I'll go ahead and tackle these things one at a time. Take my opinions with whatever salt you feel
is appropriate.
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For starters I thought I'd try the recommended soft deck area
repair at
http://www.hobiecat.com/support/tech/delam.html but have
seen varying opinions on access ports should that fail. The affected area
is about 8"x20" forward of the front port pylon.
I haven't had this issue so I can't speak to it with first person experience, but if you do a good job of
clearing out the old foam and inject enough epoxy into the soft areas, it should be very, very sturdy.
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Next area of concern are the Hull bottoms. I have read Drej's
response to clepinger's post 'Glass Showing on the bottom of one of my
hulls." and I'm guessing some epoxy build-up would be in order here first.
Anything to add?
[img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20026.jpg[/im]
[img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20027.jpg[/im]
Can you feel the weave at all? I can't see clearly enough in the images if it looks like the wear goes through
any layers of glass or not. If it seems that glass has been "sanded" away, you might want to put down another
layer of glass in those areas, but otherwise I'd put a coat of epoxy over those areas.
You'll want to test it with the West System epoxy first, but I found that the dyes that come with West Marine's
gelcoat repair kit also work in Lowe's $1.79 epoxy and don't interfere with its curing. If it works for West System too,
then you could use the W.S. epoxy instead of "gelcoat" (which is polyurethane resin/hardener with a dye.)
Your nose will thank you for it, as polyurethane resin stinks something FIERCE and it's probably not very good
for you either. Also, wear rubber gloves.
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Any thoughts about the Deck edge condition and deck gelcoat
crazing? At this point, if it's not structural, I'm not all that concerned.
[img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20020.jpg[/ig][img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20021.jpg[/ig]
No, that all appears to be cosmetic. If you want to make it look better you could sand it lightly and then buff
aggresively using acetone. That'll melt the gelcoat a bit and may help fill in the cracks. I've used that technique
to make my yellow decks really shine! Again you can mix dye with the epoxy to fill in the flaking areas if
you are so inclined.
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I also have some significant gouges in the starboard hull prow.
Same buildup as the bottoms? Just Epoxy?
[img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20004.jpg[/ig][img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20005.jpg[/ig]
For the big holes that clearly penetrate the fiberglass, you'll want to use flox to fill it. (Such as the 403 Microfibers
on the West System page.) You can also make your own by going crazy with a 3-4 cotton balls and a pair
of scissors. Basically you want "cotton powder." You mix that in with the epoxy until it's got a peanut-butter
consistancy and then fill those big gouges. It'd be nearly impossible to do it otherwise. I'd use a Dremel to make
the holes symmetric and even and clean them out well with a brish and acetone. Then fill 90% of the way with
the flox mixture.
Then put a layer of bidirectional fiberglass over the top of the flox (before it cures.) Wait for all that to cure
and trim the fiberglass so that it doesn't stick out the sides at all. Then mix some dye in with your epoxy
again to match the hull color and finish/fair the patch.
Just did that about 2 months ago on my boat after
accidentally sailing into a big rock.
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As to the rest, I was thinking of the approach as recommended in
this excellent article to fill scratches/gouges and refinish the gelcoat.
http://www.sailnet.com/collections/gear ... and%20Deck for filling in the scratches/dings and recoating with the roll & tip technique.
[img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20025.jpg[/ig][img]http://www.directrecoverycorp.com/hobie/hobie%20024.jpg[/ig]
You can certainly do that if you want to paint the hulls.
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Also, it seems to me I saw a post on lightly edge grinding the deck
hull joint, thoroughly cleaning it and refilling with epoxy to assure a good
seal.
I just did that 2 weeks ago. Took me 4-5 hours total including flipping the boat over. I'm very happy with the way
it came out but I have yet to get out on the water to see if that slowed my leaking at all.
Good luck, bro!