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 Post subject: Deck repair
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 1:42 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 3:15 pm
Posts: 610
Location: Buffalo, NY
Does anyone have any experience in repairing a hole in the deck of the whole be 18? Last year a tree branch fell on the deck of my Hobie and put a hole in the outer layer of fiberglass. I didn't have time to repair it at the time, so I put tape over the crack to keep water out. Today I started sanding down the deck to make the fiberglass repair, but when I got the outer layer tapered down, I noticed that it was detached from the foam about and inch in both directions. I cut out the detached portion with a knife and tapered the remaining fiberglass so I can layer in the new pieces. However, the old polyester resin is crumbling around the edges, and I've noticed that the foam is fairly damp. I don't think I have much hope that all of bonding the new polyester and glass to the foam core, and I'm not sure how large the "wet spot" in the foam core is, nor do I want to tear open my whole deck. The damaged spot on the deck was soft about an inch or two away from the foam in each direction, but then it seemed to stiffen up. The damaged area is right alongside a dagger board trunk, so I'm not too worried about the stiffness of the deck in this area, although I am worried about this moisture causing delamination throughout the deck. Has anyone run into this before? Any suggestions on how best to repair it? Right now I'm thinking of trying to drive the foam out with a hairdryer, and then use CSM and a liberal amount of polyester resin to try and fill and or attach the top layer of fiberglass.

Edited to fix some typos by my phone's autocorrect, sorry for any confusion.

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'79 H18 standard 'Rocketman II' sail #14921 RIP
'78 H18 (unnamed) sail #14921
'08 H16 sail #114312
'97 H21SC sail #238


Last edited by SabresfortheCup on Sat May 13, 2017 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Deck repair
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 6:01 pm 
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Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 1:11 pm
Posts: 151
is it in a good spot to put an inspection cover?


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 Post subject: Re: Deck repair
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 6:27 pm 
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
I never did this repair on a Hobie, but did do a similar repair on a windsurf board that had the foam core deteroriate.

First thing, the foam needs to be dry. You could try to dry it out with a hair dryer, but I have no idea if that will actually penetrate into the hull and I don't know how you would confirm that it is fully dried out. When I repaired my board, I used a router to remove all the damaged/wet foam. Then I filled the cavity with polyurethane expanding foam (check uscomposites.com, they have several densities to choose from). After the foam hardens, it can easily be sanded flush and then glassed over.

A word of caution on the expanding foam, the stuff really expands a lot, especially in warm temperatures. Make sure you mask well and only use a small amount. If it gets on the hull it will make a huge mess and if it gets into the non-skid it isn't coming out.

sm


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 Post subject: Re: Deck repair
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 8:17 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 3:15 pm
Posts: 610
Location: Buffalo, NY
Thanks for the suggestions. I talked to my Hobie dealer, and he recommended leaving a heat lamp on it for hours and hours. Well, after about four hours the foam dried out considerably. It seems to be that the moisture was mostly immediately below the crack, as towards the edges the foam seemed a little dryer. Might have lucked out there. When first uncovered, the foam had the texture and sponginess of wet moss. Now it's more like hard foam board. I'm still a little nervous about how brittle the old polyester resin seems to be, but I'm hoping for some good adhesion with the new resin will keep the area nice and strong. I should probably expand it a little further, but I don't want to have to sand off the non-skid or try to wrap the fiberglass over the edge of the lip that adjoins the daggerboard trunk to the deck.


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