Was out off the Dunedin Causeway in Clearwater FL and got a little carried away enjoying some speed that was taking us out to sea. When we were about 5 miles out the old clew plate I had been meaning to replace broke in half.
We couldn't keep the boat pointed into the wind with the jib because of the constant waves so we ended up adrift for half an hour while we tried to hold the main to get enough speed to be able to sail with just the jib. Every time I got the boat pointed to the shore and tried to bring the jib in it would just push me back into irons.
I haven't been sailing that long and didnt think to try to get it pointed down wind to get some speed and then bear up to be on a close reach back to shore. Honestly I was getting pretty cold and exhausted just trying to not fall off the boat while attempting to reattach the main with some small line I had on board.
We eventually gave up on the main after it broke the line we rigged to try and hold it in. By that time we had enough forward motion that I could actually use the rudders and sail just by the jib. Took probably 45min to get back to shore. There were definitely a few times I almost put out a distress call as it was right at sunset and I was getting sea sick from all the waves a few times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBvk9RvPfo
H18 Mainsail clew rips off outhaul, almost goes over...got it on video
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 10:36 AM
Wow, that looked nasty
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Kenneth Purdy
Hobie 16
Nacra 5.2 (2)
Banshee
First Coast, Florida
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 11:07 AM
I think your first move should have been to furl the jib. I have found on my SC 15 that the boat will for reach with the main all the way out, sheet and traveler both. Then you might have been able to jury rig a main sheet.
On my main sail the stainless clew plate was originally riveted with brass rivets. The galvanic reaction between the two dissimilar metals aided by salt water trapped in the sail cloth caused the brass rivets to corrode and was degrading the clew plate. I replaced the brass rivets with aluminum rivets, bad call. The aluminum rivets started corroding within a season. I wised up and got some stainless steel rivets. I've had no further problems. I'm glad there were no further casualties. Here's the source for the rivets. I suggest buying the setting tools also. G0394992 Rivet Clincher
http://www.zoro.com/value…m_source=google_shopping
Edited by gahamby on Nov 20, 2015 - 12:09 PM.
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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 11:43 AM
Yea, my old brass rivets were toast when I bought the boat so I was using stainless screws on my clew plates. I have the excess threads cut off so its all flush so it can't poke me in a jibe or something. The new plates I ordered haven't come in yet but they looked either stainless or aluminum in the photo. You think it's worth switching back to rivots?
I actually ordered 2 sets of main clew plates and planned on doubling up on each side of the sail just to be sure this doesn't happen again. -
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 12:14 PM
I think one set of plates with matching rivets or bolts ought to do the trick. Two sets of plates might just move the strain elsewhere.
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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 01:35 PM
I think you should have put the boat "hove-to" after the clew plate broke. This is something that every sailor should know how to do. If you're not familiar with what is entailed, the process is very simple. You release the mainsheet completely (obviously this happened automatically when the clew fitting broke), then sheet the jib in tight using the jib cleat on the windward side of the boat (so the jib is sheeted to the "wrong side") and push the tiller all the way to leeward and hold it there. This will point the boat on a close reach heading and the boat will slowly claw its way forward.
The clew plate on the Hobie 18 should have either three or five holes to connect the outhaul fitting, so if one hole rips out, you should be able to pin the outhaul using one of the other holes. If you're not able to install the pin, then I think as an alternative, you could use a piece of line to lash the boom to the end of the bottom batten. I wouldn't sheet in real hard with the sail lashed like this, but it would probably be strong enough to get you to shore.
With three people on board, I would have had one person holding the rudder over hove-to and then one person holding the boom steady while the other connected the clew.
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 05:24 PM
Yea, what you describe is basically what happened. We ran into problems though. Due to the wave action, every time i got the boat pointed into the wind using the jib it would quickly fall off so we couldn't keep the main sail over the tramp for long. Then it was a case of every gust trying to pull the guy holding the main off the boat making for some interesting twister positions all 3 of us got in as we tried to steady the boom and the guy leaning out to the end trying to reattach the main.
The other 2 holes in the clew plate had not been punched through before so I stabbed through with a marlin spike I had but due to the stiffness of the sail the hole kept shrinking back making it difficult to actually fit a pin through. So we did as you described and used a small piece of line that I could actually get through the hole. At that point we had been fighting with the main and trying to not fall and were pretty tired. After 5min of sailing with the rope holding the sail it broke and we were just like, screw it, and my 2 buddies held the main by hand as tight as they could but we were mainly sailing by the jib all the way to shore. Props to my crew for burning out their hands holding the sail for 45min. It was worth an extra 2mph vs just the jib.
When we got to the shore and beached the boat I could actually get in the clew with a knife and cut away enough of the sail to get a clevis pin through. I also realized that what broke the line was it rubbing the edges of the outhaul bracket and what we should have done was wrap it under the whole boom since it was only like 3mm line and not very strong. All the other stronger line I had was too large to fit the clew hole.
What I'm going to do now is after I rig the boat I'm going to loop a strong piece of line through a spare clew plate hole and wrap it under the boom loosely as a safety catch. -
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 06:11 PM
I think that's probably a little overkill. Your sail is pushing 30 years old. You install a new clew fitting and you're likely good for another 30 years. Plus, if you punch out sail cloth for the other holes, you have backup positions for the pin if one of the holes fails. You could also keep a spare quick pin on board in the event that you need an easy to install pin for an emergency. Keep some extra line on board too. Anyway, you broke a part, it happens to all of us. Keep an eye on the clew plate hole, you will see a mark where the pin wears into the plate and you'll know when it's time to replace it. Personally I wouldn't go through the effort of tying the clew each time I sailed.
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 06:44 PM
Good job not capsizing initially when it broke.
And you got it on video! The old saying "Bad times make good stories" goes double for video!
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
How To Create Your Signature
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 06:45 PM
Yea no need to invent something to prevent this from happening again. Just fix it the way it would be when new. -
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 10:31 PM
Thats probably true, the old plates had just gotten a bit worn down over the years.
I think I might have filmed about 3-4 minutes the whole day because it had just been a bit rough as far out as we typically were. Just lucky I had the camera out when it happened. Makes for a funny video watching my buddy on the trap wire just get dunked and then tarzan back to the hull.
Edited by tamumpower1 on Nov 20, 2015 - 11:41 PM. -
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 10:57 PM
Is there no way to attach the main sheet to the clew of the sail, e.g. pin one of the blocks to the clew plate? (not sure what that plate looks like on an 18. It might require some tools, which is no good if you don't have them.
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Ted
Hobie 16
South Carolina Lake sailing
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Posted: Nov 20, 2015 - 11:24 PM
The plate is riveted to the sail and has 3 holes in it to slightly adjust sail shape. In my case only the middle hole was ever used so after it ripped that out that hole I had to try and punch a hole through the sail in one of the other 2 remaining holes in the plate to be able to reattach the sail to the boom.
