Should I buy a Hobie 16 with a repaired soft spot?

A friend of a friend has a Hobie 16 for sale, about US$1200 (no trailer). I went to see it and it looks good, he seemed a decent guy. First thing he showed me was a spot on the top of one hull (I believe about the size of a hand) that was soft when he got it, but he repaired it.

He repaired it by drilling 2 holes and injecting some kind of resin I think. It doesn't seem soft anymore, although I have no experience with soft spots. He said it was probably from someone stepping on the hull - it was about a step forward of the trampoline.

The only other damage was a small piece around the top of the rudder mount, bit like in this picture


he repaired it but it cracked again.

Any tips/advice welcome, on my first Hobie purchase.

Thanks

PS my friend says he's very trustworthy and would be upfront about problems.

That doesn't look repaired before...looks original damage in my opinion.

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Find the wind!!
1981 H16 Gonzo Nationals

Sorry when I saw the picture in my post like that I realized it distracts from the text hugely... my main question is about the repaired soft spot, is it OK to buy a boat that has had a soft spot?

Regarding the pic, thats from the internet, just to show the part of the boat where it broke. Basically now it looks like a piece of cracked fibreglass with some epoxy holding it together. Not pretty, but is it critical?

Thanks

A hand sized soft spot that's now hard wouldn't bother me much. The repair above the gudgeon is not critical. That's just a hole for the rudder pin to go through....nothing structural about it.

Please understand that I'm just answering your two questions, not commenting on value.....the rest of the boat may be crap......would require much closer evaluation.

Good luck!

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

Before I bought my boat, everything that I had read on forums etc. would've lead me to believe that as soon as the boat gets a soft spot, it's no longer worth buying. However, now that I have a boat and have repaired soft spots, I question that logic. Sure, a boat with no soft spots is perhaps better than a boat with them, and a boat that has only sat in covered, heated storage and never been sailed is better than anything else, but at the end of the day, the question is about the condition and longevity of the boat as a whole, and how much of a premium you're willing to spend for a boat in "like new" condition. Soft spots do no necessarily make a boat "junk," especially if they're small, in low stress areas and/or have been repaired. They are unfortunately inevitable on a beachcat. They are also fairly simple to repair. The real danger is if you have large soft spots or soft spots that haven't been repaired in high stress areas.

I think the reason the conversation on soft spots is so prevalent is because they can be an indication that the hulls overall are bad and/or poorly taken care of. They can be caused by:

1) continual compression (standing/sitting/stepping on the hull)
2) damage to the hull (a puncture that hasn't been fixed)
3) water in the hulls being absorbed into the fiberglass and then subsequently the foam core, or
4) overall delamination/separation of the fiberglass from the foam core due to age

The last one is the real concern, because once that process starts, it will continue and over time, the whole boat will become soft. In your case, it sounds like cause #1, which is common on the forward deck of a Hobie 16. Once drilled and filled, the repair will be solid and will probably outlast the rest of the boat! Understand that you're buying a used boat with some wear and tear on it, so it's not going to be perfect. That's why you're not paying the $12k for a brand new one! So the best condition for the price is what you're after.

Value of a used boat varies by location, age and condition, but in my area, a late 70's boat in fair to good condition on a trailer goes for ~$1,500 - $2,000, and probably have another 5-10 years of life left in them. A boat in good condition or better could sell for ~$2,000 - $3,000. 90's or newer/excellent condition boats are extremely rare here, and would probably fetch more.

The damage in the picture is cosmetic only. The rudder pins are supported/contained by the rudder gudgeons on the transom.

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Mike

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

Great help - thanks both. I just bought it

Happy sailing.