I don't believe I did that.

[Brian]

Not wrong Changeman.
Have any of you good people seen ther Utube fella trying to launch from the beach and making a complete meal of it? I am not belittling him here, I learnt so much by watching that.
The biggest thing I saw strait up is that you have to be organised when launching.
Tha's why it took my mate Kim (his first time out) and I (my third),, 3 attemps to launch in the Australind Estury.
We had a 6 knot breeze coming from the left, a concrete boat ramp to our right and the boss with kind words of encouragement.
"If you hit that ramp and scratch it, I will kill the pair of you".
We missed the ramp, but we did wind up blown gently back onto the shore. Everybody out.
Second time, we pointed the TI into the wind. It would have been a great launch. except, I forgot to put the rudder down, it was still up with the bungee around it. "I was kind of wondering about that that" says me mate.
Third time lucky. Pointed her into the wind, I got in the front, my mate pushed us out a bit, in he got, a couple of strokes with the oar, pulled on the sheet rope and we were off.
The wind picked up to about 10 knots later. We had a ball, pitty about the gallons of water comming off the bow. Might have to invest in some skirts.

[Brian]

I have had a bit of a rudder issue whith my TI. It was probably operator error at first. To turn the rudder was a wrestling match to a wrist wrenching exercise.
After the second time out and the rudder controls being impossibly tight to turn either way, I gave the rudder down haul a good hard pull. My mate said "That's it, you fixed it". The rudder moved much more freely now, but we had less rudder turning control and a heap of slop in the tiller controls.. Short story, we had stretched the rudder strings..
I gave Brett at Windrush Yachts a call and he got me sorted over the phone. On ya Brett.
I loosened both rudder string anchor screws, squared the rudder controls, squared the rudder, pulled the strings firm and tightened down the screws. All done,,,,,,,,,, so I thought.
YESTERDAY,, Sunday. Jeanne and I took the TI for a swim in Bunbury Harbour. Review for the Bunbury ramp soon.
We climbed aboard and headed out to the harbour proper. Got told off for being on the wrong side of the channel (blush),
15 knots plus, choppy and great fun,,,, except there was a lot of traffic, moored boats and things to dodge. It wasn't that congested 30 years ago I can tell you, the last time I sailed here.
BUT, a good wet time had by all. Time to head back to the ramp. I have the sheet rope, Jeanne has the rudder. There is 200 feet between two warfs, rocks and a verry small beach.then more rocks, then open sea,,,,,, allmost no rudder control. The warf on our left is falling down and marked off with floating Keep away markers and a light weight 1.5 meter bouy with a light on it. We run it down with the port arkas.
It is about now I politely ask Jeanne,
"For @#$% sake ,,, hard to starbord,, turn hard !@#$%^& right".
To which she demurely informs me "I can't,, there is no !@#$%^& rudder".
Oh crap. OK, no more husband wife now. Me captain, you one step above cabin boy.
Furl the sail NOW. Man the peddles, grab an oar. We are just entering the 200 M gap between the two warves, the boat channel, no rudder, boats coming, one behind us about to pass, warf pilons beconing us and one small sandy beach to starboard with BIG rocks either side,,,,,,,, easy. head for the beach, about 100 meters away. Long story short. We made the beach peddling hard and usiNg the oars in reverse (paddleing backwards) to point the TI.
The left hand ruuder control string had decided we haven't had enough excitement for today yet. It came loose, verry loose.

There is this very good web site. One of the headings says :"NEVER SAY DIE"!
http://www.members.westnet.com.au/photo ... /links.htm
So,,, no tools,,, what to do.
I squared the stearing controls, squared the rudded, wrapped the strearing string twice around the screw, fed the rudder holder up bungee around the joined strings and attached that to the bolard thingy on the deck.




It got us back to the ramp, but it was still pretty dodgy. We had minimal rudder control.

