Repair Hobie wave Hull?

I aquired a used hobie wave. I did not notice the damage in the hull above the rudder mount. Is there any way to repair the hulls? Help much appreciated.

Do you have a picture? It cannot be fixed in the normal manor that fiberglass hull damage is repaired, but there may be options.

_________________
Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

There was a thread here somewhere about welding...

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=4409&highlight=weld

There it is.

I have a picture, but am not sure how to post the picture?

You cannot upload directly to this site. There is a topic on this here http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=8574

Also, the way I do it, as others here, is to create an acct on a photo hosting site like photobucket.com (there are others too) you can then upload your pics to that site, it then shows you your collection, with an 'image' string which you would insert into the messege here. Works pretty slick.

_________________
Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

Here is the picture.
http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos50 ... _0_ALB.jpg

Looks like that damage might have been caused by the boat backing up in the surf w/ the rudders down, or somehing like that.
Does not look that bad. If you are worried about it, or it gets worse, you could remove the bracket and drill out the threaded inserts and use long ss screws/nuts thru a backing plate (like some aluminum flat stock) on the inside of the transom, of course, you will need to have the inspection ports to do that. Does your boat have the inspection ports aft of the rear cossbar, as did many earlier club models? If not, you could always add them.

_________________
Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

Yes it does have the rear inspection ports. I think it would ride above water line, But have never ridden on a wave before. This boat is for my kids. I have a hobie 16. I want them to learn to sail. And this looks like a good beginer boat.

Looking at he pic, it appears to be the upper gudgeon, it will definity ride above the water line, very little if any water should get in there, even if the crack were thru. The Wave hull is 2 layers, an outer skin of ~1/8"polyethelyne, w/ 1/4" to 1/2" of structural polyethelyne foam. Pretty rugged stuff. I would doubt it would be a water-entry concern. Just keep an eye on it, slap a little silicone sealant on it, and it should be trouble free for years.

_________________
Jim

2007 Hobie Wave

There's something else you might try... We've still not used the stuff, but it's supposed to be really good for polyethylene repairs - West System G-Flex. http://www.westsystem.com/webpages/productinfo/guide/index.htm#gflex

Don't know if it will add significant structural support. But the few people who've used it says it's easy to work and has done what they needed.

There's a dealer finder on their website:
http://www.westsystem.com/frames/tier2/productinfo/usdealers.htm

Brian C

I think that I will try a combination of your advice. Since the crack does go all the way through I will drill and reinforce this area with the aluminum back plate and bolt in support on the upper rudder mount. Then i Will seal with the flexable apoxy. It should add enough strength to get many years out of this boat. Thank you for your help; I will let you know how it turns out - to be continued...

SailJunkie