sailing my new boat for the first time and every time I let off the tiller my boat wanted to point right into the wind and fast.
Sorry, my boat H16 88, I had the shrouds down to 4th hole, the forestay at the first hole with just one shackle, rudder system i do not know. I did have trouble with the rutters keeping them locked in the up position when beached.
edited by: dewy2437, May 26, 2010 - 11:01 PM
how to overcome weather helm?
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Posted: May 26, 2010 - 09:03 PM
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Posted: May 26, 2010 - 09:24 PM
Knowing the type of boat and rudder system would be helpful. Likely the rudders were not all the way down or the mast was raked back too much. If the problem isn't one of those two things it becomes more complicated and more info is needed.
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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted: May 26, 2010 - 10:27 PM
Did you use the jib?
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Rob
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Posted: May 27, 2010 - 09:35 AM
I found quite a good writeup on weather helm on this site. I had to read it several times, & think about some of the points made to get full understanding of the concepts.
Here is the link.
http://www.thebeachcats.com/Article15.html
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Posted: May 27, 2010 - 01:35 PM
I tried everything when my old H16 had major weather helm I read all the stuff online and at hobies website but still had the problem. So one day I was reading a old sailing book and it was talking about the sail shape and how to adjust the pocket in the sail so I bought a 3:1 downhaul for the main sail and when I added more downhaul to my sail bingo my weather helm was gone!
edited by: fa1321, May 27, 2010 - 12:45 PM -
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Posted: May 27, 2010 - 05:49 PM
Actually that makes sense to me, since you are trying to unload the rudders a bit, flattening the sail and allowing the leech to twist off a bit will move the moment center forward. Similar to what happens when you derake your mast, something you don't want to do on an H16 because of it's tendancy to bury the bows.
Dewy, you will probably have the standard hobie rudders. I'm not sure about the adjusments on them (I'm not a hobie guy) but when down they should be straight up and down or slightly tucked under the hulls. That's the first thing to check.
Next you can try and move your shrouds up a notch and tighten the forestay to reduce mast rake. But like I said above you want some mast rake on an H16 because it likes to dive the bows and you don't want to be hanging off the back of the boat to balance it if possible. If you find a tendancy to bury the bows rake it back to where you had it.
Like FA1321 says a simple adjustment is to reef on whatever downhaul you have to flatten the sail. Likely you just have a 2:1, so you may have to use some serious force to get the sail flat. Failing that you can look into getting a more powerful downhaul but if it is the stock sail I wouldn't go higher than a 4:1 because the sail luff probably wasn't designed for the more modern high powered downhauls. I didn't realize the difference until I got my new sail and couldn't roll it due to the stiff bolt rope and reinforcing.
Lastly realize that all of the these adjustments are subtle!! Adjust the rudders a bit at a time, adjust the shrouds one pin at a time and try them out. You will find that small changes can make a big difference.
D.
edited by: Wolfman, May 27, 2010 - 05:02 PM
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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted: May 28, 2010 - 10:34 AM
The 3:1 downhaul is cheap basically its just a single block with a becket you tie your rope to the becket run the rope thru the middle of the cleat then back up thru the block and down again and you have a 3:1 downhaul that will allow you to get the sail tighter. The hobie rudder rake adjustment is on the top of the tiller handles its just an allen screw that allows you to slide the plate back and forth where it touches the cams which adjust the rudders rake the some of the older hobies did not have this adjustment if yours doesnt its a worthy upgrade. -
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Posted: May 29, 2010 - 09:32 AM
thank you everyone for your help and words of experience. -
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Posted: Oct 12, 2010 - 09:55 PM
Hey thanks for replying this past summer was awesome sailing. I started to pitch-pole more towards the end of summer. I had my shrouds at the 4th hole the forestay just in the very end. Is there a way to offset pitch-pole other than shifting weight aft? -
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Posted: Oct 12, 2010 - 11:49 PM
did you fix your helm issues? if so how?
there isn't much you can do for the pitching nature of an h16 as far as i know.
weight position is huge on all cats for speed, but on h16's it's critical to stay dry.
many modern designs have much more volume in the bows to handle the bows diving in, and few if any have an overlapping decklid ... also many raceboats have footstraps on the sterns to give you footing while driving the bows down. none of that helps u but shows that weight placement is the answer on all cats -
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Posted: Oct 12, 2010 - 11:57 PM
Don't you fix your helm by adjusting the bolts on the rudder castings??
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Tyler holmes
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Posted: Oct 13, 2010 - 05:59 PM
You can to some extent to rake your rudder differently and it can help but weather helm is not just that. Mast rake and Jib no jib can determine if the wind tries to turn your boat leeward or windward. You want it to push Windward just a bit but not too much. Adjusting the rudders can help the Rudder tug that can be caused by weather helm.
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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
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Posted: Oct 13, 2010 - 06:27 PM
Ohhhh, okay...thanks.
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Tyler holmes
Panama city, FL
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