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Reply to: Hobie 17 conversion to Sport with Spreaderbar

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[quote=texastuma]I have been running a bow foil on a Prindle 19 and modified 18-2 for over 30 years now. Even with the bigger bows of the Prindle than the H17, the foil submerges in waves a lot. In lake flat water, not as much of an issue. If you feel you can tolerate it, go for it and try it out. Worst case is you rebuild some wires and acquire new hardware. Currently, on the modified 18-2, I built Dyneema loops to raise the foil about 6" off the deck. I have experimented with different heights and the 6" works best for the Gulf Coast. I will still bury the whole foil at times going through waves. Galveston Bay chop can be pretty nasty (just ask the A-Class guys who attended our last Worlds). The other factor is visibility under the jib. I have one jib the is high clew and one that is a deck sweeper. I always feel like a long tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs when I use the big jib; it's hard to see to leeward. In the past, I have used wire with thimbles (nicro sleeves and swage fittings, turnbuckles, chain, and shroud adjusters. The problem with the wire and thimbles is when raising and lowering the mast, the weird angles and positions the foil gets placed in starts to wear the wire at the nicro sleeve points. Eventually, the outer strands start to break. I have had turnbuckles bind up from sailing downwind and the forestay going loose. The turnbuckle bound up at the toggle and when we went upwind, it just tore the TB apart.[/quote]

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