[fishinJoe]

So Brian, after all that what was the cause of the sticky / tight rudder in the first place? did you get it worked out?
JW.

[Brian]

G'Day Joe.
I don't know. The TI has been in the water 6 times now.
The first time, the rudder, rudder controls or the steering handles were rely stiff, but I did not have a solid pull on the rudder down toggle.
The second time out, the rudder was siff as, with a little bit of steering slop. When I got home, I ran my hands along the steering controls, rudder handle set up, checked rudder pin, all seamed fine. Out of the water, everything worked fine.
Third time out, it was realy stiff. My mate and I were out this time. After about 1/2 an hour of near twisting the stearing handles to snaping, I gave the down toggle a real hard pull, to its full length of travel.
"Fixed it" came the instant reply. So I went fromn stressing out the steering controls to fully tensioning the down rudder toggle. All didn't seem right still. Now the steering toggles are not opperating in line or giving full rudder turn. When I got home, I rang Brett at Windrush yachts and he was at a loss what could have been the problem. But he told me how to re tension the rudder strings and that fixed the steering slop and aligned the steering handles.
Next time out was Bunbury harbvour. A good pull on the rudder down toggle, steering good. Then the string came loose on the left string anchor nut.
Yesterday, I re aligned the handles, re tensioned the steering lines and SCREWED DOWN THE SCREWS WITH MALITIOS INTENT!
So, Off to Potters George. Great day in 15 knots plus, best speed 11 kph. Second last tack of the day. aiming straight at the bank, 50 yards out, turn. Turn bro turn. "I am."
CRAP! "FURL SAIL NOW! GRAB AN OAR. PADDLE BACKWARDS",,,,, over the side, grab Aka dig in heels GENTLE NUDGE.
My brother says "I like this sailing, i'm soaking wet, you try to kill me and now we have to swim this thing across the river".
"Not today bro" I tell him.
The left rudder string had com loose again.
I did the same again and used a 1/2 furled sail and gentle rudder to get back to the trailer.
So, is the steering fixed? I don't know yet. I will reset the controls, screw things down tight again, try again. If it comes loose again, I will put another nut and screw back at the rudder and double anchor it, both sides.
The steering is no longer stiff, now I pull rudder down control tightish. But it is a bit of a worry. I will take it back to Brett and let him look it over. The first two sails, I wouldn't be surprised if something isn't bent under there, but I can't feel anything wrong.
Will let you all know what happens.
Brian.

[ChangeMan]

I think some people are just so far West of it, they don't know how to sail

Seriously though, part of the rudder is forward of the centre of pivot, when down completely.
Just like the control surfaces on aircraft, this is like power steering and the forward movement gives some power to turning the rudder.
So, if the rudder isn't fully down, there may not be any rudder forward of the centre of pivot.
This would make it difficult to turn and stress the lines etc.
There is a thread on the US site about tieing the lines in a certain way but it sounds like you need to find the cause.
On my TI I give the rudder downhaul a swift but not strong pull and I listen for a thump which indicates it is fully down.

Hope you get it sorted and I won't say keep us posted as some things in life are a given

[Brian]

G'Day brian, Thanks for that, I will track down the American site.
One of the joys of owning a red Hobie. They not only go faster, you can steer them too.

[Brian]

G'Day all.
We went out to Potters George last week. I re set the rudder strings, just for good measure,,, and Jeanne and I had a great day out. No problems with the rudder, no water in the hull. It was a light wind day. Best speed 8.5 KPH, worst speed dead stop. It was a gentle wind day with 45 degree wind shifts. The only things that got wet were our bums.
So, the water in the hull problem apears to be hatches. We are going out sailing tomorrow (Sunday), I hope the wind picks up.

Next Friday, we are going to Perth to have Brett at Windrush Yatchs chech out the steering and hatch covers.
Saturday, we will be sailing on the Swan River,,,,,,,,,,, somewhere.

Stay tuned

Brian W.,A.

