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PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:06 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:06 am
Posts: 354
Location: Turks and Caicos Islands
Well, after several happy years of kayaking, it finally happened. Son and I were a couple miles up a canal today when we noticed that the seats weren't feeling right, and the pedals, etc. Just felt all wrong. Didn't take long to see that the center keel was deflating. We made it back by stopping every hundred yards and pumping in another fifty strokes. Good thing I took the pump along.

Got it home, and inflated it, and sprayed soapy water on all the obvious external parts. And there really aren't many, as far as the center keel is concerned. It's all hidden. Bottom line, we couldn't find the leak. There are no punctures in the bottom, so I am assuming some glue seam inside the hull let go. Does anyone know the next step to find this leak? Do I start cutting holes in the boat to see inside the hull?

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:59 pm 
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Hobie Tech / Moderator

Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:34 pm
Posts: 236
Location: Hobie Cat: Oceanside, CA
You are going to want to see your dealer about this. Center chamber leaks are usually in the bow area where the curved bow tube meets the floor chamber or the hatch (unless there's a puncture somewhere). It may need to be sent back here to be properly repaired so have your dealer file a warranty claim. The protective skin on the bottom makes it pretty tricky to locate and patch pin hole punctures. Another possibilty would be a leaking valve, which is easy to test for with soapy water.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:40 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:57 pm
Posts: 10
Working on same problem tonight, I opened the front hatch and could hear the leak from the tape and the end of the support tube as mentioned in first post. Hope yours is as easy to find as mine was.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:39 am 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:06 am
Posts: 354
Location: Turks and Caicos Islands
I fixed the leaks in the nose piece years ago. This is somewhere inside the boat hull. I notice that basically the glue is coming loose where the flexible fabric is attached to hard plastic. This boat is only four years old and has been stored inside out of the sun, etc. I was a pretty strong supporter of these boats until this one started falling apart. Literally coming unglued.

There are no Hobie dealers here. That's not an option. I'm not sure if it's worth sending it back to California. I live in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Any ideas on how to fix this? How would a dealer fix it if there were one here?

There are no pin holes, and it hasn't been punctured. I was in the boat when it started leaking, and we were in plenty of water. There are no signs of damage to the "hull" fabric. Something just let go inside. It is not leaking where the curved bow section meets the floor. The valve was the first thing I checked.

Are there instructions that Hobie sends to their dealers on this? I have to pretend that I'm the guy at the hobie dealer who gets tasked with fixing it.

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