Help, hole in front deck

I just bought an 82' Hobie 18 with a trailer for $100. The boat is in great shape, except for a hole about the diameter of a quarter 2 feet in front if the crossbar. The hole extends through the first layer of fiberglass but not the inside layer. There is also a soft spot that extends around the hole for about 6 inches. I'm not sure how best to repair the hole. Thanks for your help, this forum has been a great help with this boat.

Thanks again,

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George

Hobie 18

Just this past week a guys N20 flipped on to my Tiger on the beach over night due to high winds. His mast put a nice little hole similar to what you describe in my deck. He had this epoxy stuff, 3M or whatever I'm not sure but it was two sticks, one white stick and one blue/purple stick, mixed them together like mixing playdough and put them on the deck as a temporary fix. Worked beautifully. Smeared on just like playdough and cured and everything worked great. This of course was just a quick fix so we could continue in the race, but if you're looking just to fix a small hole in a boat you don't want to get professionally fixed it should do the trick. I'm sure you could find something matching that description at west marine or anywhere that sells epoxy.

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Tiger 947/2364

resin and glas is the only wat to go yto fix it . use the resin to fill the soft spot through small driled holes work it arround to completely fill the void between layers and then cover the hole with some glass and then sand and cover with some gell coat

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Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
[email protected]
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

George, I'm assuming the hole is in front of the front crossbar....you didn't say which one. Given that it is in the front crossbar area can you see the damaged area by looking thru the port hole (might need a mirror & flashlight)? Is the internal layer of glass fractured? You'll see white lines in the glass if it is. If there are fracture lines there, you may need to flip the boat over and reinforce the deck from the inside. Any chance you can shoot some digital photos and email to me? Rick

Thanks for all of the suggestions. The hole is in front of the front crossbar, several feet from the inspection port. I probably could see the inside with a mirror and light, Ill try when I get home if its not raining. I just bought this boat as I cheap way to get back into sailing. If the repair is not perfect that's ok, I'm not planning on racing it. I just need something safe to cruise around the bay and local lakes. I hope my $100 wasn't wasted, I figured for that price I couldn't go wrong. The rest of the boat is great including the trailer. The only other problems were the lines needed replacing, and the zipper is ripped off of the jib luff. I bought a complete line kit from Saltydogs that should be in tomorrow. I talked to a local sail shop that is going to look at the sail and give me a quote on replacing the zipper, it might end up being cheaper to replace the whole jib. Can you use the jib without the zipper? If I can get this hole patched up I'm hoping to take it out next week.

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George

Hobie 18

Two things:

Regarding looking inside the hull, a digital camera works quite well. Just stick it in the porthole, snap a few pics, and then bring it up on your computer. This is of course assuming that you have a camera or have access to one.

Regarding the jib zipper, I wouldn't recommend sailing without the jib luff zipped around the forestay. The sail will bag out and probably just sort of blow around- it will be very hard to control if there's any kind of wind. You'd be better off sailing without the jib. As far as replacing the zipper, ususally it's just the slider that breaks. Perhaps you can just get them to install a new slider rather than an entire zipper.

sm

A bunch of years ago I bought about 1/2 doz of those zippers, (Hobie 18 jib luff zipper). I've got 4 left and they are in new, never used condition. All you need is someone who can sew dacron and nylon on their machine and you'll be good to go. If you're interested in one email me at [email protected] and let me know.