[Mav]

G'Day all.
No problems with the rudder, no water in the hull.
Brian W.,A.

Good to hear you have sorted the little problems out Brian, happy sailing mate.

[Brian]

G'Day Mav. It seems to be fixed. We sailed Potters George today, just got home about an hour ago. The rudder diodn't mioss a trick. We were practicing 360s, upwind, down wind. cross wind,,,,, had the whole river to ourselves. It was blowing 15 to 0 knots. When it was good, it was great. I just finnished hosing the TI down, letting it drip dry.
Off to Perth Friday. We are going to dip the TI in the Swan River. Should be fun.

Brian.

[Brian]

G'Day all. I have something you all need to try. While puting the TI in the car port in bare feet, you need to run over your big toe with the dolly wheel. It is a treat you all must try,,,,,, once, just so you can say you have ticked that one off your to do list. You will certainly know you are alive.

[ChangeMan]

I tried a capsize to see if I could recover.

Well that wasn't the reason, I was trying to catch a mate in his TI, had too much sail out for the gust, to his lee and couldn't turn away. Had to turn to windward to depower and release the main. All a bit too late though and clipped the back of his TI with my starboard ama.

As per the design, the pin sheered, the ama folded in and over we went all in I'm sure less that a second. All would have been well but I had unceremoniously dunked my wife.

Interesting situation, life jacket under my chin (must add a crutch strap), waterproof pants full of water and breathable sailing jacket not doing much breathing. The Port amas was up in the air as the TI had tipped on the side but not right over. I think the sail stopped it going all the way as we were in a dredged channel that was probably about 2m deep. But all was well as my iphone was running navionics and recording our no movement. Should have taken a photo but a bit busy trying to recover before we drifted to the shallows.

So the solution. I always carry a couple of spare ropes in the small mesh compartments so I tied both ropes to the now vertical port aka, just above the arm that holds it out. Threw the ropes over the hull, swam around and wife and I put our feet on the ama in the water and leaned back on the ropes. It took some effort but over it came. Once it starts it comes over quickly. The mast was out of the step before trying this as I couldn't furl it completely and thought it would be easier without it. A challenge putting it back when it wasn't rolled up tight and was wet but it went in without me falling in.

A couple of lessons.
Have a device to undo the spare sheer bolt and replace (thank goodness Hobie attached the spare).
Ensure everything has a chicken strap, including the Hobie drink bottles (took a while to find the one which got away).
Attach a half inch rope to each aka with a loop or two in the right place for next time.
Don't get too close to objects to the windward - if overpowered in gusts you can't turn to lee.
Stay fit as rolling into the TI is hard work.
Purchase a rope ladder to assist getting into the TI with wet clothes.

Will the TI roll completely? Maybe not as the sail will stop it, unless you pitch pole.
I'm confident of getting it back up on my own if on its side but would find it hard work if completely over.
No doubt the mast or step would be damaged in a pitch pole.
In this instance, no damage to either boat so that designed sheer works well.
Just a little damage to pride but ended up sailing back and conducting a debriefing (couple of hours at a local pub that makes a very nice milk stout).

[Brian]

OUCH! Rolling the TI over is a minor problem,,,,,,, but dunking the Missus,,,,,,,,,,, Dog house for you.

[Brian]

G'Day all.
We sailed the Swan River and had a ball. It was great fun stalking the hire cats and passing them.
The rudder behaved its self and all went well, but I had a screw driver on board just in case.
Josh at Windrush Yachts gave the TI a once over and re set the rudder lines. I had them too tight.

We sailed Potters last Saturday and stiull no rudder problems, but I have a screw driver with me just in case.
Brian W.A.

[Brian]

Compounding a minor chalenge with stupidity.

