Hope y'all find this informative and useful!

Happy New Year!!

Bob

HOBIE 14 TUNING GUIDE
Updated: December 27, 2002

MAST RAKE

The first thing you want to do is step the mast on the trailer. Next, using a carpenters level butted up against the shroud chainplate on the sidebar, level the boat. Undo your main halyard and attach a 5lbs weight. Measure the distance from the halyard to the bottom of the mast cutout for the mainsail. A good ball park number will range between 45”- 57” depending on your body weight. Lighter skippers will favor the larger number (larger distance) and heavier skippers will favor the smaller numbers (less distance). Since I weigh 160lbs, I opt for a 55” mast rake.

RIG TENSION

I normally carry a loose rig when not trapezing. This is adjusted by grabbing the leeward shroud with your hand and turning it to 120 degrees. As the breeze freshens, I tighten the rig to keep the leeward hull from depressing too much. This is very important to remember in choppy water. While trapezing, adjust the shroud tension to 45 degrees using the same method as above. This will keep the rig powered up and not dump you in the water in lulls. The mast raker line should ONLY be used downwind to help keep the rigging from banging around too much.

SAIL SHAPE AND BATTEN TENSION

There are a lot of different thoughts on this area. I will address what has worked for me.
Draft position: 45%
Camber: 16%
Batten Tapers: Bottom 3= non-tapered Top 3= taper and soft

A good way to set up the draft is to raise the sail with some batten tension and downhaul applied to eliminate the wrinkles. Take the tail of the main halyard and run it down the sail starting at the aft end of the headboard to the middle of the boom. The maximum draft should be at this line intersecting the sail. You will probably have to use a belt sander to taper and soften the top 3 battens to achieve the draft/camber point.

I tension the battens starting from the bottom and working to the top. This is done with the sail laying on the trampoline.

#6 (Bottom): Almost standing up
#5: Barely standing up
#4: Standing up
#3: Standing up
#2: Barely standing up
#1: Almost standing up

For choppy water, apply a little more tension for power!

DOWNHAUL

There is really only one rule of thumb; wrinkles out in all but very windy conditions. Downhaul in windy conditions to bend the mast and release the leech.

OUTHAUL

I tension this as hard as I can and cleat and forget it! Since it is not a loose-footed sail, the main does not benefit by releasing it.

TRAVELER

Upwind: 5”- 6” out from center allows the boat to be footed with a great deal of speed if you have the sail set up as above. When trapezing, only let the traveler out 3”. Reaches will be out to the hiking strap and deep reaches/downwind will be all the way at the end of the track.

RUDDERS

This one always causes debate! Start off with the rudders in the locked down position. Measure down the blade 12” from the bottom of the bottom casting. Make a line 2” perpendicular to the 12” point. Using a very thin line and starting at the top of the rudder pin, align the line with the rudder pin and check where the line intersects the perpendicular line on the rudder. Optimally, you should have 1 5/8” to 1 3/4” for a measurement. To achieve the 1 ¾” number, you might have to re-drill the front hole on the rudder or file away at the front of the rudder where it hits the casting.

Rudder toe in should be 1/8” with the rudders in the locked down position again measured from the 12” down point.


Good Luck!!


Bob Curry
HOBIE 14
1984 World Champion
1980, 1985, 1986, 1987 US National Champion
1983, 1987 US TURBO National champion

How about some tips for tacking this little monster.

What would you change for the turbo? Thanks.

Tim Dry
MHRA Commodore
http://www.catamaranracing.org

Two words explain how I have tacked the Hobie 14 over the years:

Roll Tack

Learn it and use it. Just keep on your toes because bad things can happen fast.

Hmmmmm... ROLL TACK...couldn't have said it better myself!! In light air, you should release about 12" of mainsheet as you go through the eye of the wind. In windier conditions, release from 18" to 24" so you can complete the tack. Remember when the leech sees the wind the boat will round up. This is why there is such a big ease of the main.

I used the same tuning tips for the Turbo. Opening the slot with mast rake is a HUGE benefit!

Bob

Thanks Bob for your informative post. I am only a novice so please bear with me. I didn't fully understand rig tensioning. I don't understand what twisting my shroud 120 degrees would do. It sounds like you have some kind of stay adjusting system. Is it class legal? Would you mind further describing tensioning the H14?
Again, thanks for all the wonderful information.
Greg
H14,H16

Hello Greg,

Thanks for asking the question!

Take your hand and grab the shroud with your fist. Twist it in a circular motin until you make the 120 degree turn. That's all there is to it! Just to clarify, there is no shroud tensioning device except the mast raker line used only downwind to keep the rig from banging around.

The 120 degree twist allows the leeward shroud to be loose enough as to not disturb the sail shape going downwind. Tighter shrouds will allow the battens to curve around the leeward shroud tearing the sail and more importantly disrupting the sails shape. The mast raker line is then used to keep the forestay/bridles from bouncing around.

I hope this answers your question!

Bob

Bob...Just wondering if you have worked up a similar guide for the H17 and if you wouldn't mind sharing...Dan

Dan,

Yes I do and here it is!! Please share it with all the 17 drivers.
Bob


HOBIE 17 Tuning Guide

1.MAST RAKE: On the bridle 10 hole chainplates, start at the 3rd or 4th hole from the top in all but heavy air. In the higher breezes, put the bridle wire in the top or 2nd from top hole. Some heavier skippers may want to go down to the 5th hole down but this is not recommended as the boat was designed to have a lot of mast rake.
2.RIG TENSION: Snug enough to allow the mast to rotate to 110 degrees off the wind.
3.TRAVELER POSITION: Upwind; 2-3" from center works very well to make the boat go very fast upwind in all but heavy air. Drop the traveler 5-8" to go fast in the breeze!
Downwind; drop the traveler down to the inner hull shear in all
conditions. In a following sea (surfing), put the traveler at the
hiking strap and play the mainsheet. The 17 will do the wildthing but if it flies to high, the wing will dig and slow you down.
4.MAST ROTATION: Point the rotator at the daggerboard hole
upwind for high pointing. All the way to 100-110 degrees for
downwind. 80-90 degrees for reaches.
5.BATTEN TENSION: Just take the wrinkles out and stand up the battens in the comptip area, no more!
6.DAGGERBOARDS: All the way down upwind (class measurement) when flying a hull. In marginal hull flying conditions, raise the windward board. 2" down downwind to just fill the entire board slot.
7.OUTHAUL: Tight when you are upwind except in lumpy waves then ease 2". 4" out for a reach. All the way out downwind.
8.DOWNHAUL: Upwind; slight wrinkles in light air progressively applying downhaul as the wind increases. Downwind, ease up 1" unless there are already slight wrinkles along the luff.

So there you have it! The 17 is a wonderful boat to sail especially from the wings on the trapeze. Enjoy these race proven settings!!

BOB CURRY

1987 and 1988 Hobie 17 National Champion
1987 and 1988 Hobie 17 MidWinters East Champion

Thanks Bob....Great information. I'll send it out to all the H17 sailors in my address book...Dan