Slight Dents in Hulls

Hey Everybody,

I recently got addicted to the hobie 16 and finally bought a used 1999 boat. And sailing it is really fun!

Now I got a technical question: I found that both of my hulls have some small shallow dents. Like somebody has smashed a baseball at a car. So the fiberglass has been slightly dented and the foam compressed. And somehow a shallow dent remains (less than a 1mm depth), it doesn´t pop back completely. Absolutely no cracks in the gelcoat and not soft. They are only visible if the hull is really polished, so it is hard to take pictures.

Is that normal? Maybe from rough handling on the trailer.. or from stepping on the hulls while righting the boat..?

Can this be repaired or is it only a beauty problem? I think filling them with epoxy is really hard as they are really very shallow.

cheers from Switzerland,

Sebastian

Try to tell us the location of the indented areas. That will help to determine if it can be ignored for now. But I would say that if it is not soft there is really nothing to worry about.

If the dents are only on the insides of the hulls then they are indeed likely from righting the boat.

Yep, most of them are on the inner side of the hulls between the pylons. One is on the outside in the bow section about 1ft from the tip. According to my preowner this happened when pushing the boats anround on the trailer. So as long everthing is stiff I will do nothing.

I got a further question: How do you avoid scratching to boat with the trapeze hook while climbing back after capsizing?

cheers,
Sebastian

I guess it depends on your athleticism, but what I do is grab the dolphin striker with one hand and put the other hand on the hull then kind of sideways kick/pull myself up into a sideways seated position then swing my legs up. Trying to climb up straight on will put the harness hook onto the hull, not good. Once I'm up I keep holding the dolphin striker and offer a hand to pull up the crew.

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1990 "Formula 1" H16 (# 009)