Winter storage for the trampoline

A good friend of mine (wheelchair bound)asked me to help him store his Hobie 16 for the winter. We have no choice but to leave the hulls and tramp. outside and he told me that that trampoline has to be slackened a bit for the winter but he doesn't know how much. I'm sure that this would allow for contraction of the material in the cold weather so I'd like to know "How much slack should I give to the trampoline?"

Thanks for your help.

Robert

i wouldnt even leave it on, take it off the frame

We finally got the trampoline off today. Thanks for the input.

Robert

I've never heard of loosening or removing a trampoline for the winter-time. The frame actually has quite a bit of give. Once you take it off you've got to get it back on correctly. The distance from the port bow to starboard stern must match the distance from starboard bow to port stern.

In areas that receive heavy snow, removing the tramp keeps the snow weight from piling up. In warmer areas I never hear about any special winter preparations, I don't even cover mine anymore, because I've had more trouble with covers than they were worth.

I live in Minnesota and take my tramp off in the late fall. I leave the rest of the boat assembled, with the mast up. I keep the boat away from the shore enough to stay away from the ice push. This approach has worked well for me. Just be sure you have all the water out of you hulls, before it freezes.

With that being said,... After a violent wind storm put a tree on top of my garage and scattered my roof shingles in the neighborhood, I was amazed to find my Hobie 16 untouched by the +100 mph winds. My house must of wind-shadowed the boat that was sitting unsecured on its special dock. I was lucky, THIS TIME.

As I like to plan ahead, I thought, "I need a back-up Hobie, ready to go incase disaster strikes." Why dare missing any sailing?

I kept an eye on the want-ads, and eventually found a Hobie 16 for $800. Located at a nearby lake, I checked it out. The boat had been sitting outside for at least 15 years and had only been used twice when first purchased. The sails were stored indoors and were in BEAUTIFUL shape.

Oh, but the boat looked awful. Mildew and lichens were everywhere. A check of hulls showed, despite their appearance, they were extremely solid and in great shape. I figured, after 15 years, the tramp was shot. Besides, who cares about the tramp,...the sails by themselves were worth the $800, as were the solid hulls.

I brought the boat back home. I got a hose, a sturdy brush, a bucket of soap, and began to clean. The hulls scrubbed out beautifully and looked in wonderful shape. I was proud of my clever purchase.

Then I thought, what the hell, I've still got soap,...why not try scrubbing the tramp? It will just probably rip or fall apart, but I'll have to take it off anyway. I scrubbed and scrubbed. Thick masses of lichens began to relent. The more I scrubbed, the more amazed I became. This tramp make be OK. More soap and scrubbing revealed a trampoline that looked almost new. There was no apparent rot anywhere!
Outdoor storage didn't hurt this tramp.

Well, I still wouldn't recommend leaving a tramp out side all winter. Its foolish not to be careful about such things. But maybe the Hobie 16 is foolproof!

In Australia I find the biggest problem with is not winter but summer when the sun eats out the threads in the tramp, not to mention giving the ropes a hard time. All in all though the hobie 16 proves pretty tough.

My guess would be sunlight is the number one enemy of tramps. In Austrailia, you have that pesky ozone hole that lets even more damaging UV light eat away at the tramps. UV and plastic is a bad combination. Hopefully Hobie puts UV inhibitors in their plastics.