Amas distortion

I just stored my Hobie TI inside my garage.

I had left it all summer, in the shade behind my garage and under trees.

I had the unpleasant surprise of finding out tonight when I put it away that the two amas had deformed a lot on the outside.

Quite distorted on the left and very distorted on the right.

However, the boat was not strapped and there was no pressure on the amas.

I was bringing him in today, early enough in the season, so he wouldn't have to stay outdoors exposed to frost (I live in Quebec).

I navigated with it one month and half ago and everything was perfect. I really don't understand.

What do you think happened? Is it recoverable? If so, how? Is this a defect and can I get an exchange of these amas?

Images are there:

https://ibb.co/89zJjjH

https://ibb.co/bbmkSHD

https://ibb.co/JqCcDbD

Thank you in advance for your help!

Hi Ricoco

Is it possible that the air pressure in the amas has dropped due to temperature drop?

If so you could try undoing the bung plugs to let the air pressure equalise with the outside, then seal the plugs and put the amas in the sun to see if the expanding hot air pumps them up again. Then undo the plugs again before they cool off.

Havn't had this problem but always thought the sealed amas could suffer from it.

Hi Paranoid, thank you for your help!

Every time I remove the plugs from my amas, I get a big puff of air coming out.

The temperature in Quebec has already fallen. I'm not sure I will be able to let it in the sun.

For the moment, I have store it in a heated garage with the plugs removed. I don't know if it's a good idea... Let me know.

Thanks again!

My suggestion... take them outside (with plugs removed). After they have got quite cold, bring them into the heated garage WITH PLUGS FITTED. The trapped air inside should expand and hopefully restore the amas to their proper shape.

Monitor the process carefully to ensure the amas don't expand too much (eg undo the plugs once the shape is restored).

_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Further to Tony's suggestion. Might be worthwhile using a heat blower or hair drier to carefully soften the plastic a bit to encourage the shape to come back once you have some pressure back inside from the heated garage. Open the bungs after the shape is restored.

I helped our Hobie dealer remove dents from our TI's hull (caused by it being crushed in the shipping container during delivery from the US) by placing a deflated soccer ball inside the hull and pumping it up while heating the plastic from the outside gently with a hot air gun. Worked very well. Unfortunately its not possible to get to the inside of the amas except with air pressure.

Ricoco

have you had any luck fixing the distortion of the AMA yet?
If so, can you let me know what has done the trick?

I have just discovered that my AMAs have a similar distortion due to temperature decreased air pressure
Would love to hear some success stories...
Cheers

Hello Anne,

I have unplugged the caps and put my boat in a heated garage (I love in Québec). The distorsion has decreased a lot. It still remain a little bit but I hope that it will disappear this summer with the sun.

I think that it is important to unplug the caps all the time.

What is your own story?

I live in Germany.. Same problem, same mistake. It got colder and I forgot to unplug the AMAs.
Unfortunately I'm not in the position to store the AMAs somewhere warm so your story gives me hope that they will fix themselves once they warm up.
Another idea that I had was to use strong suction cups (ie the ones used for unblocking blocked toilet drains) as well as a heat blower to heat the material.

Well, I'll wait and find out what spring will bring