bad rudders,bad!!!

hi everyone. i am new to the hobie community and need lots of help and advice. ever since my dad took me on a ride on his hobie 16 i have always wanted one. well, i just happened to get one real cheap and in pretty fair condition. well to me it seems fair when others might say damn, you got a lot work to do boy. anyways, I have delamination going on and the rudders are chipped and need repair. i am also needing just a plain white jib sail with all the fixings and I just cant find a good used one. anybody have any advice on these situations that i have?

If you do a search for delamination repair on the forum you will get a lot of results. The best fix that I have seen is to use the Git Rot epoxy injection method. You drill a series of holes through the outer glass without puncturing the inner glass and you inject this epoxy into the void to hold everything back together. I did this repair on some older 83 hulls and it kept me sailing until I could find something better. Delamination is a bad thing.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

From what I have seen and read about delamination, if done correctly it would last for a very long time. ya it may add some weight but its better than going out and spending the money one new pontoons. But what i also need to fix is the rudders which are made out of plastic. how is this done? no videos are done for this.

Not much adheres to lexan, you can google "repairing hobie lexan rudders" and follow the different threads discussing the subject and some attempted lexan repairs. BTW, catamarans have hulls not pontoons. Good luck with your repairs.

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2001 H18 w/SX wings & spinnaker #16740 (purchased new)
1989 H18 w/SX wings #14565 (purchased new, sold 2000)
Would buy another if Hobie would build it.

I ALSO HAVE BATTENS THAT ARE CRACKED AT ONE END. CAN THESE BE FIXED OR AM I GONNA NEED NEW ONES? ANYBODY SELLING A GOOD USED JIB SAIL FOR A DECENT PRICE? ALSO SOMEONE PUT FIBERGLASS CLOTH ON THE BOTTOM OF THE HULLS. I DON'T LIKE IT AND WANT IT GONE SO WHATS THE BEST WAY FOR ME TO REMOVE THESE FIBERGLASS PATCHES SO THAT I CAN HAVE GOOD CLEAN HULLS? I WANT TO REPAINT MY HULLS AS WELL SO ANY SUGGESTION ON WHAT PAINT I CAN USE?

You can find used jibs on Ebay pretty regularly. That's probably your best bet or through your local craigslist. I have an old while Jin I only keep as a spare (old clew plate with only 1 hole and no batterns included, no tears or stains) Located in Central MN if you are interested (probably would want 75$)


As far as painting the hulls - I read somewhere to use tractor enamel, tried it on my spare boat, and it doesn't last at all. Seems Gel coat is pretty much the only option - but seems a waste of money and relatively involved, so I would think you want to just skip that part, especially since you have soft spots already.

As far as rudders, you can pick those up on Ebay as well. I have used 2 Part automotive epoxy on rudder blades and dagger boards and it works quite well and pretty durable for smallish chips.

I have an old while Jin I only keep as a spare (old clew plate with only 1 hole and no batterns included, no tears or stains) Located in Central MN if you are interested (probably would want 75$)

I assume the patches are there for a reason - such as a hole underneath, so I would not just tear them off. You can smooth out the perimeter of the patches to match the surrounding area, but I wouldn't try to remove the patches.

As for damaged battens. one time I purchased a main with problem battens, I moved most of them up a notch and recut them. That way I only needed to replace the longest one. make sure you have luff caps on all of them. I've been switching to aftermarket caps.

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JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring

the fiberglass repair job wasn't done right and is peeling on the edges. so that's why i asked about removing them all together. about me finding a jib sail on ebay,well i have looked and looked and none are the size i need Ebay doesn't have a huge selection of them anyways.this is a budget build for me so i am not looking to go all out. but yet i don't want to do a half ass job on anything either. i am a believer of measuring twice,cut once.

Sounds like the previous owner tried to do a half ass bottom job. You will need to grind off the poorly done areas and redo which is a classic bottom job except you are also having to clean up someone else's mess. Excellent article in Hobie Hotline titled This Old Hobie which walks you thru the process on pages 12-13. http://www.w1dm.com/projects/hotline/08-09-10%20HOTLINE.pdf

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2001 H18 w/SX wings & spinnaker #16740 (purchased new)
1989 H18 w/SX wings #14565 (purchased new, sold 2000)
Would buy another if Hobie would build it.

Right angle grinder with a sanding disk is the best thing for repair prep. I use a Makita 4".

You can try MarineTex epoxy on your rudders. It comes in white. Make sure you rough up the bonding area.

I highly recommend you don't paint your hulls. Buff them out, wax them and they will look like new.

cheers
Bill

ok, so today i drilled the holes so i can put in the epoxy. great ideas folks. i realy appreciate it. my hulls are hulk green. lol. and my wife wants them white and the tops of the hulls have no paint in some spots so its gonna need to have new paint. can someone tell me how to up load pics on here. i would like to show you all the progress i am making. i plan on having this boat done by july.

DJSHADOW iAM NOT ABLE TO EMAIL YOU FOR SOME REASON SO IF YOU COULD EMAIL ME AT [email protected] ABOUT YOUR JIB SAIL PLEASE.

so, i have found anther hobie cat in much better shape and at a great price with all the fixens. so i have drilled holes in the other hulls awaiting the epoxy. now its not needed or is it? what do u think? should i keep the other hulls or cut them up? i have always been a firm believer in always having more than not enough. perhaps some of you would like them. let me know what you think please.

I don't know that anyone else can answer that for you. It depends on how bad they are, how much you want a learning experience and how willing you are to store two old, bad hulls.

If your newer boat really has truly good hulls, then my vote is to toss them. But I don't know how bad they are.

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages