Soft spots on Hobie hulls

Hello everyone. I do have quite a bit of experience sailing but not with Hobie Cats. I recently was given an early 80's Hobie 14 Turbo. Couldn't pass it up! Seems to be pretty solid overall. Sails are in great shape and rigging is in pretty good shape. I bought a new trampoline and lace kit for it and with hull cleaner and polish it should clean up great. My only concern is that there are a couple of soft spots forward of the trampoline support bars on both hulls. By "soft spots"...I mean that they can be pressed in only when using a considerable amount of force and they are just not as solid as the rest of the hull area. My question is when do the hulls require strengthining with epoxy filler? Everything else on this Hobie is pretty much ready to go and I wonder if I should take the time to strengthen the soft spots first before I sail this summer or should I just sail it and do the strenghthining over the winter? Thanks for any advice you can give me..

Do it now. It's not that big of a job (an afternoon).

Soft spots are like cancer - early detection / treatment is your best course of action.

I have had a hobie 16 for about a year now. The tops of the hulls are delaminated terribly and soft as hell, the entire length. there are also soft spots on the sides of the hulls. From what I have read, the boat is trash, but I have been sailing the crap out of it this last year and haven't had a single problem. I just try to keep my feet off of the tops, and when i'm righting the boat I watch my step as well. A little spot I wouldn't worry too much about. I would say fix it if you have the time and experience. Otherwise just keep the boat covered so it doesn't get any worse.

Thanks guys! I might as well go ahead and take care of it now for peace of mind. I just ordered a West System fiberglass repair kit and downloaded some really good step by step instructions.

You're a Coast Guard rescue waiting to happen.

The Space Shuttle was safe - until it blew up. Managers at NASA used exactly the same reasoning to OK the launch of Challenger that you are using. Just because you haven't had a problem previously, doesn't mean you won't the next time you go out.

Soft spots don't get better on their own - and keeping the boat covered won't slow the progression down. It's not a difficult job and requires minimal skill and $$. There's a FAQ on it - viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1156

I can add to the fix-it-now voices... I failed a hull that was delaminated. Lucky for me during a regatta with plenty of help around. You don't want to get stuck on the water... and that assumes you don't get hurt by the falling rig or tangled in rigging... or other issues that are possible here. Even in an Arizona lake... you could run into trouble if it fails at the wrong moment.

You only need to sheet the main hard to fail it.

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

Solid Hulls Good
Soft Spots Bad
Most soft spots that I have seen are caused by people jumping or walking on the top of the hulls A good Captain will yell at any infraction of this problem.
If you have ever seen how thin and delicate the skin of a hobie really is it is easy to see why hulls get soft
On the Soft Spot repairs I keep the epoxy in the frig until I use it. This gives me a little more work time
Former Hobie Admiral Gary

Just google hobie cat broken hull and you will see pictures of why you should fix or replace the hull! Doesn't look like fun especially trying to get out of the way of the mast when it falls!! Smart choice to do the fix now...

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https://m.facebook.com/IEhobiefleet30/
Redlands California
2005 Hobie 16 with 2010 euro national sails.
1981 Hobie 16 cat fever