Newbie Repair Question

Recently acquired a Hobie 16 in need of repair; a finger-size hole on the bottom of one of the hulls. What is the best way to fix? Should I flip the hulls upside down prior to working on them? If so what's the best/easiest/safest way to accomplish this?

TIA

Jim in Olympia

Simple fix? Stuff a wad of glass cloth wetted with resin into the hole. Once cured, file flat and sand the area about 1/2" around the area, through the gelcoat and a little glass. Lay up a couple more layers of glass over the area.

Bigger hole? Sand the area around the repair to remove gel coat and get down to glass for about 1/2 or more around the hole, inside if possible too. Cut a small piece of cardboard that is larger than the hole, but can be folded to fit inside and pop open inside. Get a short piece of string, glass cloth and resin. Lay a couple layers of glass and resin onto the cardboard. Poke a hole in the middle and slip the string through and tie a large knot or tie to something like a toothpick so it can't pull back through. Shove this in the hole such that the glass and resin are facing out and will adhear to the inside of the boat. Pull with the string to make it adhear to the inside of the hull till cured. Cut the string and then lay up more glass on the outside.

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks, Matt. Sounds easy enough. I have done some basic glass repairs on an old rowboat so I do have a little experience to draw on.

What about flipping the boat upside down? I am concerned about over-stressing the pylon mounts.

Jim

Flipping the boat on the beach (gently of course) will place no more stress on parts than casual sailing... no problem They are WAY tougher than that!

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I am doing a repair just like you talked about today. My Nacra had a little run in with a pier in Galveston a while back and there was a little hole punched in one side.

I have cut away the damaged fiberglass, and will begin the fiberglass work in the next hour. This should be alot of fun.... almost as much as cutting a hole in my boat.[/img]

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Nacra 5.2 "Elsies"
Hobie 14T, "Blazin" I guess I am keeping her!

I have to put my two cents in on flipping the boat over. I had the hulls off the tramp, for a complete overhaul, and sitting on sawhorses. When I was done, the weight of the hull left a low flat spot on the top of the hull. It slowly came back up part way, and it was not in a delaminated area either. In hind-sight, I would make curved saddles for the hulls to sit in. I used West Systems epoxy on all my repairs and fills with great success. Not cheap, but it works great!
Jay

I'll second that on the West System. Mostly thats all I use anymore for fibergass work. To say it's expensive is true...initially. But how much fiberglass is wasted from not applying fast enough? With West System if you use the slow hardner (206) you have all kinds of time to work with it unlike fiberglass that can gel and cook off in the can in a very short time. The metered pumps on the cans are great too, use the same number of pumps for the hardner as the resin, mix and apply. I love it!

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1981 H16.
1993 Macgregor 26S