One more time, delam repair epoxy or pour foam

Here we go again, read & read about delam repairs, some say to avoid ocean sailing after epoxy repairing, some say its OK. I also read about pouring front areas of hulls with 2-part expanding marine foam & it working well in ocean sailing & its very strong. What do you guys think, got 2 very large areas to repair on H16. I also read where a guy made hooks to hold areas together to avoid having to put too much epoxy between hulls. Would this make repair not as strong ?
Thanks,,

I have just recently done some rather extinsive delam repair on one of my 16 hulls. I used the epoxy, Git Rot, method. Like you, I had two very large areas. I haven't had a chance to take the boat out since the repair, but the hull is solid. I had a large spot front of the foward pylon, as well as a pretty big spot in between the two pylons. I did the repair over a few days. The hull now appears to be solid. I have tested every inch of that hull by placing all of my weight over each area of the hull.

I haven't used the foam but I would be cautious. It is a really small area in terms of thickness and I doubt that expanding foam would reach all of the delam areas. The expoxy is even a little hard to get in there and it is quite fluid when first mixed. I had to clear out some of the foam around my insertion holes to get the expoxy to really flow in there. Plus, expoxy forms a really strong bond on most surfaces and this is what you are looking for. You want the expoxy to bond the two layers of glass back to the foam. I would also be cautious of the expanding foam increasing water retention inside the foam layer, which is likely what caused the delam in the first place. All of the information I read before I did my repair urged folks not to use the foam. I'm, sure that there is a pretty good reason.

As far as the hooks, I wouldn't bother. As the expoxy cures it will push excess out of the insertion hole.

Good luck