A couple of restoration questions

I have a couple of questions about the photos below. The first one is a "ding" that either I have never noticed before, or I managed to somehow "acquire" last time I took the cat out. It is about mid way between the bow and aft pylons on port side. Following the logic of a "ding", I would assume that something got dropped on the pontoon, like a large pipe that managed to strike the pontoon at perfect angle to leave the nearly perfect circle crack. The thing is, I know nothing like this happened. Can anyone offer an explanation as to how a semi-perfect circle crack forms like this on the pontoon? Furthermore, how does one go about a repair when it is over the part of the pontoon that has the non-slip texture? I don't want to sand down the texture. Any ideas?

The second photo is a part of the mainsail - the luff side - where the dacron material has been shredded away from the luff rope (or whatever it is called). Anyway, I thought about putting sail tape over the ripped section - maybe wrapping it around the rope part to stop the rip from enlarging, however, I am worried that the tape may get ripped off while raising or lowering the main and jam in the luff track. I have already used the sail tape on a few rips in the sail, and the stuff does not come off easily, so is there really a chance that it could get caught/torn in the luff track? Are there any other repair options? I just don't want the rip to get bigger as I imagine that every time I take the cat out, its going to tear a little more.

[img][IMG]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii170/Quentus_2007/1101161717.jpg[/img][/img]

[img][IMG]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii170/Quentus_2007/1101161730.jpg[/img][/img]

First, if the ding is only denting in the top layer but isn't spreading and its new and not wet, pour a little epoxy resin in it and call it fixed. On the sail, get the bolt rope replaced. It costs about $175 from a hobie dealer and your sail will go up and down like brand new for another couple decades!

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Tim Grover

Memphis, TN fleet 134
Hobie 20! G-Cat5.0 and 2 Hobie 14's
Photobucket now wants $100 to post pics on forums......... pass.

For the crack, something came down on the deck of the boat. It could be from a lot of things. Possibly someone climbing on the boat after a capsize hit the deck with their trapeze harness.

This type of damage is not that uncommon. I would recommend you first inspect it closely. press down all around the crack to see if there is any excessive flex. Then do a "coin tap test" using a quarter. Hold the quarter between your thumb and first finger and tap the edge of the quarter all around the deck in both the damaged and un-damaged area. If the sound/pitch changes when you tap on the damaged area, then the deck is delaminated. If no change in pitch, then it is just a gelcoat crack and not structural. As long as the damage is not structural, just leave it as is and keep an eye on it. If the damage is structural, then you need to repair and that is going to involve removing some of the gelcoat/nonskid.

For the sail, I would just wrap a piece of sail tape around the bolt rope and over the damaged area of the sail (like a taco). You could throw a couple stitches down for extra security if you want. Then be sure to clean and lube your sail track before hoisting to make raising the sail easier.

sm

Thanks guys for the replies. I was worried that the circular crack was a structural failure. Like, I was imagining some form of a post inside the pontoon that ran from the deck to the bottom of the pontoon that had taken too much stress and as a result was breaking away from the deck, thus causing a circular crack to form on the top of the deck. This is obviously not the case. I will employ your coin drop method to insure that the damage is not all the way through the deck. Stitching around the tape is a good idea and something that would give me a sense of security regarding the tape coming off and getting jammed. So thank you srm for that recommendation.

No problem.

By the way, your boat does not have pontoons, it has hulls. Bridges have pontoons, party boats have pontoons, Hobie Cats have hulls.

sm

Here is a pontoon boat -- not a Hobie.

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H17