I just got an excellent Hobie 16. 22 years old and just like new. I sailed it at Hatteras in Pamlico sound many times in the last 10 weeks. It is a great boat but for my situation I am making a few changes. I sail out of a canal into the sound. I put an electric motor just behind the mast and the battery in a cooler rack. The motor is pushed down for use and comes up between the tramp lacing just under the boom for sailing. This works great to getin and out. The motor pushes it 5mph and goes a long way on a small tractor battery. Only problem is I would like to go in and out the canal with the sails completely down. The jib falls in the water when lowered on the water. I am thinking of putting a net between the hulls to catch the jib. Another possibility would be a furling setup. I would like to try the net first. Another problem is the main. When down,it and the boom lay across the tiller. I am thinking of running a rope from the top of the trapeze wire to the back end of the boom. The line would be be tied to the mast base when sailing and be hooked to the boom when the sails are lowered. The boom would be held up and the sails could be held off the deck then motoring. I would like this boat to be easy to control in a canal situation.
I was very impressed with the boat. I had it up to 17mph on a GPS in maybe 20mph winds. It sails into the wind better than any sailboat I have ever been on. Pamlico sound has a wide varity of steady wind speeds with small waves. You can pick how hard you want to sail by chosing your day. Any suggestions for better sail handling would be appreciated.
Also I found it hard to latch and unlatch the main sail at the hook at the mast top. It seems like it would work better if the hook was farther down the mast. It would make the angle of the cable required to latch and unlatch less forward and I would think easier. Again, in a canal I want to get the sails up and down fast and with no trouble.

the rolling jib will be the easist, fastest. the hook is hard for everybody so dont feel bad about it. i have no ideas about the boom i sail in lakes all day with no canals

I'm not sure if this would help or even work, but it may be worth a try:

Loosely reef your main sails with a spare line. By reefing I mean completely bundle the sail, not just use the grommets part way up. Then use your main halyard and attach it to the rear end of the boom. Then hoist it up to normal height and cleat the bitter end to your mast. You could center the boom and cleat the main traveler, and use your main blocks to hold it tight and maybe help a little with the boom swinging around.

I don't know if any one has made an all metal halyard and moved the hook to the base of the mast. I don't know if this would help with raising the sails on the water, but keep in mind this would defeat the purpose of the comp tip and complete the electrical path down the mast; it doesn't really matter though if you don't have the comp tip. I imagine this may change how the mast bends and don't really know how this would change the physics of the boat.

Get the furler system, I've used these on an TheMightyHobie18 and it is a great way to dump power for situations where you don't want to be flying down the canal.

Good luck,

Adam

Does the 18 use the hook system? Has anyone improved the hook system ? Maybe a hook with a loop to guide the halyard. If you pull down and towards the mast it locks, pull down and push out and it unlocks. The halyard now sometimes hits the hook and somtimes not. I don't have the boat where I can check it but will a 1/4" low stretch rope fit through the upper pulley, run down the side of the mast and be tied off at the bottom? That seems a lot easier than the hook. Has anyone installed a "lasy jack" main sail management system on a hobie 16? That would hold up the boom and sails when motoring.

I don't think you want lazy jacks but you probably want a topping lift. A topping lift holds the boom up when you drop the sail. Usually you slack off the topping lift once the sail is up to keep it from interfering with the shape of the sail. In my catboat (monohull) the topping lift runs from the **** to a cheek block at the bottom of the mast, up the mast to cheek block a few feet below the top of the mast. It then fastens to the boom a few feet in from the end. It is cleated in the ****. I would expect you would have the sail furled and have a couple of ties holding it (the ties are called gaskets).

I have seen people raise an H-16 sail and tie it off on the cleat without hooking it (mostly by mistake) and it worked. Can you beach the boat at the end of the canal before you start sailing? If so, that would make it easy to hook the sail before going out.

Howard

I have thought of a fixed pulleys or even just fairleads mounted on each side of the mast just above the jib with light lines running to the end of the boom. Either slacked off when sailing or disconnected from the boom and fastened to the mast base. They would be tigitened just before the sail came down. The sail would fall between the ropes and be somewhat controlled. There is no place either coming in or going out to beach. I need to be able to get the sails up on the water.

What you are describing is lazy jacks. I have them on my catboat as well, not adjustable but loose enough not to interfere with sail shape and still control the sail. My sail is much bigger that an H-16 sail. The catboat boom is about 20' long and the boat is only 18'. I also have a topping lift. I know of some people who have adjustable lazy jacks so they can double as a topping lift.

One problem you might run into is that the downhaul would have to be slack or you wouldn't be able to get the sail locked at the top of the mast or unlocked to drop it.

Ideally it would be best to sail off the beach. I found how to get the boat on the beach at Emerald Isle last year and had a fantastic week sailing there.

Howard

As far as moving the hook goes. Be careful. If you move it low it might interfere with the jib which would tear up the leech of the jib. Moving it lower than the jib will put in a spot that could hurt someone. Imagine falling on it or flying into it during a pitchpole.

i was going to start a new thread but then i saw this and i guess ill just ask my question here. I finally got the boat in the water, hobie 14, and i was noticing that it seemed to want to burry the hull more than i remember. I pitchpoled last year and i dont really want to that again. Does this mean i have to much rake or too little? I can't rember what to do(or even if that soles the problem).

sorry for my last post, posted twice in a differnt thread by accident.

Mako,
Could you post pics of how you mounted the motor and battery? If not, could you send a couple to fastcat@sbcglobal.net ?

Thanks!

Motor is a 24# Minnkota. It is attached to a piect of 6"long 6"by6"By 1/2" fiberglass angle attached to the Dolphin striker.I don't use the tilt, just slide it up and down.

May I suggest this for a solution.

Get the furler system for the jib. Much easier and very handy when you want to depower in a hurry.

For the main sail and boom I would do the following.

Near the end of your boom rivit a padeye on both sides of it about 3 inches in from the end.

When rigging the boat get the mainsail started in the track a few inches. Have the foot fully insterted into the boom. Don't tighten the downhaul. At the padeyes now on the end of your boom, tie a line about 12" long onto both of them forming a "handle". Use no more than 1/4" dia line. Attach the end of the main halyard to this handle with the shackle. Using the halyard, raise the end of the boom to the desired height and cleat.

Next, move the main traveler to the center and sheet in until the end of the boom doesn't swing side to side very much.

Now, flake the main sail onto the boom and fix with gaskets. Flaking is when you fold the sail onto itself in a zigzag pattern so when you raise it, it unfolds like an accordian.

All you have to do to finish raising the main when you are out of the canal is to undo the gaskets, move the main halyard end to the tack of the sail, loosen the main sheet, raise the sail, tighten the down haul, and unfurl the jib. You are now ready to sail in about 2 minutes. Reverse teh process for coming back in.