Leaky Hull

Hi all-

I did a search, and there are past posts on this, but I"m hoping to tie it all together. My hulls take on some water routinely. I found (and am quoting) MBounds' post below. But more detail would be very useful. Here are my questions:

1. Where and how do I repair the deck lip silicone?
2. How to I repair leaks around the pylons?
3. How do I re-bed the gudgeons / drain plugs?
4. If I find cracks in the body of the hulls, and I'm not worried about cosmetics, just function, what is a fast, affordable but durable way to repair cracks?
5. The "keels" of the pontoons get worn away a little each year with dragging across sand and pebbles. What is the best way to build them back up? Again, not concerned about cosmetics, just function, and it would be good to be able to do this repair work on the beach . . . so beach-amenable techniques appreciated.

Thanks everyone.

-Paris.

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In order of likelihood:

Deck lip (clean old silicone off and drizzle resin along seam while boat is upside down)
Pylons (silicone)
Gudgeons / drain plug (re-bed in silicone)
Use the vaccuum cleaner on blow / soapy water method to find the leaks

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Broward County, FL
1984 Hobie 16, Olympic Edition (kept in NY)

First things first - you need to find the source of the leak before you go about trying to fix it. Use compressed air and a squirt bottle filled with soapy water and go around the whole boat until you find the leak. The best way I find to pressurize the hull is to take a 1 foot long piece of rubber hose, jam it in the drain plug (wrap tape around the end to get a tight seal) and "inflate" the hull with your lungs. About 10 or 15 lung fulls (or until you start to get dizzy) seems to be about right.

Find the leak first, then figure out how to fix it.

sm

SRM is right, many folks use a shop vac (in blow setting, and promptly blow the seals on the boat).
You need lots of soapy water, and little air pressure.
If you do use a shop vac, keep the nozzle about 4" to 6" AWAY from the drain plug.
His 15 breath method is new to me, and sounds great.

Spray drain plugs, seams, pylons, rudder gudgeons... surprising how quickly you'll spot the leaks.

The drain plug fix is easy and fast.

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2015 H16, with spin,
SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..."
'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'

I used a 12volt raft inflator you use to blow up pool toys etc. Held a couple inches away from drain plugs so as not to over pressurize the hulls.

My leaky hull was the result of a void in the layup where the shroud anchors go through the hull lip...so toss some soapy water around your shroud anchors! I almost overlooked them as I figured they just go through the lips...

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1980 H16

Understood - but it would be very useful to have guidance on these various repairs *before* I find the leak, so I can go ahead and fix it when I am out there. Thanks to anyone who can share details. Best, Paris.

_________________
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Broward County, FL
1984 Hobie 16, Olympic Edition (kept in NY)

There is no silicone at the deck lip/seam. If you have a void at the seam, you should repair it with epoxy. Flip the boat upside down, dribble epoxy over the seam and let gravity pull it in, or use a shop vac to suck the epoxy into the void.


Pull out the old silicone and apply a fresh bead of silicone.


Unscrew the gugeons/plugs, scrape off all the old silicone from the hull & hardware. Apply a new bead of silicone to the flange of the part and re-install .


If you have cracks in your hull that are leaking water into the hull, that is a structrual issue. The crack needs to be repaired properly using fiberglass & resin. There is no quick repair. Doing a second rate job will lead to the crack returning or possible hull failure.



You need to do a "bottom job". There are numerous posts in the forum as well as Hotline articles giving specific details on how to do this. It basically involves laminating fiberglass tape to the bottom of the hull to build the thickness back up. Doing this work on the beach is a bad idea since you run a high risk of contaminating your repair with dirt/sand meaning you probably won't get a good bond and the repair could literally fall off. Best to do this repair at the beginning or end of the season when your boat is off the beach.

sm

SRM thank you - a couple of further questions:

RE #2 - how do you pull out the old silicone. I know this sounds basic but I don't want to screw things up. Do I just use a screwdriver/knife/etc.?

RE #3 - how do I unscrew the gudgeons? Do I need a particular tool?

RE #4 and #5 - can you point to a particular post or link which shows the methods you consider soundest, bearing in mind I have very limited skills with this stuff so need very basic things explained step-by-step

Thanks again, Paris.

_________________
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Broward County, FL
1984 Hobie 16, Olympic Edition (kept in NY)