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[quote=DaveW70]On the Hobie 16, the original tiller tubes were bent upwards. This had the effect of keeping the tiller crossbar above the rear beam at all times regardless of whether the rudders were up or down.  According to Matt Miller of Hobie Cat, they went to straight tubes in the late 80's.  Having the crossbar above the rear beam when the rudders were up was somewhat of a nuisance when the boat was on the trailer as the mast had to be elevated more so as to not rest on the tiller crossbar.  I bought my first cat in December 1978; a new '79 H16 with Tequila Sunrise sails.  I have owned both a  '79 and '84 boats and they both had bent tiller tubes.  This seems to be a pretty minor change to me but likely eliminated a step in the manufacture of the boat.

The adjustable upper rudder castings were introduced in 1983. The rake adjustable castings have the bolt head on the top of the upper rudder casting.  The adjustable casting allows you to adjust the fore and aft rake (and easily remove fore/aft slop) of the rudder which affects the helm of the boat.  This was a very nice improvement in my opinion.  My '79 had fixed upper castings and my '84 has adjustable ones.

Note also, that if you check, the upper rudder castings are not interchangeable from port to starboard.  They should angle inward to allowing the inboard rudder to turn more sharply then the outboard rudder in turns.  This "Ackerman" effect is provided by the upper casting alone not the tiller tubes.  The bend in the old tiller tubes was upward only not inward.

Over the years Hobie has made a quite lot of refinements in the H16.  Many were seemingly minor.  But the total effect is significant and todays H16 is a much different animal then ones from the 70's or 80's.  There are reasons for the changes.  We just may not always know what they were.

Hope this helps.<em>Edited by DaveW70 on Jun 10, 2011 - 06:17 AM.</em> [/quote]

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