Hi there... I have a question for the community regarding my brand new Hobie 16. I just purchased the boat 4 weeks ago and have sailed the boat twice since then. I am not new to Hobies, having sailed 16's a lot when I was younger in South Africa.
The first sail on the boat was in light wind - around 6-8 knots. The second sail was the following day and was in 14-16 knots of wind in 2-3 foot sea. Since the first weekend I have been traveling and unable to sail, so the boat has been on a trailer at my house.
Today I was washing the boat and noticed that there are what appear to be stress fractures along the starboard hull outside rail. The cracks start just in front of the forward pylon and run half way back to the aft pylon. If I press down on the side of the rail I can see the cracks expanding and can hear a slight crunching sound.
There is no evidence of impact on the hull or the rail and I just don't understand how this can be the case on a brand new Hobie? I'm assuming that it might just be the one in thousands that just had a bad fiberglass layup and is in fact brittle?
I have called the dealer where I bought the boat who told me to bring it in so that they can look at it.
I guess my question is, whether I could have done anything wrong to have caused the fractures and it is my fault? Or is it just a case that it's just a bad boat?
Any thoughts?
Thanks.