inflatable inside H18 Hull

I am still working on this Hull relamination and have stalled at this.

What could I inflate inside the hull to apply even pressure outward on the hull and contain the epoxy from dripping through the old glass?

I have plenty of access to the bow but limited to the rear past the dagger port.

My best thought so far is an inflatable pool alligator or whale, they are inexpensive and seem like they would be long enough to work.

My hulls are 50% delamed, one whole side of each hull.

any suggestions?

Seriously, the biggest problem you will have with inflating something inside the hull is even pressure distribution and all the sharp, pointy pieces of fiberglass inside. You're more likely to end up distorting the hull, or making things worse.

Now that's funny! I don't want to have to do that if i dont have do. I guess i will just be putting two gallons of epoxy in each side and hoping for the best. There should be something to do this with, I tried a small raft and it seemed to put good even pressure out on the hull, didnt distort it outward.

My other thought after looking at how they built the hull was just taking the top off and starting over with glass and pressure like that.

Has anyone successfully taken a hull top off and replaced it?

I know I am grasping here but have to try....What other suggestions do you have, other than the sawsall and the dumpster?

Good luck taking the hull top off the seam that the 18 has is extremely strong. I think someone made a video of destroying a boat and trying to rip the top off just one section. If that is your best option, I would suggest you take a good look at Matt's photos above, because thats what you'll be doing.

Ok I get it. Option two is cutting an access hole the length of the hull and then reglassing when complete. The big issue here is getting something to expand or extend in the hull to give a little pressue towards the gel coat while the epoxy sets. Any other ideas for this large of a delam project, other than the sawsall? Any glassers out there with ideas? If I have to part this one out at this point I think I have too much in it to make it worth.

Here are pics of where I am with this now.


http://groups.msn.com/BryansHobiePage/shoebox.msnw?Page=1

Even if you can find something to "Inflate inside the hull" you will still have to get around the large foam blocks that are behind the dagger board well. Then you have the problem of hard fiberglass needles possibly poking a hole in whatever your inflating.

Good luck, ill think about it today and see what i can come up with.

If you are not going to look for used hulls to replace those, here is an ide.

I see you have the hull on its side and that gave me an idea. If you are willing to work upside down you could fill the hull with water. Physics would give you even pressure (at equat depth) regardless of sharp edges etc. I know this is way out there but it seem that you are looking for something way out there.

Sounds like the project of the decade to me! seriosly though, i have a nice 82' Hobie 18 for sale. its complete with trailer and sail box. everything works and is there. one soft spot in front of rear port cross bar. i'm asking $1300. i'm located in nor-California. i also have a complete set of extra sails (white) for $200. email me if your interested and i'll send you some pictures of everything. wesmx916 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

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Wes
92 Miracle 20 + magnum wings

at this point a new boat would be great but i looked for this one for a long time, the price was right but a project none the less. I am Florida so that drive to the land of the beach cat would be a haul. It amazes me that there arent more cats here with the shallow and sand.

Either way I am going to move on and work on this more this weekend. I will continue to post pics as I progress. If it works and doesnt destruct upon sailing will be a miracle.

There is another poster here who lives close and has successfully done what seems like the same thing this boat has. I kind of hate to see if trashed and would really like to get out on something this summer.

If I get out of this one ok might consider a newer or better one in the future, goodness knows they are out there.

Any other ideas?

Hi, I figured that I would throw this idea at you. Back when I used to work on aircraft, we used cleco fasteners, which are kind of like a reusable rivet. They were used to draw pieces of aircraft skin together in alignment for repair/replacing skin sections. If you were to drill holes from the outside to pull the layers together with different length clecos. They act like a clamp. See this web site:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h163/ ... leco_6.jpg

Then when you are done fill the small 1/8, 5/32 or 3/16 diameter holes that you drilled.

Just a thought,

Regards,

Keith

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1982 H18

OK - maybe I'm missing something -

And let me put the disclaimer up front - I've never relamed a hull.

That said - you do know that you don't drill all the way through the hull, right? You go through one layer of glass, and maybe the foam, depending what side of the sandwich is delammed. Unless your hulls are severely mis-shapen internally, the void shouldn't be that big, but the void needs to be filled for a good repair.

What I'm saying is there should be no need to inflate anything from the inside.

OK - people with real experience let me know what I missed!

WOW...so new life into this project. I found a guy with rudder castings and uppers on beachcats and thought they were pre 87's. They arrived today and they are the plastic cams, post '87s...I am very excited. That takes a lot off me and additional worries about crashing and tearing more stuff apart.

I really like the aircraft rivet idea and in that same thinking i bet there are other kinds of things that would do the same thing and give more purchase on the a back side of the hull.

There is enough delamination that something will need to bring the gel back to the glass and foam, there is about 1/2 play in some places in there now.

I know not to drill all the way through the glass but I am still worried about drippage. To the touch the inside glass is brittle almost and doesnt feel solid. After all the delamination is caused by the moisture gettting through this glass layer into the foam, no?

Either way this is a major relam deal. I also found some long air ballasts for sailboats that were in a sail catalog that will work as they are 55" long and 14" wide. They are made of plastic so would have to put something around them so they didnt puncture.

I,ve repaired several delaminated H16's foredecks .... but nothing as large as what you have I think.

I basically carefully cut off the delaminated outter skin ... dried it out .... mixed up a mixture of WEST Epoxy w/ microballoons .... poured it in and then pressed the outer skin back into the epoxy ... let it harden ... sand/fair ... and reskin the seams w/ E cloth from Defender Industies and WEST Epoxy. Any small delaminated areas I drilled alot of small holes injected WEST Epoxy then reskined the area if required. After you drill all the small holes make sure you "dry" out the area before you inject the epoxy.

GOOD LUCK
Harry

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HarryMurphey
H-18 mag/ #9458
Fleet 54 Div 11

Yes I did. And doing this kind of repair is exactly why I made it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEZJd-LpUws

Wanna see an 'Anatomy on an 18' video? I'll talk to my producer

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Sail Revolution
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