Wing socket repair

Hi everyone, I recently bought a boat with pretty severe socket damage. It appears to have been from the wings not being fully inserted. I visisted with a few people at the Cheney Cat Chase regatta and developed a plan. The pictures of the repair are here. It is a slide show but any picture in the slide show can be enlarged by clicking on it. I use a turkey baster to get the water out of the sockets. I plan to do the forward sockets soon, any advise to change what I have done would be appreciated.

http://homepage.mac.com/fhopper/PhotoAlbum71.html

This is my first cat and after my first few sails I am really impressed. It has made my lake both smaller because of the speed and larger because of the places I can now go.

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Frank, sailing '02 Getaway in Wichita KS. Lake Cheney
(Hobie 17 RIP, storm of '05)

DUDE! Nice work. I had this a repair too. I think every 17’er will. I wondered how bad it really looked inside and you have boldly gone where no man has gone before - with your camera. I like the drainpipe and foam enclosure too-smart.

I had a really bad spiral fracture almost from top to bottom in the socket. I installed 3 stainless hose-clamps around the socket housing by opening them up completely and putting them back together around the socket. I placed one near the bottom, one up about 1/3 way and about another 1/3 above that. When I cranked them down, they pulled the fracture together. Like you, I left a piece of pipe in the socket (great minds eh?). So that the pipe would not get glued in place by any epoxy seeping through the repair, I put Vaseline on it. Also use vaseline to keep errant drops of epoxy from sticking to hands, decks, etc.

I put 3 layers of glass over EVERYTHING- including the clamps. I figure that leaving them in place could only add strength to the socket walls. I went to the starboard hull, which was not damaged, and installed clamps and glass hopefully to prevent damage in the future.

As you know, the fact that you are doing two-handed work with one hand through a 5 inch hole adds a certain sense of “adventure” to this repair. Judging by your photos, you had a good “helper” though.

If anyone is interested, look elsewhere on the H16 thread where I share my experience in adding deck hatches to a Hobie (or any boat- I also put hatches for access on my Catalina 25 and a porthole for light and air in the quarter berth) I guess I just like cutting holes in boats….

One other thing- a small hand held bilge pump fits nicely into the sockets for water removal. My wife would have a fit if she knew I used the turkey baster

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.

Just like Deja Vu all over again. Wing socket repairs are difficult, but not impossible. It should not cost more than $80 to repair yourself. I bring this to the top as a reminder. Unfortunately Frank Hoppers photos are no longer available - they were awesome shots of the inside of the hull and the broken sockets.

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.

OK, way to make me feel guilty. Simply go here for various photos. My boat was destroyed in a storm, I miss it.
http://homepage.mac.com/fhopper/PhotoAlbum148.html

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Frank, sailing '02 Getaway in Wichita KS. Lake Cheney
(Hobie 17 RIP, storm of '05)

I know you miss your 17, sorry man. But those pics are invaluable to people like Dan P and Hwyngarden and anyone else trying to repair the sockets.

I nominate you for H17 sainthood

Feel better ? Please do. I'm happy you're still around

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.

Just found out that 3 of the 4 wing tube sockets are leaking on my boat. Depressing. Have the repairs you mentioned above prevented further leaks or did you need to re-repair down the road? I'm contemplating just filling in the wing sockets and just sailing w/o the wings since these sockets seem like accidents (future leaks) waiting to happen. I've never worked with fiberglass so will be paying someone to fix this and don't want to fix now only to fix again in a year or so. Filling the sockets in will, no doubt, also be less expensive in the short term. Thoughts?
thx

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Adam
e-mail: ab at medjet.net
H17S, Hobie Bravo, A cat
Fleet 444

If you do fill your wing sockets, (which I wouldn't recomend), fill it with something easy to remove. Foam, with a coating of silicone? It'll be ugly, but someone down the road may want the wings on that boat. Talk to Trail Auto Body in Eagan. They're right off of Hwy 3 down by Rosemount. I had him do some gelcoat repair on my 16 and was very happy with the results and the price.

Another note you should join us, (Fleet 444), for some fun events. We need more members, the more the merrier, and sailing in a group is always more fun. We're more of a fun fleet than a race fleet. We do host a Division points regatta but racing isn't the main concern of the fleet. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call @ 507.301.9019. I'm always game to talk sailing, and always interested in meeting other Hobie folk in the area.[/code]

Karl,

Thanks! I didn't know there was a Hobie group around - suspected and have meant to look into it. I'd love to connect with Fleet 444. My boat's out of commission for a while (though I also have a bravo) but will sail with anyone else anytime I can. I'll give you a call sometime in the next week.
thx

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Adam
e-mail: ab at medjet.net
H17S, Hobie Bravo, A cat
Fleet 444

Adam:

If you keep weight under 400 lbs, you should have no problem when wings sockets are fixed. Mine were torn out from a flip in the surf before I bought boat for $600. I just replaced the hull with a used one.

Doug