My TI lives in the double carport beside the car. The carport is at the top of a relative steep gravel driveway. I say relative, because when moving the TI on the trailer, so long as one is relatively organised, I can carefuly man handle the trailer down the slope with a bit of brute force to stop the whole lot getting away, turn the trailer 90 degrees to Port and park it on the grassy area out the way while I do something.. I have done this a few times with no problem.
Yesterday was a different story.
To my right is a lime stone wall just begging me to loose control and scrape the hull or arma along it. To my left are rose bushes for a couple of meters, then a grassy area with a small hump near the edge of the gravel driveway.
But wait, there's more. To add to the challenge, at the end of the grass area there is a rock wall just waiting for the rudder to crash into it.
But that's not all. The right hand edge of this grass area, drops off about 2 meters in a hurry into the bush.
Now, you avoid all the obstacles by keeping a solid control over the trailers' momentum, direction and turn the trailer in a controlled manner 90 degrees onto the grass and stop the whole thing from running into the rock wall. Plenty of room.
So, I have a solid grip on the jocky wheel, start the trailer moving, miss the car port post,, good. Wheels now on the gravel slope, lean back a little and keep a solid pull to control the speed,,,, good, all under control.
Pass the roses,, safe from the wrath of the missus.
maintain pull, control speed and start the trailer turning left whilst not slipping in the gravel. All is good.
The left tyre comes up against the hump and stops,,,, but no one told the right wheel to stop. The trailer starts to pivot around. CRAP. Hold on and dig in. I am now sliding down the drive on my boots pulling backwards with a death grip on the dolly wheel. All of us are gathering speed.
But, no problem. I just have to hang on until the pivot ends, no worries.
Now,,,,,,, it is about this time, when I am thinking, "I got this,,, all under control,,,, no worries",,,, when the left hand wheel decides to assist me in my struggle and climb over the hump. The right hand pivoting ceased imediately, the great amount of controlling leverage I was applying disappeared and the bloody tow hitch came back at me and the dolly wheel tried to run me down.
Remember that 2 meter drop. The trailer is now trying to go over the edge,,,, sideways.
I lost my grip on the tow hitch, but I still have a death grip on the dolly wheel. I know this because I am on my side in the gravel looking up. I said "Goodness gratious me, this is an interesting predicament".
If the trailer goes over the edge, death awaits me,,,,,,,,,, the wife will kill me. Motivation enough. I had a heart to heart chat with the trailer.
"STOP YOU BARSTARD"!
It did. The trailer had about a 15 degree lean on it, the right hand tyre was over the shoulder of the drop and a fare bit of the rudder end was looking out over the edge.
I gingerly relaxed my grip on the dolly wheel, picked myself out of the dust, ran for the wheel chocks in the car port, dashed back and chocked the trailer. To my relief, all is well.
Well,,,, not quite. Whilst I am standing on the edge of the drive way dusting myself down and thanking my lucky stars, who should turn into the drive after night shift at the hospital? The boss.
"What happened"
"Nothing"
"You nearly lost the boat over the edge"
"No I didn't. I parked it there in a controlled manner".
"I can see that by the dirt, dust and blood".
Thusly, the reason I married a nurse.

Brian W.A.

[Brian]

I think this Truckie might be in trouble. He has bent the trailer. Wait till hobie finds out.

[Brian]

I have a bright green arm rest off of a caming chair. It has an eyelet in one end. This bright green piece of nylon has a short length of nylon webbing with a plastic snap thingy that clips arount the rear seat strap on the TI.
"WHAT'S IT FOR"! I here you all chorus as one. Good question.
It is there to remind me to check all the drain plugs before putting the TI in the water.
Guess which drain plug I left out yesterday while we went for a peddle on the local river 5 minutes from our place.
The TI was really heavy trying to wheel it up to the car, then the boss saw the water pouring out of the back of the hull.
It was all Jeannes' fault because she was the captain for the day and she should have checked,,,, right.
NNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR! Didn't work for me either, another lost argument.
Tell you wot though,,,,,,,,, the TI cart handled it well. Really taxed the balloon tyres.
Brian W.A.

