Weathered Hulls

So I’m totally new to Hobies and am totally excited. A friend just gave me his Hobie 16 which is in great shape except for that this boat has been sitting in salt water in the SF Bay for the past 5 years. The hulls have lots of marine growth on them. I’ve power washed them with a 2,000 psi washer and there are still remnants of barnacles and slime. Does anyone out there have any advice about how to remove the growth? It as also stained the hulls. I know it's not a new boat but I'd like to do my best to get the old girl shining again.

There are also a few dings and scrapes in the gel coat where it appears that it has been scraped and one small hole the size of a pencil. Can I just fill these in with gel coat putty and sand them down, or do I need to epoxy them or fill them in with new fiberglass first?

Also the salt water has locked the rudder pins into the rudder housings. Any one have any advice about getting these out.

Anyone in the Sacramento area that wants to go sailing?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Adam

HOOO BOY. Here we go.

(It's not so bad.)


The glass has probably absorbed a lot of water if it's been in the ocean. One of the first things I'd probably do is get some deck (inspection) ports and install them. Then tape some black plastic bags to the hulls around the ports. That'll heat the hulls and with the drain plugs out and the port covers off, it should allow air to circulate through the hulls. Lots of Sunfish owners do this and it takes them (basically all winter) to dry out their boats for the next season. Might not take you quite that long, but it'd be a good thing to do so you can allow it to dry when you're not working on it.


I'm guessing if you power-washed it then the hulls feel pretty smooth but look grubby? Get a power buffer and some 3M Marine Fiberglass Cleaner and Wax. Apply according to the directions. A coat or two should have the hulls pretty clean and then another coat of plain ol' Maguire's car wax (or whatever) should have them super shiny.


Depends on how severe they are, but if they're really just scrapes in the gelcoat you could fill them with Marine-Tex, probably. (What color are the hulls? If they're white then this makes the Marine-Tex an even better solution.) With regards to the pencil-sized hole, if I were you I'd do the following:
1) Cut a penny-to-dime-sized circle out of a fairly flexible (yet somewhat stiff) piece of plastic, like a milk (or drinking water) jug.
2) Take a penny nail and pierce the circle in the middle. (You'll hold the nail/plastic by the pointy end.
3) Mix up some 5-minute epoxy and slather it on the side of the circle facing you.
4) Fold the plastic over and push it through the hole (but hang onto that nail!)
5) with the disk through the hole, pull on the nail gently. The disk should have unfolded on the inside of the hull, and now by pulling gently (3-5 lbs of force) you're squishing it against the inside of the hole.
6) Hold this pressure for at least 5 minutes. Now you've created a decent seal.
7) Use a Dremel with a heavy-duty cutting wheel to cut off the nail so that it's flush with (or below the level of) the outside of the hull.
Fill the rest of the hole with Marine-Tex or thickened epoxy.
9) Sand smooth.
10) Wax.
11) Enjoy!


You mean the (approx) 3/8"x9" aluminum pins? Maybe gentle heat and gentle tapping with a hammer. And lots of WD-40 or other penetrating oil.

Good luck, broly!

_________________
Warm regards,

Jim

Jamie has a good idea for patching the small hole in the hull. I would only caution that you don't use a ferrous nail. I will rust, especially in salt water, and stain the side of your boat. When it corrodes completly you will have a nail sized hole in your boat. As long as you cut it off below the outer layer of the existing fiberglass you should be able to seal it up.

_________________
Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Jim,

Thanks a bunch for your advice. I really like your idea for fixing the pencil sized hole.

I did have a question about the location of those inspection ports. I assume you're talking about putting them on the top of the hulls, but this is not a flat surface. I suppose the caulking would account for the curve of the deck. I also like the idea of having those ports for storage when on the water. I am a bit weary of putting massive holes into my hull. Will this compromise the structural integrity of the deck?

What do you think about fishing up some plastic tubing, the kind used in aquariums approx 1/4" OD, up the drain plugs and hooking that tubing to an aquarium air pump to force air into the hulls and out the drain plug. The tubing would be removed once the hull was dry. Could a small diameter tube be pushed up the length of the Hull?

You can get from Murray's (and also possibly from Hobie themselves but I'm not sure) curved-base ports for the tops of the hulls. This eliminates one of your concerns.
Regarding the structural integrity: no, it shouldn't effect it whatsoever. In fact, when you cut the holes for the ports, take advantage of the opportunity to inspect the exposed cross-sections of the hulls for any signs of delamination, and go ahead & inject epoxy all around that area. If anything it'll make it stronger.


Well, you might be able to get it up there, if somehow you had a really long dowel that would fit. An aquarium pump isn't going to push a very large volume of air, however. Whereas if you wanted to speed the process, after installing the ports you could put a wet-dry vac hose (on suck OR blow) as far into the bow as possible. That'd move much more air.

Hope that was helpful!

_________________
Warm regards,

Jim

What about using monofilament fishing line instead of a nail?

I think that's a fine idea! You'd just have to figure out something for the "backing" of the plastic disk. Maybe just a huge knot epoxied to the backside would work.

Just so you feel better about putting in the ports on your H16, I put them on mine. They worked great and I had no structural issues. I still walked on the bows on calm days. Just don't step directly on the ports.

I used the hatches from Hobie that had the correct curve in them for the H16. They looked great.

_________________
Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

Adam,
Look us up at www.hobiefleet2.com for sailing in your area.
Ken

_________________
Ken