to stbd side of the triple, down to the stbd sheave in the mast base, then up to the cleat and out to the wing.

You can sort of follow it in the photo (red line).


The halyard exits from under the center sheave in the mast base (it's the thin gray line lying across the tramp in the photo).

Thank you for the photo again it is excellent but I still do not understand why the halyard needs to go through a sheave.
I would normally lock the sail off, set the halyard in a cleat, coil and place in a pocket.
Thanks

DON'T FORGET THE SECRET TWIST !!! and how the knot holding the ring on is critical also.

Let's see if I can explain this ...

You want the ring to WANT to "flip" onto the hook. Looking at Matt's picture the hook is on the starb side of the mast. Before attaching the halyard to the sail "twist/spin" the halyard clockwise (looking down on it) so that if it could "unspin" it would have a tendence to spin counter-clockwise and "flip/twist" onto the hook. Do not put too many twists into it as it will turn the ring to much and it will not hook ... if you spin it the wrong way it will never hook!

Secondly, the knot to the ring needs to come over the ring from aft to front so that when tension is applied the ring is pulled forward slighty. I use a "single half-hitch" knot and have whipped/stitched the tail/bitterend to the halyard.

I hope I have explained this properly, when you have it right the sail hooks so swee..etly.

Note: my H-18 has the halyard hook on the starb ... my P-19 on the port ... which means one requires clockwise pre-twist, the other counter clockwise pre-twist. I have to pay close attention to get the correct twist as I do mess it up sometimes ...

HarryMurphey
H18mag/#9458, Fleet54/Div11
P19mx w/spin /#86, CRAC

Oh, the flipper thingie ... you can leave it or remove it.
It was on the early comp-tip masts but was later discontinued. It's purpose is for aiding in lowwering the sail, by allowing the sail to pass over the hook,

My TheMightyHobie18 has one my P-19 doesn't ... I actually like it as I don't have to rotate the mast to lowwer the sail, just "haul" up letting the flipper to drop in place and then the sail drops cleanly.

So Here is my other secret ... hoist the sail until the ring is just below the hook (note: I have the Halyard wrapped around my body/waist and am pulling with my legs). At this point I close my eyes and gently apply pressure/pull on the halyard ... FEEL THE HOOK ...you will feel the ring make contact w/ the underside of the hook ... gentle pull the ring onto the hook ... DO NOT YANK ... you only need to take in 1"-2" of halyard once you make contact with the underside of the hook.

FEEL THE HOOK ... OMMMMMMM ... OMMMMMM (its a Zen thing)

HarryMurphey

Thank you for your time to explain this dark magic to a small and wretched soul such as myself oh Great Guiding Omnipotent One, I will do as you command and pray more to the God Jupiter for luck and guidance....oooooooommmmffeeeeeellllliiittttt.

I was just wrenching it up and not "feeling" it. However, my other three cats with the hook/ring set up just click on and easy off with a turn of the mast....??

>>8:1 is too much. You'll rip the tack out of the sail unless it's reinforced.

In my experience the tack on the 17 sail needs to be reinforced anyway. The grommets on the last two sails I got (2005 & 2007) were total junk. They immediately started pulling out of the sail. I took the sails to my local shop and had them add a strap of nylon webbing through the grommet and up about 6" to help better distribute the downhaul load to the tack. I don't know why Hobie uses these lousy groummets on the 17 sail. I'm pretty sure they use better ones on the 16 and 18 sails. In any case, it's a relatively easy fix and now I can bottom out my downhaul.

sm

My new sail is a Pentax square top from Whirlwind and I trust Chip does a better job. I really do understand your frustration though. It sounds like what the 17 could do with a another place setting up a rival update fix program for the boat.

I have expressed on another thread the Wobble problem and asked for known fixes.
I think I will put an I-beam inside the beam as nacra do as holding the beam through one small skin section is just daft. I know I will end up with a bolt showing on the outside of the beam but for the gain in structural integrity I think it is a good swap. And having to re tighten the beam bolts regularly is just agricultural.
Good factory style upgrades would sell like hot cakes I am sure.

Also, in regard to the down haul fix I will probably stay 8:1 but will go the Nacra way and fit check blocks to the sail itself for two of the purchase so I can exit the RF5s the right way up or go to standing blocks and out to the hull to a cam cleat like the F18s.
If you are getting block to block it won't matter what purchase gets it there.

Whatever I do, I will post photos for a crit.