Successful hull delam rapair stories????

I just bought a 79 hobie, and one hull, just in front of the forward pylon is a little soft. i'e read about the delam repair post in the faq's and I'm wondering how many have used this technique with success? Anyone have any significant time post repair and still hav solid decks???

Does everyone walk on their hulls???

-jeff

I wrote the FAQ from personal experience. It works.

Most people step onto the hull. Best to avoid it if possible.

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

I've done it to my H18. It works. Listen to what Matt is telling you in the FAQ and not any of the other versions.

_________________
Nick

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

Thanks for the info guys. I'll do exactly as the FAQ states. It sounds so easy to be effective!

Matt, thanks for your response. I build websites for a living, and I wish I could get more of my clients to participate and be as helpful as you and Hobie are to this community.

It amazes me. I buy a 28 year old boat & I'm blown away by the availability of parts & support.

Fantastic.

-jeff

i'm looking at a 1986 H16 that has a 2' long soft spot on the bow (dont know which one, maybe both) about 10" from the farward pylon. can this be fixed with delam repair? it seems pretty big.

also, does delam repair erase the damage and restore the structural integrity of the boat 100%?

10" Delamination? It can be repaired if done correctly.

I would be hesitant to buy one with that though. After repair I would also be more careful in rough or offshore sailing. Probably Ok on smaller inland lakes where you are not far from shore. Delamination can cause bow failure.

I did a repair on a 16 in 1984 that I know was raced and sailed hard for years and last I knew was still just fine.

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

Mike - actually the delam area was 2 feet long, and it started 10" forward of the pylon. I don't know how wide it was though. I turned down the offer. It was a 1986 cat going for $1000... I didn't want to risk a dismasting when sailing in the ocean, let alone the Indian river (between barrier islands and mainland florida).

thanks for the story though.

I just did the delam repair from the FAQ's and it was easy. I did run out of Git-Rot half way through though. I bought a little 4 oz bottle and the hull quickly swallowed that up so I ran out and bought another 16 oz to finish it off.

So, both hulls consumed about 19 ounces of the epoxy. Today it feels solid, and I used an epoxy putty to plug up the tiny holes.

I hope it lasts. I have visions of someone stepping on the hull and hearing a crack from inside.

If this holds up, it certainly is a quick and easy repair. One niggling thing..as an after thought I wish I had mixed on some chopped fiberglass strands to give it some strength. In my case, there was a pretty good void to fill and I think I could have gotten away with the epoxy/fiberglass mixture thickness.

-jeff

I recently fixed the hulls on my 1976 fully delaminated H14. I used about 1.5 gallons of epoxy before it was done. I just followed the instructions found on the web. Hulls are now very strong but about 15lbs heavier. No biggy. Not a racer anyway. In the process I discovered a way to easily pull the delaminated/separated surfaces together. Get some pull ties about 3/16 to ¼ in wide and with scissors cut a diagonal slit in the male end. What you get is a fish hook looking thing. Stick this in a hole drilled all the way through the hull. The point of the slit you made will catch on the inside surface when you pull back on it.. Slide the female end down tight to the outer surface. It makes a small but effective clamp which pulls and holds the inner and outer surfaces tight together. Drill another hole through just the outer surface about 1/2 inch away and squirt some epoxy in the hole then let it cure. The epoxy will seep into and around your new clamp. It bonds the surfaces together and fills the clamping hole. Some epoxy will leak through into the hull but that's OK. You may have to put several of these clamps in the delaminated area but it makes for a tighter bond and saves tons (ounces) of expensive epoxy. Cut the protruding pull tie off with a knife or wire snips then proceed as per a normal delam job. Hope this helps somebody.

I just bought a 16 with a pretty good delam on one hull. I did this fix before on my Catalina 22 which has wood under the deck not foam. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the middle of the area. Then I used hot glue to glue a couple feet of clear tube over the hole. I borrowed a vacuum pump like the A/C guys use and sucked it dry for a few days. You could instantly see the water vapor go up the tube! I then cut the tube about 6" above the deck and inserted a funnel. Pour in epoxy and let gavity do its thing. I did drill a vent hole near the fill hole though. When both holes were overflowing with epoxy. I let it sit for a week. Good as new! I even walk on it. Been a couple years now with no problems. I hope to have the same luck with the Hobie.

I just did a delam fix last night. Used the West System epoxy and it seemed to work just fine, but I will do some touch ups to the spot tonight.

The one thing that no one has mentioned is the HEAT that the epoxy puts off while curing. My hull got hot enough to cook an egg on. I'm not sure if this even matters, but I still felt it necessary lightly hose off the area to keep it from possible melting through or melting the foam inside.

