Vintage 14ft Cat Restoration and Build Journal- Need Advice

Hello,

Backstory
I was recently given a Hobie-esque 14ft cat by a good friend of mine. It was built by his grandfather (an engineer/sailor) in 1973 as #1 of 8. He unfortunately passed away just over a year ago, and my friend and his family were forced to sell his waterfront property, and find homes for all of his water toys. He knew my family has a house on the water, and offered to give it to me free of charge. Having wanted a cat since I was a kid, I of course accepted it.

It is a very professional looking boat, and could easily be mistaken for a factory Hobie by your average person. Apparently he decided he want to make one, and asked all of his friends if they wanted one, too, and help foot the costs. He then designed everything, ordered all of the components (a lot were from military suppliers), got them all together, and built them. The hulls are fiberglass, and the trampoline frame and rudder assemblies are all made from aircraft grade aluminum. On mine, he did all of the welding and fiberglass work- including creating the hull molds- himself. He even went as far as giving them a name (The Happy Cat!) and having a logo stitched on their sails. A tremendous amount of effort went into this cat, from conception all the way to the finished product, and it is just a wonderful testament to human ingenuity and achievement.

Of course, this all happened in 1973, and the boat has seen 3 generations worth of wear and tear, with the hull seams patched many times with what I like to call "grandkid fixes"- well-meaning, but ill-informed repairs.

When I got it, I was told straight out that it leaked, but slowly, and that I could get an hours worth of sailing in as-is before needing to come back in.

I've taken it out twice so far. The first time I was out about an hour (as predicted) with my fiance before taking on a noticeable amount of water. (she was not amused)

After, I bought this Goop stuff, and resealed the hull plugs, figuring that was the main source of the leak. After letting it cure, I then performed the soapy water/ shop-vac-on-reverse-against-the-plugs test, and found a good amount of leaky seem bubbles. After it tried, I put Goop over the areas where the seam leaked, using the shop vac in reverse to suck it into the seam.

Two weeks later, and I took it out again- this time for about 2.5 hours by myself. It was wonderful. I always enjoyed sailing Sunfish when I was a Boy Scout (I even have the merit badge ) but I'm a total beginner when it comes to sailing, and that was by far the best sailing session I've had. At the two and half hour mark, I noticed my starboard hull sitting noticeably lower, and brought her back in.

And it turned out my fixes mostly worked: the port hull was almost completely watertight, and only allowed about 5oz of water inside. The starboard hull, however, still continued to leak, ableit not as badly as before.

Questions
I've seen tutorials online for doing repair work to fiberglass, and it doesn't seem that hard. However, I only have time to get down to the shore house maybe once every other weekend, and generally I prefer spending that time out on the water. I am very handy, and I do enjoy working on things. But sometimes you don't want a project, you just want the thing to work. I'm sort of at that point right now with the hulls.

I'd really love to be able to take 3-4 hour trips up and down the Potomac, and I just don't trust my own repair work. Add to that that I know little to nothing of what else might be wrong that an expert might know.

1) How much would it cost (general ball-park) for a professional to totally go through each hull, and repair/reinforce anything that might be wrong with them? Additionally, how much might it cost to have them repaint or gel coat them?

2) Are there any reliable repair shops in Southern MD (preferable close to St Marys/ Leonardtown) that do good work on a Hobie-like boat? I've done a bit of google-searching, but I'm curious if any of you have any personal experiences with people you can recommend.

If it were just another old Hobie, I'd probably scrap it and find one that doesn't leak. But I think the history behind this one makes it worth keeping and fixing up, and- given that it was free- I don't mind putting a bit of money into it, especially if I know it will be done right.

I greatly appreciate any help any of you might be able to provide.

Thanks!
~Andrew

Its amazing this thing was built in the guys garage in his spare time.