New Hobie Owner- Looking for advice

I was recently able to buy a used Hobie Outback and I am really excited about it. I had a limited budget, so in order to get into a pedal drive, I took a calculated risk with an older boat. It is a 2006, and I have read a lot about the hull crack issue. But I checked it and it has no leaks or cracks and it was produced after Hobie started reinforcing the front part of the well area during the molding process. I also added the longer cam bolts to reduce flex in those posts.

I would like to have the boat for many years and I have started an overhaul of it to get everything in the best condition. I have read about others using structural adhesive like Scotch DP8010 and pvc to reinforce the towers and you could do something similar to the front of the drive well. My question is, should I try any preventive reinforcing of the well or posts, or is the boat probably good to go for a long time moving forward?

Thanks for any input.

_________________
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

You know what they say about an ounce of prevention.... Congratulations on your new purchase!

Thanks RR. It was actually your fixes that gave me the idea to reinforce the hull with pvc and 8010.

I am going to give it a shot. I am thinking of something similar in front of the drive well. Maybe a pvc 90 cut in half and fit over that section? Of course finding dp8010 seems like looking for hens teeth or unobtanium .

Any other advice besides what was in your original posts?

Thanks again for the inspiration.

_________________
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the gang.

My experience of DP8010 (though I actually used an identical Scotch adhesive with, I think, a slightly different cure time - possibly 8050) is that this stuff really adheres well to the polyethylene of the Hobie hulls. In fact I have used it for various other difficult bonding jobs and as far as I can tell it will stick just about anything to just about anything else with a very firm bond (I believe that the correct technical term is "sticks like sh*t to a blanket" ).

So personally I think that it would be well worthwhile trying some sort of preventive reinforcing job on your boat, the cam columns and drivewell area being the obvious candidates for such attention. Where to reinforce the cam columns is pretty obvious (i.e. encase them for as much of their height an circumference as you can). Where & how to reinforce the drivewell is a bit more tricky because there's a lot of area there and from what I have read cracks do occur in several places, in particular where the drive contacts the hull i.e. (and personally I would address these in this order) where the front end of the drive rests on the inside of the drive slot; under the cams; and where the rear end of the drive rests on the drive slot. I believe cracks can occur elsewhere round the drivewell but these would seem to be the most common sites. Another area worth consideration but probably a lot harder to get to from inside the boat is the cart scupper holes - cracks here seem to have been a reported issue. Dunno if reinforcing these with DP80x0 is feasible but if not you might consider a cart with pads rather than one that goes through these holes so as not to put any more stress on them than you have to.

The DP80x0 is expensive and you might end up having to use quite a bit depending on how far you go with your efforts, but it will probably not do any harm... of course you won't know whether or not it is doing anything to help unless you get a crack but you might get some peace of mind out of the exercise until that eventuality occurs and at least you will feel like you did your bit to avoid the issue.

Thanks Stobbo. I appreciate all the advice. Just ordered 2 tubes of DP8010 off Ebay. Hopefully that will do it. I will try and update the thread after I complete the reinforcements.

_________________
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8