Regarding hulls, how soft is soft?

Hi all, new Hobie 16 1981 owner here. Before purchasing the boat, I read this post: https://www.mariner-sails.com/blogs/sai ... catamaran/ and as a result, I checked for soft spots on the hulls in front of the pylons. However, apparently I didn't push down hard enough, because although I cannot feel any softness with the palms of my hands, I can feel softness (the hull gives a little) if I stand on the area in front of the pylon when getting on or off the boat, especially when stepping the mast. I have stopped standing there, but my question now is: how soft is soft? I.e. is this give normal (I weigh 180 lbs), or is it an indication of the hull delamination I was hoping to avoid? Another bad sign was that the left hull had a fair amount of water in it when we first got it to the lake (o-rings around the hull plugs were perished), having read this board more extensively now, it seems that that can contribute to hull softness.

So two questions:

(1) Do I need to start looking for a parts boat with solid hulls (or alternatively follow the procedures posted here and elsewhere to fix the hulls).
(2) When I'm looking at potential hulls, do I actually need to stand on that front section to check for softness? I'm guessing the owner's might not like that...

Thanks
Mike

You will probably get mixed opinions on this. Some will say fix it, some will say leave it be, depends on if you want to put in the work to fix it and hopefully extend the life of the hulls some or let it go until they need replaced. How large are the soft areas? I'm not sure what the success rate is for delamination repair on the top of the hulls , I'd look into that. For what it's worth, my old '78 had soft spots for as long as I can remember. The last couple years, I noticed they were so soft in front of the front pylon that you could see that the area was sunken down. I'd avoid stepping on the area at all costs it was so bad. Righting the boat you could hear the hulls crunch as you would walk around on the side of the hulls. I'd sailed it hard and it never came apart on me. I had put that boat through a lot of abuse without a problem, but maybe I'd just been lucky? For reference, with my '84, I can stand on the hulls and not feel any deflection whatsoever. If you plan to keep the boat for a very long time it may be worth taking some preventative action.

How soft is soft?

Yes, it is somewhat subjective. Hulls will gradually get somewhat softer over time as they age and are used.

I would say that a slight deflection in the hulls of a nearly 40 year old boat is somewhat to be expected. When the hulls are truly soft, the deflection will be quite apparant and could be accompanied by crunching sound as mentioned above. I would also compare the firmness of the suspect area to other areas on the hull or the same area on the opposite hull.

To delay the onset of soft spots, avoid walking on the hulls when possible. The repeated flexing is what can break down the bond between the fiberglass and foam and also cause the foam to deterioriate. Also try to keep the hulls as dry as possible. I’m in the process of adding access ports to a 1981 H14 which I picked up earlier this year (literally just cut the hole for the first port this morning). I noticed the foredecks were just a little more flexible than I would like to see. Sure enough, there is water sitting in the bottom of the hull. These boats are almost impossible to fully drain due to the extreme curvature of the hull. I’m placing the access ports just behind the forward pylon and hoping that several weeks/months of ventillation will keep the hulls in good condition.

sm

Thanks for the replies; seems that this is a grey area. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has experience/thoughts.