On my latest sailing tour with my AI (model 07) around Formentera (Spain) 4 weeks ago I detected a huge amount of water inside the hull. Pumping the water out with a bilge pump helped only for a while, in the end the hull was nearly totally fulled with water. I aborted my trip and reached the beach where I inspected the boat and detected, that a screw holding the mast cup and the V-frame togeteher was broken and that there were some cracks in the hull below the mast cup. After patching the area around the cracks with duck tape at least it was possible to have some trips without using the sail, but I'm a little bit worried how to proceed.
Back in germany I asked the local dealer who recommended a repair kit (T-80)
http://www.orbi-tech.com/ that promises a solution by welding PE material. I bought the kit, made some exercises (my AI actually lies 2000 km away in a garage) and it seems that it really might be a way to patch the cracks. Has anybody else experiences repairing damages like that? Any ideas what I have to do to connect mast cup and V-frame?
Attached some pictures that show the cracks, the current patchwork and the bilge pump that I just can recommend (helps also to get sand out of the mast cup before inserting the mast).
The cracks
a closer look
the broken/loose screw
the current patchwork with duck tape
the bilge pump
Feedback welcome
Axel