bottom of hull split

Howdy

After a weekend of sailing my hobie down on the cost I put it on the trailer last night and a whole bunch of water started coming out of my port hull. Found a crack about 3 in long and 1/8th wide along the very bottom of the hull (where the boat normally sits on the trailer) ill work on getting some pictures.

How hard is it to fix a split like this? What’s the best way to go about it?
Im not too terrible with fiberglass so I figured I would fill the split with epoxy then lay a few layers of glass all the way down the hull.

What do yall think

Thanks,

Nathan

The bottom is solid laminate. Grind out the damaged material and laminate new layers of fiberglass to the original material thickness. If you have access to the inside of the hull, it would allow you to add some extra reinforcement. If not, the repair should be able to be completed entirely from the outside. I would skip filling with epoxy as it really isn't going to do anything. The glass fiber is what will give the repair its strength and you would want to use polyester resin since that is what the hull was originally made from.

sm

With the boat upside down, you can lay a few layers of cloth along the keel and draped on to either side of the gap. Then stack up more layers on top of that.

Search the forums for "Bottom Job"... lots of references to this in forums and hotline articles.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

The attached cross-sectional photo shows what the bottom of a hull looks like.




I use layers of fiberglass cloth and a polyester resin similar to: "The Bottom Job - This Old Hobie" by Rick Buchanan on pages 12 & 13 of the Sept/Oct 2008 Hotline.

http://www.w1dm.com/projects/hotline/08-09-10%20HOTLINE.pdf


Having done several "bottom Jobs" over the years I use a roll of 1" wide fiberglass cloth with finished edges instead of cutting 1" strips and having to deal with unraveling fuzzy edges.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Great idea. need thumbs up button on these posts..

_________________
Tim Grover

Memphis, TN fleet 134
Hobie 20! G-Cat5.0 and 2 Hobie 14's
Photobucket now wants $100 to post pics on forums......... pass.

As always yall are a wealth of information.

When using the fiberglass tape, do you just glass the split area or from bow to stern?


Thanks,
Nathan

Nathan,

It really depends on how worn down the bottom of your hulls are. If the gelcoat is ground off and fiberglass is worn ragged, then you will definitely want to do those areas, otherwise you can just work on the area where the crack is.

If you beach your boat often or drag it any amount on sand, etc. then you may want to do most of the bottom (normally you do not have to fool with the bows).

It doesn't take that much longer, once you have everything set up, to do a full hull job than just a section.

Using the hull template can help in evaluating where the most wear is also.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

The innermost layer is cloth on the hulls with mat over that. So if you can see cloth on your worn areas than you need to build it back up as it is getting thin.
Chances are you are worn down to the cloth over a long length of the hull and this worn area needs to be rebuilt. No need to go the full length of the hull, but you may have to cover 8' to 10' of it.

_________________
JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring