Before a friend and I who each own and race a JY15 ventured into buying a used 2002 Hunter 170 jointly, we considered the pros and cons. Now that we have the boat and do not want to turtle in the less than 20 feet of water where it will be moored and sailed at times we are considering putting foam (noodles) in the mast and installing a sliding goose neck to control the rig height. Anyone else done either with good results ? We are a little reluctant to go the Hobie Float route as we will try to race it against Lightnings in our Club and do not need that upwind disadvantage.
new Hunter 170 owner problem solvers
- Thread starter dagosa
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Have a look at the owners mod's in the H146 section (boat info). There is an illustrated article there that show you an alternative that a number of people have done (including me). I installed the noodles because I wanted a Windex at the top of the mast.
PS. the sliding goose neck sounds like a good idea but wouldn't you also have to have the mast side connection for the vang on a slider also. If you implement your proposal please post photos and results. Have you seen helibartek's thread on how he modified his boom height? If not search on H170 boom height.
PS. the sliding goose neck sounds like a good idea but wouldn't you also have to have the mast side connection for the vang on a slider also. If you implement your proposal please post photos and results. Have you seen helibartek's thread on how he modified his boom height? If not search on H170 boom height.
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Thanks for the reply. I've sailed boats with sliding gooseneck (DC15) and I don't think the vang mast bail has to be changed. It should still be functional as the original bail is quite low. I like the idea of having the original height back in light air and have not considered re-installing the permanent gooseneck at another height.
I installed a Hobie float on the DC for a friend and was very impressed at the flotation and ease of righting. For racing purposes, it was a disaster as with a non rotating mast as on my cats I've raced. The float presents a lot of side drag when mast is non rotating and hurts pointing..a huge no no in racing.
My big concern is that the noodle floatation after the work in installing it, will help no more than sealing the mast, which I found in my JY 15, only delayed turtling somewhat, and not prevented it as a Hobie ball does in my experience. What's your experience with the noodle installation ?
There was a thread last year discussing changing boom height on 170s but for the life of me I can't make the search engine work right now.
As mentioned by Esterhazyinoz, foaming the mast is a common upgrade and it's on my list for this year (I REALLY want to dump the Hobie float, looks too much like training wheels!) which makes installation of a wind vane visiable on all points of sail much easier. The Owners Mod section is worth studying.
As mentioned by Esterhazyinoz, foaming the mast is a common upgrade and it's on my list for this year (I REALLY want to dump the Hobie float, looks too much like training wheels!) which makes installation of a wind vane visiable on all points of sail much easier. The Owners Mod section is worth studying.
If it is a common up grade, why would it be any more effective than sealing the mast ? Also, I've read nowhere from anyone who has done it, and made any statement about it's effectiveness. That's what I'm looking for. Someone has to have done a trial capsize to test the strategy. The leverage to keep from going turtle has to be minimal compared to a Hobie float.
My final thought is to foam the mast plus install the Hobie ball with pins instead of bolts and remove it for races; keeping the ball on for recreational sailing and sailing in shallow areas.
I would like to hear from anyone who has installed a sliding goose neck as we have already, but have not used it. We are waiting for summer to try it out.
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