Hullo! I'm trying hard to get into sailing after years and years of wanting to, but still not having a lot of money after recently getting out of grad school. This forum has been super helpful...thanks!
Thanks to some pointers I already got here, I just went to look at a cheap local boat for sale. After looking, I have a question...what's the max soft spot size I can hope to repair? The craft I'm looking at has solid decks and no fiberglass showing anywhere, but one hull is soft on much of the inside-facing side, from about the tramp to six inches off the prow. Mostly it's just flexing, but I did hear a crackle or two when I pressed hard. There are no inspection ports at the moment, but some sort of limited epoxy injection job was attempted a year or two ago...obviously without lasting success.
I've done a fair amount of reading re epoxy repairs and suspect that approach is a lost cause for this craft. That said, is there any chance of my repairing this to a state where it'll last me another three to five years? FWIW, I wouldn't mind a long winter project in my garage, but I don't have a lot of money to sink into a total dud. The rest of the boat is in good to great condition, but I don't want to have to shop for new hulls in a year or two...or less! I'm not looking for a pretty paint job, just something that'll hold together.
Even if I need to walk away from this one, I'd love to hear your wisdom re. max size for repairs and any repair options I should be considering. Oh and if anyone has a better pair of old hulls just cluttering up their yard not far from Westminster, MD, just send me a pm.