First day mishap hull repair help

I purchased an old hobie 16 yesterday. And while doing the first launch today didn't realize the drain plugs had been removed from the hulls. So in the process of getting the cat emptied out and back on the trailer I helped myself to several holes on the inside of the port hull. There are two "square" 2x2 inch holes and three smaller puncture holes. Is it the correct procedure to sand down on the outside and inside of the hole to clean undamaged glass, create a laminating layer ala https://media.hobie.com/2010_archive/ho ... 1613878432. But what do I do for the foam layer before the top glass layer which I'd do with layers of 1708 and vinylester?
I only spent $500 on the boat and trailer so am trying not to spend more on the repair than I did on the boat...and it's in decent shape otherwise... Thanks for any tips.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/H5CGQ83SmTsDKkLR7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dKjV9qgrezVEVx8V7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/H5CGQ83SmTsDKkLR7

First thing I would do would be to dry out the hull really well to remove as much moisture from the damaged area as possible.

Then use a syringe filled with epoxy and squirt epoxy between the inboard fiberglass skin and the foam. You can use a few sheet metal screws through the hull to clamp it all together while the epoxy cures.

If you can find a small piece of Divinycell foam to bond in the hull to fill the void, that would be ideal. Otherwise, you can use thickened epoxy or epoxy putty to fill in the missing foam. It will be easiest if you can flip the boat on its side to let gravity assist you. Fill in the holes crom the sheet metal screws at this time too. Let the putty cure.

Then taper sand back the outer glass skin and apply several layers of 6-8oz glass on the outside to match the existing laminate thickness. After that cures, sand it smooth and fill any voids with Formula 27 filler or similar. Then paint.

sm

Thanks....that's basically how we're proceeding except the holes go all the way through and are actually now a bit larger to get to good material to bond to. So we're doing a blind hole replacement. All the sanding is done, letting it dry a bit longer.
Will put fiberglass backer in first, then fill with epoxy putty, top layers of fiberglass, etc.... as you suggest.

Here's another casualty of the first day mishap. It's an 82 with the lexan rudders.

One of the rudders snapped in two while loading onto the trailer..... this was not a good day. While sourcing a replacement will a quick epoxy fiberglass repair work? I have some scrap carbon fiber cloth that i can use. as well as some 6 oz. not making images work in the board so attached URL

Is this a recipe for disaster....if I don't find one in a few weeks, I'll buy two new nylon ones online.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntk2e2fttqh69tb/IMG_0191.JPG?dl=0

About the white nylon rudders:

There is quite a lot of load put on the rudders as you increase speed.
They will also start to hum as you go over 10 knots. They make plastic
washers to create shims between the rudder and the aluminum casting to get
rid of the side to side slop to get rid of the hum. Hum also creates drag.
All these problems were resolved with the newest rudders available, the
black EPO3's. But they are very expensive at about $400 to $500 a piece.

So, I would not try to fix your rudder. It will not hold up.
Good luck.

Greg 1984 H16

Don’t waste your time trying to fix that rudder - it’s done. Plus epoxy will not reliably bond to lexan.

Those old lexan rudders have a tendency to snap after decades of UV exposure. Consider yourself lucky it happened on land and not out on the water. Get yourself a new set of nylon rudders or a decent set of new or used composite rudders (EPO or otherwise). Be careful about replacing with a used set of lexan rudders, they will likely be in the same condition as the ones you already have.

sm

You might want to send in your questions to https://www.facebook.com/events/1097629080703951/

This will be held on Wednesday and from what I've seen of Mark Modderman, he knows his stuff.

Jim Clark-Dawe