This old Hobie 17 or, where do I start?

Boat is painted and the sockets don't leak, the crossbars have been reinforced, got a new sail and just waiting for a carbon fiber rod to fix the centerboards.
Then the assembly process!
The rod came today and as per the Hobie newsletter article. I've got them cut grooved and glued in with G-Flex. the applicator I used at the step with photo 14 is a pencil. Worked great. The grooves weren't deep enough as when I pushed the rod in I heard foam and thought I pushed the rod in all the way, then I realized the epoxy couldn't escape fast enough for the speed of the epoxy squeezing out. the depth of the grooves should be 1/16" deep at least. I put one on each side of the rod. maybe I should have made 4 grooves? anyway I pushed the rods in and taped them so they wouldn't "push" back out. just waiting for cure time now. clean up and assemble.
Any tips on assembly? I plan on using anti seize on the bolt threads and doing a little diagonal measuring when assembling the hulls and crossbars while tightening.

Thanks goes to the Hobie Cat Co. for making such great boats and for having this forum.

Maiden voyage today! the boat handled great!, helm was neutral mast rake looked correct, sail looked good, no water in the hull. BUT.....
OK I've got some new questions.
1, I have the trap lines going up from the trampoline grommet. Do most take them out under the rack? it was light and they just got in the way most of the time.
2, and here's the big one!
Two cracks developed, one in each hull right under the front crossbar on the inner sides. about half way down the side of the hull running fore and aft. Kind of like a bulge or a compression ridge.
Can someone reply with what this could be? I sailed in light wind for about 2 1/2 hours.
Thanks for your replies. Everyone has been very helpful!

Most of the racers use a turning block, tied to the shroud adjuster so that the trapeze follows the shroud, more or less.

A 4" gap between the block and adjuster helps keep the trap from wrapping around the shroud.


That's a typical result of tying the boat down too tightly to the trailer using over-the-hull straps. The crack was probably already there. There might be some delam associated with it - tap around it with the edge of a quarter to see if it sounds solid.

Trap wires run inboard of the wing as Matt showed is what I prefer. If its on the outside of the wing, it tends to get hung up on your PFD when sitting on the wing. It's also another wire you have to manuver your hiking stick around when sitting forward on the wing.

Regarding the crack, I have seen numerous H17s that developed this crack, so much so that I would tend to call it more of a design flaw than operator error. Strapping the boat down too tight would certainly exacerbate the problem, but I can think of two boats that had these cracks running nearly bow to stern. I actually noticed the issue starting on my boat and I would consider myself pretty careful when it comes to strapping my boat down.

First thing I would do would be to install 5" diameter access ports behind the front crossbar so you can peek inside the boat. On my boat, I noticed crazing marks on the onside of the hull near the stressed area of the hull. I added a few layers of glass to reinforce the area. The other thing I do now, which I think has helped, is to step the mast with the boat off the trailer. I put my beach wheels under the rear crossbar and padding under the bow. I think this helps distribute my weight more evenly along the hulls, rather than concentrating it right at the forward trailer bunk which is where the cracking starts.

When you put the access port in, you can also reinforce the front area of the centerboard trunk where the spring contacts the hull. This is another known weak point on the 17 hulls and when it cracks through, your hull will fill with water.

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I'll check that out as there are already ports in the hull. I had the boat tied down from the dolphin striker to the crossbar with some line. nothing over the hulls. I hadn't noticed the crack until putting the boat back on the trailer after sailing. They were not there before sailing so trailering or putting the mast up did not cause this problem. Like I said, these two cracks are identical and were not there prior to launching the boat.
The boat sailed great as in I beat a guy sailing upwind on a Tiger but, that's where my fun ended and he popped his chute. HA!

I do have a couple of photos on my craigslist Hawaii ad. Not the greatest photos but at least the boat is visible there.
Thank goodness I took her out on a shakedown to make sure she is OK before selling her.

I think I've got three things to change before she goes to a new owner.
switch out the eyelet ontop of the traveler cleat as it looks higher than a normal eye and the tiller extension hit's it when driving from the trampoline in light air.
Fix the two cracks for sure.
move the trap lines out near the shroud like a Hobie 20.

I'll let whoever the new owner is change out the downhaul to something newer so it can be adjusted from the rack instead of the boom.

Update,
The crack on the inner side of the hulls are right where the rack socket reinforcement ends. I'll try adding some glass up the side from the reinforcement to stiffen up the inside but will have to do something to the outside also since there is now a crack in the outer skin on one of the hulls. the other hull has no crack but is bulged. I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the socket reinforcement not spread out far enough to handle the torque of the rack. Gee, this was in light air with flat water. What is this socket going to do if the boat is sailed in chop???

OK, a week after sailing with the boat sitting on the trailer, the bulge on each hull is just about gone. No loosening of tiedowns or anything special. It appears that the bulges were indeed from using the boat (sailing, sitting on the racks).
I've looked and tapped around and also have noticed that the one hull is not cracked. the other hull had a crack when I repainted her but I never noticed the crack until painting as the crack was closed up but the paint would not cover the crack until the second coat. The crack lines up perfectly with the end of the socket reinforcing on the inner skin.
There is no delam at this time that I can detect.

I've decided to sand and add a layer of "nitex" cloth on the inside of the hull from below the top of the socket reinforcing to the hull/deck joint. Hopefully this will strengthen the hull and it won't bulge anymore.
Not sure how much fooling around I want to do with the outside of the hull. I know I need to repair the crack but might try a new method involving super glue that I've seen on youtube instead of grinding down and tapering in cloth, fairing and painting.

The trap lines are brought out just like SRM's photo so she should be ready for sail #2 pretty quickly. Maybe next week sometime.

There is a zero chance the superglue fix would work for you. If you have a crack, this means the fiber in the fiberglass are broken. The strength and stiffness of the fiberglass is based on the continuity of the fiber. Just gluing it up will not fix the issue. I would do most of the repair from inside, by adding 2-3 layers of the glass with a decent overlap over the crack. The outside could be tricky, because you would end up with an ugly bulge. I would still open up the outer glass layer, chip away the inner foam and replace it with solid glass. Perhaps others could have better idea.

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H17

Haven't done anything to the outside of the hull yet. The inside has a new layer of Nitex. Meanwhile the bulge had disappeared before adding the glass patch to the inside. for some reason she is fine laying on her side (that's the way the hulls were stored before I got her) and she is fine on the trailer but in the water is when the bulge appears. I really don't know how to explain this other than weight on the wing? I don't know?

Anyway, I can see the crack with a magnifying glass but can't see it without (I can feel it). the crack in the outer skin is about two inches long and was located at the peak of the bulge (which is no longer there). I really don't want to do anymore work on this boat! but, I can't sell her with a clean conscious if there is a crack in the outer skin.

Hopefully my last post regarding this boat.
went ahead and used my dremel to grind the outer skin crack on each hull and did a very nice poly and cloth tappered cover over where they were located. didn't even have to fair it in the build up was just right and the repairs are painted with no sign at all.
She is now a very good boat and I have a clean conscience.