Breaking of Carbon Fiber hiking stick?

Krycek

Krycek

Member
So, today I was sailing along in realativly light breeze, roll tacked, and by brand new Acme Fatso Jr. hiking stick cracked about 8" down from the top. I was suprised as I was under the impression that these were supposed to be very durable.

I'm going to talk to Acme tomarrow and see if they'll send me another one. I mean, it was the third time i've used it, all in moderate to light conditions. Does anyone have any experience dealing/having the same problem with their Acme products?


thanks,

Jon
 
nope, never happened to me, you really gotta beat em to get them to break!
 
that shouldntve happened... i mean its carbon for goodness sake.... mustve had a defect. ive sheered the bolts holding the rudder universal in, but have never broken the tiller or extension themselves.
 
I snapped mine aswell. A CST composite. It got caught between the main sheet and my moving body during a tack.
 
I snapped my Kiwi carbon extension last weekend. 4th time out. Fluky winds coming ashore, went through head to wind suddenly, and again something must have caught as I tacked. Not sure what, but bang and off it went. Am also a bit surprised at how non-resilient they are. Just ordered a Gorilla extension, and will wait to see how that makes out....
 
While the Fatso Jr is light and stiff, it's achieved by a very thin wall thickness. This means you can snap it on a hard edge. The most common cause that I have seen is sitting on it during at tack, either cracking it with the battens in the hiking pants or over the rail

You can reinforce it on the outside with wraps of glass or kevlar or from the inside by shooting expandable foam into it, but both defeat the reason for the design in the first place. Or you can work on your tacking style
 
man, you guys must suck at tacking, or something! I've used a 54 and 48 Fatso Jr, and been through 1 CORK, 4 Orange Bowls, 3 CISA clinics, 6 years of sailing and Junior sailing with em, probably sat on many times, stuck under docks, crash tacks, death rolls etc, and have never broken one!
 
salsa 88082 said:
man, you guys must suck at tacking, or something! . . .probably sat on many times, stuck under docks, crash tacks, death rolls etc, and have never broken one!
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Well, no need to be insulting, especially when it looks like the objects in question are defective. I've abused my carbon stick and it's still intact (knock on wood, ha ha).
 
well I mean honestly, their shouldent be this many breaking, some of these people must be beating each other over the head with them, if you take care of anything, it will last
 
salsa 88082 said:
well I mean honestly, their shouldent be this many breaking, some of these people must be beating each other over the head with them, if you take care of anything, it will last
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Its sailing, stuff breaks. I have gone through a few Acme extensions in the past few years. I have had one break within a month of purchase and I have one that has lasted about 8 years. Stuff happens and things break. No big deal.
 
not with anything I've bought, I take care of my stuff

the metal plate did come off my Acme tiller, but it was just pressed on, and that will happen, its not "defective" just taped it back on, good as new!
should probably epoxy it back on, er sumtin
 
this many of them?

usually there would be an apology, a call back, and product replacement
 
Update.....

Today I talked with Mark from Acme and he is replacing the hiking stick for me. He also agreed that it should not have broken under those circumstances. To quote him, carbon doesnt bend, it snaps. I'm pleased with his company. I've gotten the run around from other places when stuff has broken. It's nice to know someone still stands behind their products!!
 
My husband snap his fastso jr. He was wheeling his laser through an opening of a gate in the parking lot and the hiking stick got stuck in the metal fence and snapped. We bought a repair kit for the hiking stick and he put the broken piece back on. It has been working just fine with the repair job for about 2 years now.
 
I have found that the breaking of a carbon tiller extension is very common. I am not sure if I have ever met someone that broke it during normal use though. Usually, it gets pinched against the dock, sat on during a manuever, or some other move not associated with the intended use. I broke mine:eek: . They can snap very easily. There is a simple repair kit for them. I got mine for about $20 from http://www.westcoastsailing.net/ , but I am sure that others have them also. It is a 10 minute fix and works quite well.
Ralph
 
ACME is a top notch company that is a real pleasure to deal with.

I've never had a customer have a problem with any of their carbon bits, but the quick resolution to this doesn't surprise me in the least, I do business with ACME happily.


As ralph mentioned, for $20 or so you can get a little repair sleeve. Ralph and another sailor have also pointed out that WEST systems epoxy has little tiny packets you can get that are perfect for doing repairs like this.


Glad all is well at the end of the day.
 
I broke an ACME Fatso once in a crazy death roll in ~25 knts and I have a few friends that accidentally cracked them in a tack or broke them on a dock. I still swear by ACME's regardless.
 
I'd like to propose a sitting-on-carbon-tiller-extension preventer. Simply tie a shock cord from the extension through the bow fairlead (using a block to reduce friction) and back to the tiller.
 
giraffe said:
I'd like to propose a sitting-on-carbon-tiller-extension preventer. Simply tie a shock cord from the extension through the bow fairlead (using a block to reduce friction) and back to the tiller.
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We can call it an RB strap! How do we get the class rules changed again?
 
This weekend i even noticed a 4.7 sailer breaking his aluminium tiller extension, pretty funny if you see 80% sailing a carbon extension in one piece.
 
Krycek said:
So, today I was sailing along in realativly light breeze, roll tacked, and by brand new Acme Fatso Jr. hiking stick cracked about 8" down from the top. I was suprised as I was under the impression that these were supposed to be very durable.

I'm going to talk to Acme tomarrow and see if they'll send me another one. I mean, it was the third time i've used it, all in moderate to light conditions. Does anyone have any experience dealing/having the same problem with their Acme products?


ya I have had the universal conector pull out on my fatso
and the titanium plates fall off the tiller
Click to expand...
 
the plates will usually fall off, they are just pressed on, there is nothing holding them in, all you have to do is put the plate back on, and put the sides in a vice, and press em in

as for the universal, sand it a bit, dip it in resin/epoxy w/e and put it back in, wait for it do dry, and your good to go
 
When your world turns blue on a Laser make sute you hold on to the sheet but not the tiller extension. The former will help you get back in the boat, the latter will break (rough translation of advice from Tim Davidson - I think)
 
this thread cracks me up. :D

we have husbands snapping their fatso's in the fence :eek:

the birth of the "RB strap" :cool:

and those pesky 4.7 sailors testing the limitations of the worlds finest alloys :rolleyes:
 
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