Hobie 16 soft spot and gel coat

I have a Hobie 16 that I am getting ready for some sailing fun. I am attempting to repair a soft spot on the side of one of the hulls. I started by injecting some polyester resin (because it is what I had on hand) on a little section of it, but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. Either the polyester resin didn't cure completely because it doesn't have wax in it or I didn't inject enough in the holes. I am leaning to a contribution of a little bit of both not enough resin and the use of the polyester resin.

I am going to order some epoxy resin. I understand it is much stronger than polyester resin. After I fix the soft spots, I am going to re-gel coat the entire hull.

If anyone has some input on the soft spot repair or the spraying of the gel coat, I would be glad to hear about it.

Thanks, Chad.

I can't wait to get back to sailing!

The epoxy you are looking for is called Git-rot. It's meant to be used for soaking into rotten wood on boats. It's real thin so it'll flow into the spaces between the layers of your soft spot, whereas Poly resin is pretty thick stuff and fill not flow easily. Poly resin uses a catalyst, same one as Gelcoat. No need for wax with resin.
Are you planning on just gelcoating one hull? I'd be sure that the soft spots are taken care of before doing that. There are some outfits that sell gelcoat at extreme prices. I found a place out of Ohio that's reasonable. Do you have the equipment to spray it? With the right additive it can be sprayed like enamel paint thru a siphon feed gun.
I could say more, are you willing to put in hours of prep time to do it right?
It could take a month of Sundays.

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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

I will be spraying both hulls. I plan on doing that after the soft spots are repaired.

The git rot will work with the hobie 16 even though It contains foam and not wood?

The epoxy gets in between the layers of glass and foam, it doesn't soak into the foam.

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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

Would that Git-rot stuff be useful in filling a couple of very small stress cracks? I found two small thin stress cracks on the top of one of my hulls and I want to fill them in with something before it becomes an issue.

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

Couldn't I just thin the epoxy resin with some denatured alcohol?

HobieMarty: You would end up with more of a mess trying to fill cracks in gelcoat and it wouldn't add any strength to the area.

sailingchad; As for thinning epoxy, I wouldn't know what you'd use or if anything would work properly. I would think you are better off starting with a thin epoxy.

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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

My advice, from someone that has done the Git-Rot repair on soft decks, is to seek out new hulls or a newer boat. You'll just be adding weight to what is likely already a heavy boat and the chance that you will fix the delamination just from injecting epoxy is slim.

I noticed that you mentioned the delam was on the side of the hull. Is that the inside or the outside. If it is the inside in between the pylons, I wouldn't be overly concerned as that area doesn't receive much stress under sail. Decks and exterior side of the hull is cause for more concern.

You may feel differently, but if I could do it all over again I would have just sought out solid/newer hulls. It wasn't worth the money I invested to fix the soft boat.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Yes, it is on the insude of the hull between the pylons. It is only on one hull. I assume it is from age and walking on it when the boat capsizes.

When I was a teen, many many many years ago, I had a H14 and the trailer it was on looked to be somewhat homemade with these thick wooden cut outs that the hulls slid into. After having the boat a short while, I noticed that the inner hulls had some depressions where they sat in those cut outs, so I would store the boat in our yard, in the grass , off of the trailer which my Dad hated me doing that because I was killing the grass. Anyway, my point is, do you have a proper trailer for a catamaran? Could the soft spots be caused by stresses from the trailer? Just something to consider. Make sure the guides on the trailer aren't pushing against the hulls.

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Marty
1984 H16 Yellow Nationals Redline, "Yellow Fever"
Lake Martin, 'Bama.

Mine are a little soft on the inside of one hull as well. I'm pretty sure I caused it during a capsize a year or two ago. It's best to stand near the deck/hull seam or near the keel, but sometimes balance and gravity have other plans. I lost my balance and landed on the flat area of the hull and heard a little crunch. If I were to fix it, I'd probably just cut off the outer glass and re-glass it to the foam core. Dumping a bunch of epoxy into such a large area just doesn't seem cost-effective.

Luckily, I'm pretty sure that area of the hull receives less stress than any other portion of the hull under sail. My plan is to sail that boat like I stole it and save up for a newer one. I don't think it is as dangerous as sailing a boat with soft decks. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Naturally, soft glass is bad... but in the scheme of things I'd rather have it there than anywhere else.

I spent several hundred dollars trying to "fix" an older 83 and it just became a dog in the water and a bit heavier on the beach. At the time, I was a poor college kid and the git-rot method was the least costly and intrusive method of repair to keep me on the water. It gave me a bit of repair experience and piece of mind because my decks were soft, but that was about it. I was still always a little nervous in the ocean. It wasn't long after that repair that I found a new soft spot and decided to spend about 400 hundred bucks on a solid set of 86 hulls that have lasted me a decade.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

FWIW.....I agree with this 100%. The insides of the hulls on my '85 H16 were crunchy during righting for many, many years without a problem before I got rid of it. I sailed the heck out of that boat. Eventually, the foredecks started getting soft, so I did the epoxy injection there, and it was still a fine starter boat a couple of years later when I came across a deal on a better one.

I wouldn't hesitate to do the injection for smallish areas on the decks or maybe a small extra soft spot on the side of the hull (e.g., from a ding). However, I think that trying to harden a large area on the sides would be a lot of wasted of time, cash, and effort leading to a much heavier, but not heartier, boat.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

The inboard side of the hulls between the pylons being soft may not seem like a big deal until you capsize and stand on the soft spot and either crush the hull or completely punch through.

Inboard side of the hulls forward of the crossbar is definitely critical. That part of the hull is subjected to compressive load under sail and will buckle and collapse the bow if it goes soft.

There really is no ok location for a soft spot. They are all an indication that the strength of the hull has been compromised.

sm