Before I bought my boat, everything that I had read on forums etc. would've lead me to believe that as soon as the boat gets a soft spot, it's no longer worth buying. However, now that I have a boat and have repaired soft spots, I question that logic. Sure, a boat with no soft spots is perhaps better than a boat with them, and a boat that has only sat in covered, heated storage and never been sailed is better than anything else, but at the end of the day, the question is about the condition and longevity of the boat as a whole, and how much of a premium you're willing to spend for a boat in "like new" condition. Soft spots do no necessarily make a boat "junk," especially if they're small, in low stress areas and/or have been repaired. They are unfortunately inevitable on a beachcat. They are also fairly simple to repair. The real danger is if you have large soft spots or soft spots that haven't been repaired in high stress areas.
I think the reason the conversation on soft spots is so prevalent is because they can be an indication that the hulls overall are bad and/or poorly taken care of. They can be caused by:
1) continual compression (standing/sitting/stepping on the hull)
2) damage to the hull (a puncture that hasn't been fixed)
3) water in the hulls being absorbed into the fiberglass and then subsequently the foam core, or
4) overall delamination/separation of the fiberglass from the foam core due to age
The last one is the real concern, because once that process starts, it will continue and over time, the whole boat will become soft. In your case, it sounds like cause #1, which is common on the forward deck of a Hobie 16. Once drilled and filled, the repair will be solid and will probably outlast the rest of the boat! Understand that you're buying a used boat with some wear and tear on it, so it's not going to be perfect. That's why you're not paying the $12k for a brand new one! So the best condition for the price is what you're after.
Value of a used boat varies by location, age and condition, but in my area, a late 70's boat in fair to good condition on a trailer goes for ~$1,500 - $2,000, and probably have another 5-10 years of life left in them. A boat in good condition or better could sell for ~$2,000 - $3,000. 90's or newer/excellent condition boats are extremely rare here, and would probably fetch more.
The damage in the picture is cosmetic only. The rudder pins are supported/contained by the rudder gudgeons on the transom.
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