Soft spot repair with great stuff

WOW hobie should endorse this stuff for soft spot repair instead of putting 10 pounds of epoxy in the hull.

Great stuff?

Not a chance... that is wall filler foam and is not water proof. It absorbs water and will make the boat heavy. Water will break down the foam.

If you want foam, use A&B floatation foam. It is closed cell and designed for use in water.

When epoxy is used for a delamination, you use very little really. Ounces, not pounds of it. Also remember... foam is weight as well. Foam is 2 or more pounds per square foot.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Matt,

This whole "epoxy versus foam" thing is a tough message to get across.

As you know, I`ve written/responded a lot on this topic and it still confounds me how much the foam myth still seems to have "legs".

Oh well... A few years from now, a standard question in the "used" HobieCat market will be; have you ever injected the boat with foam?



Dave

IMHO all the hobies that have traces of injection (what ever it was that was injected) are hard to sell. Chances are that they go soft in the same spot or in other places in the near future.

Patrick

this is what DOW said about Great Stuff,,::Differences Between Latex and GREAT STUFF PRO Polyurethane Foam Sealant
There are two key differences between latex foam and GREAT STUFF PRO polyurethane foam sealant:


Latex foams are typically "open celled" and, as a result, can take on water. In fact the same properties that allow you to wash latex foam off your hands with water also mean that the cured foam can absorb water. This can cause wood rot or deterioration in areas where wet latex foam is next to wood, such as a window frame. In contrast, GREAT STUFF PRO is closed-cell foam. It forms a water-resistant outer skin when cured.

Latex foam does not expand. GREAT STUFF PRO expands to thoroughly fill all voids and cavities making it an ideal air-sealant.
Here is the link:
http://greatstuff.dow.com/greatstuff/pro/window.htm

As any sailor will tell you - "water resistant" does not equal "water proof"

Also, with any expanding sealant, unless you are very careful, the foam will expand beyond the voids and start to distort the structure. Great Stuff can apply incredible force when contained - I've seen it bend door jambs and push bricks out.

For some reason, it is hard to get through to people that when hulls/decks delaminate, it's not the foam or the laminate at fault. It's the bond between the the layers that's failed. The only was to truly restore that bond is with a chemical adhesive - epoxy.

Shooting foam into the void just adds another, weaker layer to the mess.

Hey kiss, the epoxy might be the better method, even if the whole front deck is soft, you can use the empty caulking tubes to inject that much epoxy into the delam area. One guy in Fla on here even poured the front area of each hull solid with 2 part foam, he said it works great. He has to sail 4-6 foot seas to get out. I think i would try epoxy first,,

Guys... it takes very little epoxy to do the job. We are talking a paper thin void area. Like between the pages of a phone book (just one layaer typically, but touching still...just not bonded).

Anyone who uses much epoxy has either drilled right through the two glass layers, pumped it in and expanded the layers apart or just ended up with a bunch of excess glue all over the place.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)