Has anyone else experienced this???

Yeah it can get a little warm. But even in 90 deg heat I didn't feel the need to hose anything off. How big an area did you have and did you drill the little vent holes around the edge?

Alot of heat from epoxy curing is usually from there being a thick layer of it. The curing reaction gives off heat and heat causes the reaction to speed up. If you mix a cup of epoxy and en equal volume of epoxy on a board and spread it out you will notice that the cup of epoxy is much warmer than the board. This is because the spread out epoxy can't "put as much heat back into itself".

The reason I wrote all of that is it sounds like you have a thick layer of epoxy instead of a thin layer. The thicker layer will produce more heat in less time. Another possibility is you used a fast hardener and with the summer temps outside it cured the epoxy really fast and created more heat more rapidly.

I hope this was helpful. Just keep an eye on the repaired area.

_________________
Nick

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

One thing I did was read the instructions. It said that in warm temps to chill the epoxy before mixing. I left mine in the fridge overnight and it worked out really well. If I had not done that I think it would have cured before I could get much in there.

This post brings up a very good question: what is the body of evidence that the delam repair with epoxy produces strong or 'strong as new', hulls. This web site should be a great place to get lots of reports of the performance of delaminated and repaired hulls, and to begin to get an idea of the probabilities of success. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE SAILING ON REPAIRED HULLS TO PUT A SHORT POSTING ON THEIR EXPERIENCE, especially if problems developed due to the repair. (By the way, my impression is that the repair is very strong, but that is difficult to confirm because this web site has many stories from people who just repaired their boats, but very few from people who have sailed awhile on them). So here is the short version of my own experience (hopefully others will imitate):

I repaired two delaminated hulls with 3' to 4' by ~ 8" soft spot forward of the pylons about a year ago, and have sailed about 12 times with no problems developing. The repaired area is very firm with no 'crunchyness' detected when pressing hard with my hands. The sailing I tested them in was often in light to moderate wind, but once was in wind that was as high 17 mph average with 28mph gusts. The water was always flat.

The longer story (for those who are interested) is: I bought a 78 H16 with the two large soft spots on top and several other small ones which were mostly on the deck but two on the sides. I repaired following the hobie web site closely, except I used FLAG epoxy resin and medium harderner and the two large spots took about 1/2 gal. of resin plus hardener with about a pint of glass fibers mixed. After they were reparied they were extremely firm, stiffer than undamaged parts of the hull or most other H16 top sides I have been able to put my hands on (my guess is that they may be even firmer, perhaps even stronger than new hulls, but can't say for sure). I put another quart of epoxy in the small soft spots (or on the ground from many spills due to difficulty of injection). I have subsequently run the boat into the dock to produce a large delam on the side of the bow that took another pint of epoxy to firm it, and found a slight dimple on the side near the stay anchor that seemed pretty firm but that I pushed on hard enough (with my hand and my elbow braced by my knee for added force) to create a soft spot that I then repaired with about a cup of resin (this was to be sure that there was not a small delam that could have grown large under stress, I don't know if it was really a good idea). The hulls are now firm everywhere, with a few very small spots that are firm but produce some 'cruchyness' when I push on them (I am guessing the foam is deteriorating in these areas) As for the sailing I have done on them I sailed with two adults and two kids and a reefed main in 17mph+ wind on flat water acouple of times, and with two adults in the higher winds mentioned above (also reefed main), and several times in lower wind and/or by my self. I have never pitchpoled or capsized. In all this time I have not detected any evidence that any part of the hull, or certainly not the fore decks, has developed delam due to sailing stresses, so I am pretty happy with my repairs. However, I am obviously conservative in my use, and for example so far have strictly avoided sailing the SF bay due to cold water with chop and high and gusty winds, and certainly do not plan to do that with my kids. But I do sail in the gusty winds on small, warm lakes etc. and would like to be confident enough to sail the bay with another adult. Unfortunately the use I have given the boat may not be a the best stress test, so I look forward to hearing other experiences with repaired hulls (I have also heard mmillers very encouraging story about a bot repaired in the 80s and sailed hard for 20 years, but I have also heard anecdotal info about bow separations....). I also don't know if the delams I created with impacts indicate that the old hulls are substantially weaker and prone to delams than new hulls are. It would be interesting to figure out whether a well maintained (ie; not delamed) hull that is 30 years old is a strong as a new one, as if I lose confidence in my hulls in the future, I will need to decide whether to invest in new ones, or better maintained old ones.
Hope this is helpful to others. No matter what other experiences may show, sailing my 16 has been a blast and well worth the trouble!
Bob