I need some HELP!!!
I now realize I'm bringing an old cat back to life. The sail was not as described with one bad pocket but four were totally blown and another section that had to be fixed. No problem the guys at Marineers in Dallas did a great job.
After several hull chips and rudder/dagger board fills things were looking good. I added the 30" rope and the mast rotator line and things were going real well. Had the boat out over labor day in 10-15 wind and the boat was a blast. We tracked down all the big sailboat (36 and a 40) in no time. Then my next problem happened. I moved to the wing where my wife was and the support tube in the hull snapped. We sailed the rest of the day staying off of the wings and I took it to a shop this week.
Now the bad news, not only the tube I heard pop but two others are broken. Both fronts and one on the back. The back had a port hole installed to fix a break (per the owner) but the front has has port holes in the middle where they can't be used to fix the front. The questions are:
1) any problem in adding a third port hole per side and I assume right behind the wing hole rather than in front of the cross bar.
2) What size? I feel like the 8" ones would be better to work with.
3) Is the tube just fiberglass?
4) What about glassing the tube straight adding a PVC pipe split and glassed over for support?
5) how strong will this fix be (I'll add as much glass as it takes) or has the structural integrity been permentlly compromised.
6) My thought is to clean up the area and smooth it out/ take it down some then add the fiberglass around the areas (maybe the whole tube as an extra 5 pounds doesn't bother me)
7) Would you leave the wings in to keep it aligned or something else like a PVC tube?
How hard is the fix? The car repair shop that does some fiberglass was afraid it might turn into $1500. He is a friend and I took the boat back for no charge as I got the feeling he didn't want to dive into something that he may not do right and I'd be mad.
A couple ports are $50 and the fiberglass can't be much more.
Thanks in advance and if its easier to call me or email direct let me know.
Drew
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