H16 Hull repair project

Hi all,

I just got into my 78 H16 repair job. I cut away the old damaged fiberglas and now have the foam underneath. There is a big, golf ball sized divot in the foam. (see pics below)

My intention is to lay the fibeglass right over the foam. Is this correct? Also, what do I fill the crater in the foam with? Should I fill it and fair it with West System epoxy resin and filler then glass over it or what?

Additionally, I have a number of "Smiley" type of bumps and cracks up and down the hull below the water line. (also see pics below) The former owner obviously kept it in the water for some time. What do I do about these? I was thinking of dremelling out the smileys and putting the epoxy filler in them and then just re gelcoating the whole hull.

I used some heavy cut rubbing compound/polish combo by 3M on the hull last night to see how well it would come out. The hulls are powder blue. The water line on the hulls are washed out, almost white. The rubbing compound I used did not bring back the blue. I hit a white area around the hole with some sand paper and the blue showed up in areas. Should I sand the hulls to get the blue back or use a different rubbing compound or just stay with the gelcoat idea?


Thanks to all in advance,

Maury

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“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

Looks pretty deep - too deep to just laminate over in my oppinion. I would flare the existing laminat further and build up the foam core with new 2K foam - laminat afterwards. Have alook here ... http://www.boardlady.com/repairmenu.htm she explains this better and there are tons of pix (garanted not really Hobie repairs but still the principle of a sandwich construction applies)