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 Post subject: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:15 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:02 am
Posts: 5
Hi,
Went to look at a Hobie 21 yesterday. Generally speaking it needs some TLC but not too bad overall I'd say. Ruddders were quite flimsy and cracks to the hull Is what I worry about. Both hulls are cracked perpendicular to the front wing tubes.
Anyone seen this before & is there a good repair instruction somewhere?


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 4:44 pm 
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
Pictures would be helpful if you have them.

sm


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2020 6:05 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2018 12:20 pm
Posts: 166
Location: Galveston, Texas
Mine was rough when I picked it up and had some remedial glass work to make it worthy... This sounds very suspicious. Rudders are decidedly NOT flimsy or flexible at all. Never saw of visible cracks radiating from sockets. SRM has it right; pics will help us help you.

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H21SE- 408


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 1:01 am 
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Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:02 am
Posts: 5
Hi,
Sorry for beeing unclear - the rudders are just worn in pins linkages etc and does not lock down. This we can fix:-)

I was unable to uppload pictures but managed to create this link so hopefully it works.
As can be seen, the cracks look quite bad but I'd say water frozen in the tubes and pushed through the fibre glass and then then the gelcoat has cracked.
As I didn't buy the boat I could not peel off the Gelcoat

Let me know if the link works please

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:45 am 
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
Hard to tell exactly what’s going on there from the picture, but barnacles on a Hobie hull is never a good sign - the boat spent some time sitting in the water. Its possible that the damage is the result of the gelcoat blistering and then starting to peel away from sitting in the water. If it is right where the wing socket attaches, it could be a problem with the bottom of the wing tube separating and causing the hull to flex and crack. Without sanding into the gelcoat to investigate, it’s hard to say for sure. Almost certainly it is repairable. You might be looking at installing an access port by the wing socket to inspect and repair from the insided. First thing I would do would be to install the wing into the hull, put some load on it and see if the side of the hull flexes at all or if the crack opens up.

sm


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:06 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:02 am
Posts: 5
Thank you for the answer,
I’m thinking as we have cracks on both hulls in the exaxt same spot below the wing sockets, it has something to do with water in the sockets possibly freezein- it gets cold here...

I’m a bit concerned about opening for an acces to repair from inside as we are so close to where the crossbar sits. Will it not have a big impact on the torsional stability of the hull?
Best regards, Johan


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:19 pm 
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Location: Jersey Shore
Access ports behind the front crossbar are generally not a problem. In front of the front crossbar should be avoided since there is a lot of load pulling inwards on the bows from the bridle wire load. Usually water freezing in the wing sockets causes the wing sockets themselves to crack. But maybe water leaked out of the socket and got trapped between the hull and shoe and then froze and cracked the hull. Generally that area of the hull is very strong. I would still install the wing into the hull and see if the hull flexes under load. It would be a very easy test to do.

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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:06 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:02 am
Posts: 5
Thank you again for the reply
I will definately try putting weight on the wing as you suggested

I bought the boat:-)
Going to pick it up tomorrow
Need to trailer it through Stockholm and then further 100 km (not down town but there will be some tight spots...and I don't think the police will be particularly happy..

Would be very good if I could push in the telescopic cross bars but - what's the chance of doing that?

Is it Aluminium on Aluminium or does it have some kind of sleeve in between?

How much can the width be reduced ?

Any tips'n tricks?


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:46 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 5:22 am
Posts: 675
Location: Columbus, Indiana
Too bad your not in my neighborhood....I got a pair of extra 21SE hulls.... :wink:

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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:22 pm 
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4176
Location: Jersey Shore
The hulls will collapse down to 8’-6” road legal width. There are plastic bushings between the crossbar tubes to act as a bearing and eliminate metal on metal.

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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 5:44 am 
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Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:20 pm
Posts: 295
Location: South Boardman, Mi
I saw similar damage to the hulls of my H16 after sailing in 30+mph winds with a crew of 5... In my case the high loads caused the pylon shoe to tear through the hull. It looks like the same thing happened here with the wing socket shoe. As srm mentioned ice is probably not to blame.

The repair was of average difficulty for fiberglass repair of a crack. Make sure the shoe is not loose and check the wing for any damage. Whatever loads cracked the hull may have stressed the wing a little as well.


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 6:45 am 
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Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 5:22 am
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Location: Columbus, Indiana
I installed access ports to repair my forward wing sockets about 171 mm or 6 3/4" from the center of the crossbar tube to the center of my access port right under the deck lip behind the crossbar....under the boat.

Ice got me in 1994..... :| lessons learned........

No foot traffic here and well above the water line. And my hand could reach the wing socket and it's shoe for there.

I made a shoe mold out of the bottom of an plastic ice cream tub that fit great as a layover to the cracked and loose shoe. I added enough fiberglass and resin so not to repair again and smoothed that with my new shoe ....bomb proof.

This shoe problem was about 1999....off shore on Lake Michigan when we sailed out of Weko Beach.

The original shoe was rather thin in construction, a little too minimalist for me.... :?

I use 5" round curved flange access ports.

I first installed white access ports but over time they yellowed so I changed them out to glossy black ones that turned to a flat black. :wink:

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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 2:01 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2018 12:20 pm
Posts: 166
Location: Galveston, Texas
Looks like someone put way too much pressure on the wings while installed or something dropped on them, punching down onto the fiberglass. That, however would be one hell of a punch. The fiberglass is thick through there. Still, easily possible. Not looking like freeze damage, unless there was water inside the hull...THAT'S possible. Still, probably fixable. Where it gets to be a problem is when the fiberglass starts to separate from the foam sandwich (delaminating). The hull can easily be opened up and repaired if you're at least reasonably good with mixing epoxy or polyester. Opened mine up, repaired the wing tube with a carbon fiber wrap (both front pieces) and closed back up. Only epoxy primed for now o I could spend the summer beating the hell out of it in the surf, etc. to make sure it's worth a full break down, sand, seal and re-paint. I don't think I'm up to trying to take off the paint and put all new gel coat on both hulls....

And, yes the boat will collapse, but if you pull those taper pins out, don't lose them! $50 each, minimum if you can find them from a machine shop. The bushings can be re-made.

Barnacles and Hobies= not good. Sitting in the water causes the osmosis blistering and delamination as SRM referenced. Still, these things have a surprising amount of fiberglass in the layup...

More pictures!

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H21SE- 408


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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 5:15 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 5:22 am
Posts: 675
Location: Columbus, Indiana
Check to see if your wing tubes have their black plastic end caps.

This spare boat I picked up did not have three. So the sharp edge damaged the wing sockets and the shoe too..... :|

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 Post subject: Re: Hull Cracks
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:20 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:02 am
Posts: 5
Hi

Thank you all.

Cross bars collapsed-no problems.
I put her on a trailer and we had to go through down town Stockholm as we were not allowed on the freeway. A bit nerve wrecking but it went well in the end - you just DON't want to make a wrong turn...

I noticed that indeed the end cap protectors for the wing alu tubes that are supposed to protect the wing sockets are indeed missing so will have to make new ones - the tubes are sharp and will indeed (might have) cause damage

Will take a closer look at the damage in the next few days. Have some other chores that I'm supposed to finish before I'm allowed to play with the boat.. :D


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