P.S. Still not as good as Brians' capsize. I would have loved to have seen that. I wonder if he is still in the dog house after dunking the missus.

[ChangeMan]

In the interest of WA not hogging this forum (there's a challenge) I'll tell you about what I did wrong.
Mm, since the capsize absolutely nothing.
Well, maybe dragging the outboard motor and mount over 4,000 km in 46 degree heat to QLD and back and not using it once.
The winds were up each day on the Sunshine Coast, albeit flukey and gusty.
I still haven't learnt how to sail when the wind indicator is doing 360.
So there you go Brian.
Can't have a Brian hogging the site

[Brian]

ROFL.
Good one Brian. We have the Aus Day Canoe In this Saturday. Hopefully there will be a heap of canoes, kyaks,,,, and a heap of AIs and TIs from West Oz.
Either way, The boss and I will have a great day sailing.
It is going to be a hot one though. 32 ish ,,, a heap of sun screan, long sleeved shirt, jeans and a wrap around hat for me.
Brian W.A.

http://www.members.westnet.com.au/phototouchup/australiaday.htm

Have a great Oz Day.

[Brian]

The dumb things we do. I never even gave it a thought, but I broke it.

We were sailing in a new spot for the first time (see Boat Ramps / Eaton) on the web page.

http://www.members.westnet.com.au/phototouchup/ramps.htm

We had been out for an hour, came back in for lunch. After lunch, we were off for another sail.
The TI is 1/2 parked on the beach half in the water, I lifted the front of the TI and started to push the boat off the beach, it didn't move at first. I thought it was just stuck in the sand, so I added a bit more push force. The Ti moved and then floated free.
I pointed the TI into the wind. Jeanne got in, I was about to get in when I noticed the rudder looked a bit strange.
It was sort of dangling behind at a strange angle.
I had snapped the rudder pin when I pushed the TI off the beach. It wasn't the hull that was stuck in the sand, it was the rudder.
When I added extra weight to get the TI back into the water, it finaly moved after the rudder pin snapped.
Lesson learnt. Put the rudder up.

[hobieadmin]

Hope you made it home without too much trouble.

[Brian]

G'Day Tony,
No problems there, thanks to Hobie having the foresight to put a spare rudder pin hanging under the back hatch. I replaced the pin and sailed away for another 2 hours. That reminds me. Need to order 2 new rudder pins and 3 spare hull bungs.

[Brian]

Yesterday I had the TI out sailing at a new spot at Eaton. It is in the estuary, it is salt water.
Hosing down the TI gets most of the salt and sand off, but a dunk in the river gives the ropes and sail a good rinse.
Out to the river I go, wheel the TI to the water, set up and sail around for a bit.
Then I removed the armas and arkas and dunked them in the river. I removed the sail and dunked it in the river. Then I turned the TI over and dunked seats and all. All salt flushed out of ropes, sail, and all.

I rolled the sail up and with much effort because the rolled sail was full of water, I set it in the TI, unfurled, and let it drain.
Now the wind is very light, no armas fitted yet,,,,,,, I wonder how stable the TI is with the sail mounted, no armas, light wind,, can I sail it without the whole thing going arse up.

I never got to find out about the sailing bit. To get into the TI, you have to at least drag your butt over the side and into the seat. This proved to be my undoing. As soon as I had half my weight on the edge of the hull and I went to put my feet on board,,,,,,,,,,,, the hull of course healed over a bit,,,,,,,,,, and the weight of the furled mast did the rest. I entered one side of the hull, and instantly exited the opposite side of the hull as the whole lot rolled over on its side, mast and me in the water.

I came up coughing and spluttering water, looking around to see who saw my masterful exit. As embarrassing moments go, you rarely get away with it without some one seeing it. There was more than one. I knew this by the laughter coming from the shore.

[tonystott]

I do believe you are living proof of the concept "taking one for the team"
I am sure your willingness to record such incidents will prevent others following suit!

