Hobie Cat Forums

I noticed hairline cracks/crazing starting to form around a hull lip that is worn down to the glass. The hairline cracks are about 10 inches forward of the side stay chainplate. I am guessing that I should fix the lip first and then address the hairline cracks but not sure what the best procedure would be--how should I lay the glass around the lip? Should I use polyester resin? Do I need to scrape out the hairline cracks before filling with epoxy or polyester resin? Or should I just use gelcoat on the hairline cracks?

Is the crack area soft? If it is firm, it is ok.

I would lightly glass the lip with polyester and then apply gelcoat. You could probably get away with just geloating the lip area without the glass.

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H17

Thanks. No soft spots/delam, but if you pull the lip towards you it has noticeably more flex in the area where the glass is worn down than the other areas (essentially there is no flex in the other areas). Regardless of how I fix it, I think I need to be careful about how I pick up the boat when moving it to try to avoid lifting by gripping the weakened lip area.

Maybe you know this backnut so didn't go into it but you cannot glass over gel coat. you'd need to sand the gel back from the area leaving a depression around just glass you'll fill over later with gel coat after addressing the glass issue. Use polyester resin not epoxy for the fiberglass.

Also gel coat will not fill hairline cracks. Sand them out or use the sharp edge of a can/ bottle opener to V it out. I sharpened one on a grinder to about 90° angle. First make sure they are not hiding structural issues underneath. If so you have to address that first.

What do you think wore away the gel coat? Is there any pressure or rubbing here? Cattrax or tie downs? Something interesting is going on there that should be addressed before fixing the lip or at least might lead to correct fix.

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Jonathan
'85 H16 __/) 87468 Tidal Wave

Without seeing exactly where this is on the boat, it looks like the result of running trailer tie-downs over the hulls, which should be avoided if at all possible.

The lip was that way when I bought it. Not sure how it got that way, but I don't think it is due to over-the-hull tie downs since the tie downs that came with the boat are original and don't go over the hulls. Thanks for all your responses--based on what I have read, my remaining question (ignoring the hairline cracks for now), is whether, when fixing the lip, to use (1) glass, polyester resin and gelcoat; (2) polyester resin and gelcoat; or (3) just gelcoat. I have worked with West System Epoxy and Marine Tex before (yeah, I know, that was before I found this site), but I haven't used polyester resin before.

I'm far from expert but you'd handle the polyester the same as epoxy. There are some differences in the finishing steps you'll find here on these forums - search: mbounds + polyester or mbounds + vinylester + blush.

Overall for your situation since it seems to have give in an area where I assume there should not be I'd have to identify "why is there give" to give an answer. For example, if the fiberglass is bad then it may be you have to grind it out and lay new - your option 1. I've done that to the hull but I would not feel confident tackling the lip...

We are just talking about one layer of solid fiberglass here I think. No foam under it. so...
I don't think, just a guess, option two would do much structurally to help... Strength wise.

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Jonathan
'85 H16 __/) 87468 Tidal Wave