Mast Rake for your Hobie Cat Boat

First, what is “mast rake”? Neck tilt is how far forward or back the neck tilts. Usually if your mast is bowed you have it leaning towards the rear of the boat. When sailing a multihull boat, such as a catamaran, there is a little trick that can make all the difference in the way you sail. Mast Rake is an easy thing to change and it will make all the difference. Especially on a Hobie cat boat. Neck tilt actually affects a lot of different things and some amazing things that you might not know.

1. The straighter the mast is, the greater the force of the wind that will push the front of the boat down. So if you’re thinking of sailing fast, you’ll have to get back on the boat! To avoid as many pitch hits, adjust the mast tilt back. Also, having the mast almost straight will not allow the boat to point as well. There are some considerations to keep in mind about how far and how much you want to spend on the neck tilt. You are probably thinking why would you have to spend money on mast rake? Let me explain in a minute.

2. Setting the mast tilt to the rear will help the boat point better in the wind. If you like racing, this can be a great advantage! (especially for a small sailboat like a 16!) Another thing that changes is the feel on the tiller stick. While the down pressure changes from being more forward to aft, the rudders are now taking more pressure. This will make the rudder feel more difficult to turn the boat. If I could give my opinion, I would definitely recommend raking the neck. It’s worth taking the bump on the rudder stick for the improved performance you get.

3. Now let’s talk about how you set the commission. The shrouds are attached to the boat with a thing called a chain plate. This is pretty easy to do, you just need to put the pins in a higher hole in the chain plate. You do the same in the stay. (if you need to get even more mast rake, you can get another chain plate and attach it to your existing one, then attach your davit through the top chain plate).

Now that the mast tilt has changed, if you have an old style seaway main block (stacked block) you will no longer be able to use it. (The main sheet has 3 blocks). If you sheet the main sheet all the way, there is no room for the seaway block. You will need to upgrade your main block to 6:1. These work great. If you buy a new one, it will cost you up to $200. If you look on e-bay they show up every once in a while for around $50.