Refinishing the hulls

We are thinking of having both hulls redone. We priced having this done and were quoted about $500 each. I have no idea if this is reasonable or not. Can anyone help?

One hull is is decent shape with only minor things. The other needs a little more work. A hole was fixed on the top just in front of the front pylon where a dock pole went through it when a storm flipped it over. This happened with the previous owner. He did a good job repairing it and it seems strong. But the textured area is now smooth where it was fixed. Slippery.

We do not want to do the work ourselves...no time.

So we just want to know if $500 for each hull is reasonable. And yes we plan on keeping it for a long time.

What exactly do you mean by "redone"?

I assume you mean you are having the hulls re-gelcoated/painted. Or are you simply having them cleaned and polished?

You never said the age or condition of the boat, but if you're looking into re-gelcoating the hulls, I'd assume it means they're pretty old and beat. I can't see dumping $1000 into an old boat.

If they're not that beat, why not spend a few hours doing a nice job of cleaning, wet sanding, and waxing the boat.

Personally, I'd take the $1k and put it towards a new(er) boat rather than an old boat.

sm

My hulls are older and very faded. I am going to redo them myself. I am going to try vertglas and see how it goes.

Seems a bit "pricey". I've refurbed quite a few boats and at that price I'd consider doing it full time.

Call the boat dealers in your area and find out who does gel coat repairs for warranty issues or insurance claims. There's bound to be more than one and there in lies your competitive pricing.

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I kind of thought $500 per hull was a little pricey myself, but now you have confirmed it.

The boat is a '86. The hulls are not in that bad of condition. Mostly cosmetic. There are some small chips on the edges in a couple of places that would need to be filled in. Plus we want that repair checked out to make sure it was done right and is strong as, that are is where you tend to stand.

We just bought the boat in mid August so buying another is not an option. It is in pretty good shape all over and we got a good deal on it. We just want to fix it up a bit. We were only able to sail a couple of weekends last summer so we are looking forward to next summer already!

That definately sounds pricy. For 500 a hull you should be able to find a solid used set, or a whole new boat for that matter. Fixing those cosmetic repairs is rather simple, there is a wealth of information on this site on how to do so. Basically fill over with polyester resin and cover with gel if you so choose.

You shouldn't need to stand where that repair was done, that is a sure fire way to delaminate your decks. Avoid standing or sitting on them as much as you can. A local dealer would probably look it all over for you if you are that concerned. Don't you think dealers, Jeremy, Brad???

Most boats have some kind of cosmetic blemish, I wouldn't worry about it too much. People will only notice if it is sitting on the beach, and what good is that? I say go sailing!

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Based on your latest post, there's no way I'd put $1k towards "beautifying" a 20+ year old hobie. The whole boat is probably worth about that much if it's in good shape.

If the dings and scratches and fading bother you, take a summer afternoon and fix 'em up yourself. You'll spend about $20-50 tops.

As to the structural integrity of the repaired hull, the fiberglass "expert" isn't going to be able to give you much insight unless he can actully look inside the hull, which he can't do without cutting it open.

The best bet is to tap and press firmly on the repaired area. If it's as solid as the rest of hull (and the other hull), you're probably fine.

sm

Thats probably a pretty good deal for a full respray. There is a ton of labor involved. Sanding, fairing, glassing , spraying, sanding again, spraying again, buffing. You get the picture. Weather you want to put that kind of effort into an old boat is your call. Just resprayed an a-class and it was about double.

That's why if you have even a shimmer of mechanical ability, I'm an advocate of doing it yourself. It would probably cost around $200 for materials, sandpaper etc. I'm working on a video, but it's going to take some time.

The deck pattern is another story. We have a catalog of different nonskid patterns at the shop and there's not one that even comes close. We took a splash of an area of good deck with some latex and made our own, but it wasn't right. It is sooo hard to match the pattern.

I called Hobie during one repair to see if they had a piece o deck mold laying around. They didn't , but Matt told me a cool bit of trivia. The OG H16 deck print was made from the headliner of a '57(?) Chevy. Thought that was pretty neat.

Will this help make your boat more beautiful?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74sEyot5A_o

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My husband has the ability, he just doesn't have the time. But he will probably do it himself...eventually. Just won't be done this year.

Whats the "OG" stand for in OG H16?...Original maybe?

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1981 H16.
1993 Macgregor 26S

Jeremy, great videos man. I just watched three of them on youtube (oxidation, rudder cam, hobie anatomy). Very nice. If a picture is worth a thousand words a video must be priceless.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

Thanks James! Those were prototypes. I'll do a few more this winter.

The OG is original.

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With a boat this old, my thoughts are, spot repair where needed. Then buff out the rest, starting with wet sanding if needed in spots. Once, you've buffed/wet sanded for enough years that you can see through the gel coat, then it is either time to get a new boat, or if the hulls are truly sound, have the gel coat redone. Heck, you can buy a complete, used, boat in decent shape for less than $1000!!

Think about how much weight you will be adding if you re-gel coat or paint without removing the original gel coat, and how much work that will be.

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Alan
'86 H16, Sail #89057

Hobie Sr. must have been knocking back some brewskis while listening the the Beach Boys at the beach and looked up.

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or that was the first thing he saw when he regained consiousness.