Walked on the hull deck. Now there are cracks...

Over the weekend I walked out on the hull deck of my Hobie 16 to get to the jib shackle. On the way back to the tramp, I heard 'crack, crack, crack' Now there are long, thin cracks near the edges of the deck, parallel to the long axis of the hull (inboard of where the sides of the hull come together with the deck).

First question: was walking on the deck of the hull a completely stupid thing to do, or would this have been okay if my Hobie wasn't 20 years old? I never saw anything that said either way whether you can walk out on the hulls or not.

Next question: How serious is this? The cracks don't appear to go all the way through, so I'm guessing the hull is still waterproof. Can something like this just go as is (as long as I don't try walking on it anymore), or will this make for dangerous sailing.

Thanks.

That shouldn't be an issue, ordinarily; however over time the fiberglass will delaminate. Does the deck feel soft underfoot? (Like, can you feel it shift around?) Or no? I'm just gonna go with "that's an unfortunate part of an aging boat." If it feels soft then there are some things you can do about it. If not then you'll just have to deal with the cosmetics.

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Warm regards,

Jim

I had the exact same thing happen. Age of the boat. I ended up with a patch that delaminated (either caused by me walking on it, or was there and then I walked on it putting hairline cracks in the deck as it flexed)

Either way, nothing to lose sleep about. If it is delaminated its an easy fix, if its still solid just don't walk on it anymore.

Shouldn't be dangerous unless there is alot of delam. Worst case you'd lose structural integrity but it would have to be really bad and right around the pilon. Having said that, it should be fixed but don't let it keep you off the water on a nice day.

Steve.