my boat is currently upside down with the keels rebuilt. (spot the odd one out - http://imp.spodding.com/images/CRW_1721_RJ.jpg )

I am trying to fix a wobble in the starboard pylon/casting joint. I've pulled the hull off the frame and everything looks ok. On my boat, but on none of the others in the club, on both of the starboard pylons there is a pin running fore-aft through the casting and pylon. is this normal, or has someone tried fixing this before? I believe it is actually rocking on this pin.

what would people suggest? I was going to shim the socket with polypropelene shims (ok, bits of milk bottle) as that worked really well to take the rudder/tiller slop out, but might not work so well with something which will be loaded. I guess I could epoxy the joint, and guess I could go all the way and epoxy the whole frame together too as the boat is way flexable.

what would you guys suggest?

Glue the boat together (as long as you never need to take it apart).

Do a seach on these forums and you can find lots of advice on how to do it.

it seems like there has got to be a better way to make the frame solid than glue it together. I read about it all the time and everyone usually says it is good though. But then what if you DO end up having to take the boat apart? It seems like it would be better if there were some really hardcore bolts that you could torque down really hard when it's together to hold everything firm. but alas, there aren't......

Actually i was just at a regatta where this guy put some 3/8" bolts through the back of the castings into a small peice of metal he inserted in between the pylon and the foam.He tapped some threads into the metal then tighened the bolt into it.Said what it does is pulls the castings tighter to the pylons.Seems to work,not sure if it is class legal or not

The Pin... I think this is some homemade DYS project. I would not expect that the way the pin is installed that it will do much about the flex issue.
Once you remove the corner castings it is very interesting to see how much aluminum has been rubbed off on the pylons. It is reasonable to assume that the a similar amount has rubbed off on the castings as well. In side the casting it is kind of more difficult to tell.
I do not like the idea of permanently epoxying the corner castings to the pylon - it is a good idea in terms of getting the flex out - but it is very permanent.
I shimmed my boat with brass sheet metal. I did not use the kit that Hobie sells. I used full sleeves. Got that stuff for $5 at a local sheet metal place. It worked well – very little flex now. I also replaced a good number of rivets - corner casting to x bar. Especially the one in the rear gets flexible. The X bar in the front seems to have a lot less flex - might be the dolphin striker design.
Bolting the castings to the pylons… The before describe way seems like a possible solution – since some type of spreader was installed inside the pylon. IIRC the corner castings cannot handle much pressure / torque. A good indicator for that is that the hobies originally had nylon nuts holding the corner casting and the pylon together.

Patrick Koch

Has anyone just tried some binding tape on the pylons?