leaking hulls

Bubble fluid is a really good idea! I will use that next time.

s i figured i would let you know the end result. when i went onside the hull i found that the small crack was actually quite extensive.i began grinding and found the crack to be about 3ft long. i really didnt feel comfortable doing the work myself as i have never worked with glass so i had someone do it for me. i did however do a bottom job on both hulls and reinforced them with kevlar strips for beach landings. i resprayed gel coat and my hulls look great now. thanks for all the advice guys,
justin

Don't let the hulls wear down to the Kevlar - it turns into a fuzzy, unmanageable mess. It's not abrasion resistant at all.

That is really good to know, I was thinking about using kevlar the 16 if I don't have LineX spray them.

Thanks for the heads up.

_________________
Sail Like you Have a Pair
Bluish gray 73 - 83 H16
Super Nice Yellow 84 H18

I knew that about kevlar but what about carbon cloth? Would the carbon just become a million little splinters?

Probably would be about the same as glass as long as it was laminated properly. If fibers did start to splinter off however, they would be very stiff and unfriendly.

Another problem with using Kevlar is that it's hygroscopic, so once you start to wear into it, it will begin absorbing moisture.

But I could never understand why anyone would want to put anything other than basic fiberglass on the bottom of their boat. Why would you want to pay three or four times as much for an exotic fiber that you're just going to essentially sand off anyway?

If they ever build a new fiberglass beach boat (yea, I know), I think it would be cool if Hobie incorporated recessed metal strips into the bottom of the hulls that you can unscrew and replace as they get worn down.

sm

I have seen several threads about using exotic materials to repair Hobies and thought I'd say one last time that you should use what the boat was made out of to repair it. Polyester!

First, you don't need to spend massive amounts of $$, there's simply no need. There should be gelcoat over whatever is there (substrate) as the gel is a critical component, it keeps the water from seeping into the layers of glass, and eventually the foam, which can cause the hulls to get heavy and cause the repair to fail.

Second, poke around the forums and see all of the people having chemical compatibility issues, it wastes a lot of time and a ton of money. Epoxy , for example is almost 6 times as expensive as polyester, and there is really no need (except for bonding a delamed deck). Also down the line, some poor sap is going to have to grind it all off of the hull in order to fix it right. Think about the next poor guy.

Third, the boat lasted through 25 or so years of beaching, launching, trailering, reaching, flying a hull, and whatever else and it was all done with polyester. There is absolutely no benefit to using exotic materials, if the repair was done correctly, the kevlar, carbon, etc will never see the light of day. You should see nothing but gel coat.

Fourth, chemicals can not make up for shoddy work. Prep the work thoroughly and properly, that's the most critical stage. You're better off using the money that you would spend on exotics and buy a DVD on how to engineer a repair properly. The steps involved and the physical work are much more important than the chemicals.

Save yourself some $$ and a headache, fix the boat correctly, with the right chemicals and it will serve you well for many more sails.

Happy sails!

j

well after all these posts i went ahead and removed the kevlar, what a waste of money , and resprayed gel. expensive but seems necessary after reading all the posts here. live and learn

Kiddie bubbles is a great idea

I have a question relating to the foam filled hulls, its solid fiberglass at the keel, but what about half way up the hull. I have two soft spots about half way up in the same place (starboard side) of my hulls and am not sure how to begin the repair. Thanks for your input. By the way Justin, Im in Kaneohe but sail some 16s out on Kailua beach and bring the fam to Lanikai all the time. Id love to check out your boat and talk to you about the keel repair you did as I also have to do that soon. Thanks for the input.
Joe

Half way up the side of the hull would be in the area of the fiberglass/foam core sandwich. If you pop off the porthole and look inside to the bottom of the boat, you can probably see where the construction transitions from solid glass to sandwich- there will be a hump where the core begins.

Repairing delaminated hulls generally involves drilling holes through the outer skin only and then injecting polyester or epoxy resin in between the delaminated skin and the core. It's been discussed here numerous times. Do a search or go to the FAQ section of this forum for more info.

sm

Ok, thanks for the clearification, I already fixed the soft spots in the deck by drilling it and injecting epoxy, but wasnt sure about the sides. These soft spots are a result of the mast striking a streetlight and buckling backwards. I bought the boat from an impound lot and the guy that pulled it out wouldnt let me in the impound lot to take the mast down before he pulled it out, and he struck a streetlight with the mast buckling the trailer and causing delam in the same spot on each hull (the direction in which it bent the trailer) just under the fore crossbar. In your opinion, should I cut out the bottom and reinforce the hull in the spots with foam bulk heads or just pump the delam full of epoxy?