I know I now don't unfurl the sail to set up the furling line while the TI is still on the trailer after extending the amas, as once or twice the single hull seemed ready to rotate in the trailer.

[Brian]

Nope, I haven't tried that one Tony.

Someone will decide "NNNNNAAAAAAAAA,,,,,, that can't be right. He is having a lend of us",, and give it a go.
Even if you get your butt safely into the seat, the size of the sail will quickly over power your opposite shifting of your body mass to counter the roll of the hull.
BUT, by all means, prove me wrong. I am sure it can be done in a steady light breeze. I shuold think 10 knots is doable. . Someone give it a go and write it up here. Can't wait for a good laugh. I am sure Brian is allowed back into the house by now, even though he is probably sleeping in the laundry. A man of his age and wisdom, should know you never accidentley dunk the missus and expect life to go on as normal. I WISH I HAD SEEN THAT!

[ChangeMan]

We took the TI and caravan to Lake Bonny at Barmera South Australia last weekend.
The Mrs must have forgotten the dunking and came out with me.
This time I didn't dunk her but the winds came up rather strong and was stressing those nylon aka bolts.
Perhaps I learnt my lesson as we went back to the van to contemplate over a few ales.
Winds got up to 61 kph and even though it was a short fetch, the waves were over 2 feet and lots of spray.
The next day it dropped to 40 k so out I went solo.
A real buz and I'm sure the fastest the TI has gone ever.
Did I have my GPS Navionics working?
Always the way and I was far to busy to set it up.

I had a little trouble cleating the furling line from the rear seat.
Not fun in those winds when it lets go to full sail.
I tied a 1" stainless ring to some cord, passed the furling sheet through it then passed the cord under the front aka and over to the back seat.
A quick yank on the cord firmly locked the furling sheet in the cleat.
Probably more sophisticated solutions but I had the cord and ring with me.

So overall a good weekend with no repairs to do and no dunking of the Mrs.
And the beer was cold.

[Brian]

That would have been an exciting ride Brian.

[GregLewis]

Here's a bit of info that may be of use......

The Arma people are an ethnic group of the middle Niger River valley, decended in part from Moroccan - Spanish invaders of the 16th century CE. The name, applied by other groups, derives from the Spanish word for firearms, which they introduced into the region.
The term ama is a word in the Polynesian and Micronesian languages to describe the outrigger part of a canoe to provide stability.

Arka (Hungary), is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary
The aka of a multihull sailboat is a member of the framework that connects the hull to the ama(s) (outrigger).

Just sayin'....

[Brian]

Greg,,,,, you have far too much time on your hand. Now go sailing.

[Brian]

Dumb things we do when we are tired.
We were on day 2 at Nornalup, been sailing all day, had the TI packed up and on he cart. All we have to do is pull the TI across the beach to the car park.
I had the front pulling and Jeanne was doing her best to help by pulling on the front arka to help the rolling motion up the bit of a sand slope. The cart stopped moving, I lost the grip on the front handle and did a face plant into the sand. I was not amused.
Jeanne came to the rescue. She told me to stop fooling around and get out of the way, she would pull, I had to push.
Now I tried the arka grab and push. It is really awkward, so I says, "Hang on a bit, I will push from the back".
Problem is, the rudder is in the way. No problem, I grab hold of the rudder blade, Jeanne pulled and I pushed. Everything went fine, until there was a snap sound. We got the TI to the trailer, loaded and tied down.
Then I checked the rudder for the damage. I knew exactly what it was as soon as I heard it. I snapped the rudder pin exactly bellow where the strings run over the top of the pin. It was a perfectly clean break.
I got the spare pin out of the spares bag and replaced it.
Morel of the story?

[tonystott]

Brian, for that job, I would use a simple knot instead. It might be harder to undo, but you will hardly ever need to undo it unless changing the sheet, in which case cutting it off it doable.