Fixing nicks and chips

Hello all, I have a 89 h16. It has sat for 9 years when i bought it. It has no soft spots in the hulls at all always a good thing. Now i am still learning all of the in's and out's of sailing and repairs needed when you own one. So my question is this i have plenty of nicks and dings on the bottoms of both hulls. No cracks or anything but some good nicks and pits down to the primer on them. So never having to fix one yet i am looking for any tips or websites i can go to to help me out in fixing them. They don't take on any water at all so thats good but where i have to launch its rocky. Not alot of rocks but enough that i have to do repairs before the season starts to prevent any further damage. What do i need to buy to fix this. I would include pics but being in CT in the middle of the winter i have 12 inches of snow on the ground so its hard to get to it right now! Any help you can give me would be a great help to me because i have never done it before. Thanks alot all.

_________________
Mark
1989 Hobie 16
Sail # 92778

Hi Thump, welcome to the world of Hobie Cats, traveling & fun. Something that may help answer some of your questions you have now, and in the future, is to join the Hobie Class Association and get their magazine called the HOTLINE. It's a bi-monthly publication and has all kinds of info on our boats. I've attached a link for you to take a look at.

http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/

Any specific issues of Hotline that address nicks and chips, Rick? I notice you are doing several articles. Thump's question could include either temporary, protective repairs or entire refinishes, I think.

The next issue of the HOTLINE will have the nicks & dings article. It probably won't hit the mailbox for another month, give or take a week. If you'll send your private email address to me at [email protected] I'll see what I can do to get the info to you sooner. The current issue (just came out about a week ago) has the article on rudders & boards. For those of you who are not receiving the HOTLINE yet, but would like to, go to http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/ you will find a link in the center of the home page for membership. It's cheap..$35.00 a year and you'll get 6 HOTLINES per year.

I can't wait to see Rick's next "This Old Boat" Article. His series of articles is fantastic. I’m collecting them in a binder for future reference. Rick’s HobieCat repair knowledge could fill a book. (Which I’d buy if it were published).

I'm planning to do some minor scratch repair on my H-18 in the next weeks. Using some guidance from the “Spraying Gel-Coat” article from the July-August 2008 Hot-Line. If Spraying is too intimidating look at these links to a TAP Plastics Gel-Coat non-structural repair video on You-Tube. Good Luck.

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWEE6SFUdpg
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en-8SbhdF_k&feature=related

They make it look so simple.
If anyone has any comments on the TAP Plastics process on the video I'd like to hear it.

_________________
John Latimer
'79 Hobie18 - Magnum
Sail#4854

Jeremy's got one with good music.

Be nice to put a "bandaid" of some sort on the ding to keep it from getting worse until the finish can be redone in "dry dock".

I suppose the first question is what is a ding that can wait? I am not talking about a puncture, for sure.

Try this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0fO8TVEtoQ

_________________
Sail Revolution
Join us on our new FB Page!

Our product support pages have allot of useful tips as well as the FAQ pages.

Link to Tech pages: http://www.hobiecat.com/support/index.html