Hull Repair

What is a soft spot?

From my very limited knowledge of hobies, but research from soft spots on my hulls, I think I may be able to define this for you. Hobie hulls, the 16 anyway, are made by sandwiching two layers of glass on either side of a peice of foam. So if you were to cut a cross-section from a hull, you would see, from the inner layer to outer, a layer of fiberglass, then foam, then fiberglass, then gel coat. These layers are all bonded by resin. A soft spot occurs when the bond between the foam and fiberglass has been comprimised. The layers have seperated and therfore the area feels "soft" when pressed upon.

_________________
James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

There is a description and repair piece in the FAQ section of these forums.

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1156

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

Thank you both for the info.
What I have recently purchased is a very old 14' Hobie. The "soft spots" are areas, when pressed, flex. I assume that there is solid foam inside the hulls and my soft spots are voids between the hull and the foam. Are these soft spots ?

You mentioned that the 16' has a composit construction, is this also true of the 14' ?

I hope you can help with my confusion.

Thanks

I am pretty sure that the 14 is made much the same as the 16. If there is significant flex where you push, then yes it sounds like you may have some soft spots. Where are they located on the hull? How big are they? The repair method that mmiller has suggested is the way to go. I had an 83' H16 in which I repaired pretty much the whole deck with using the epoxy injection technique. I'm still sailing on them. A little more detail about the extent of the soft spots would help. Just keep telling what is going on and ask questions. The folks on this forum are awesome about helping people out. You may also want to do a search on soft spots on the forum, there have been a lot of posts about this.

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James
86' Redline Hobie 16
Sail # 76909

A picture is worth 1000 words:

http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=10731

The 14 and 16 have exactly the same construction.

This is delamination (a soft spot):
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=10917