Hello Rick. I have just bought my first cat a 1995 Mystere 6.0m and I would like to know how to inspect the hulls? Apparantly they were repaired in 2009, but the decks show some small cracks .5" - 1.5 " and ather assorted blemishes.What do you suggest? The previous owner said that he removed the tops and in there removal the damage happened.I'm not sure what to believe. I will follow with photo's this weekend.

almost any cat can develop small cracks in the gelcoat. I would expect it to be worse up there in the frozen north (canada)

small surface cracks are no big deal. Blemishes?

depending on the condition of the gel coat, it could be wet sanded and a "new like" finish can be acheived (again depending on condition). this will NOT take out the scratches/small cracks in most cases.. but could shine up purrty

It is very beleavable to me that if the deck lids were removed, it would result in some surface cracking near the lids. If you have ever seen the process in removing the lids.. its ugly (hammer and chizel them loose)

Do you have any issues besides whats noteed above? glass (fibers) showing? do you have leaks... ?

I need to do a very close inspection ths saturday, I will take photos of any questionable parts. There is a small crack on the front top corner of the port hull and it showes some fiber, looks like something hit it. There is a 1" crack on both top's on the inside corner of the pivoting keel slot, all the rest look like grooves and damage from top removal. There is also silacone between the tramp track and the hull top.I found some water in the hulls on first inspection, it made me think that I will need to remove the tops and re bed them or make new ones this winter. Some of the other Mystere's that I've seen have the top's flush and smoothed over. Thanks, I will follow up after inspection

the centerboards can slam forward or aft and cause some cracking in the well tops. i have put some carpet in the contact places to avoid this

the track will pull out and off the hull over time (from hard jib sheeting). happens to every mystere i have seen (over a dozen). i personally have added all the possible rivets i can and have silicone there to lessen the water seeping in during rain. my next move is to cut my decks up for access.. and add a backing plate to the track. I have friends that have removed the jib entirely (adding a self tacker) and one that has mounted a new track on top of the old track to handle that issue.


i wouldn't remove the lids unless absolutely necessary. that is pretty serious surgery. A little water is no big deal. even a liter or 2 is not that big a deal. you can drain it before and after each sail.

The small crack is on the inner middle section of the dagger board well right beside the jib track.There are 4 access caps on the port hull and 3 on the starboard hull.I think that is where the water came from. The boat has not been sailed for over a year. This weekend will be the first outing. I've seen a few mystere's that have the jib blocks on the front cross beam, does the jib have to be cut? Can you just screw the fittings on the cross bar, what are the implications besides more room on the trampoline? What year is your Mystere

Gotcha.


WOW! That’s a lot of ports. It’s easy to believe that one or more leak. I would silicone all of them up and your jib tracks as well.


Yes you would defiantly have to cut the jib. Mystere’s have overlapping jibs (go past the mast). I have seen people convert to a self tacking jib (the track is on the beam) but never saw someone mount their jib blocks there.



I guess… but I would never do such a thing
If you are 100% set on this modification (not sure why someone would do this).. I would look into tracks and sliding blocks like a hobie16 uses on the beam


Yes, room on the tramp is the only reason / advantage. BUT you lost the ability to move your jib leads in and outboard (a good feature for upwind (inboard) and downwind (outboard). The sliding feature allows you to also make adjutments for up/downwind but not sure how many people use that. I use them more for when I am switching between a 5.5 and a 6.0 jib (you basically set the angle to intersect the middle of the jib)

IMHO a better way to clear the tramp but not have to cut your jib (and loose a good deal of down wind power) would be to remove the 4 way adjusters that go across your tramp and simply attach the jib blocks to the sliders on the tracks. You would suffer a little upwind, but not downwind.

My 5.5 is a 94 I think

After the first day sailing on my 6.0m I've made some discoveries, the jib trampoline track lifts up 1/4 " and the needs to be repaired this winter. I will probably put aluminum 1/8" in the hell and re-rivet with longer rivets The hulls don't seem to leak, but there are some cracks and gel coat repaires to be done.The boom was repaired with a piece of wood and the trasmpoline will have to be changed The boat is a 92 not 95. I am storing the boat in Pointe Calimet where there are 30 - 40 other Mystere owners and the owner of the club Celine who is very helpfull, and an expert on them. I went out in only 5 - 6 nt of wind, nothing broke and we didn't sink, only ran a ground 2 times the river is very low, thank's for pivoting dagger boards and rudders.
As you said deck removal probably caused a lot of the visible damage. I don't think I'll install a full front trampoline mabey just the crossbar, they say it stiffens and helps load distribution. I will keep the jib lines as they are for now. Next time I go out, I will make sure the hulls are empty and measure if they are not. photos will follow next week. good sailing

cool.

i would suspect your water is coming from your jib tracks.

i would not sail it until that is repaired (you dont want your tramp failing while stepping the mast or other).

I would also wait on adding a front crossbar unless you know you need it. All mystere's i have sailed had plenty of stiffness. if yours doesn't i would look at the beam bolts on the current beams and see why your not stiff.

enjoy

Every 6.0 I've seen has cracks on the deck just behind the main beam.

The main thing to check on the hulls is the bulkheads. It's the biggest problem with these boats. I'm repairing a 6.0 now. I've had to repair the main bulkheads on both hulls and one of the rear bulkheads. The problem is the way they installed the bulkheads. The glass tape used to attach the bulkhead to the hull tears at that joint. The bulkheads should have been glued in first and that glue should have had a small radius so the glass tape wasn't bent into a hard 90 degrees which it is.

Since your near the school up there talk to them and find out where all the bulkheads are and check them. You can use something like the handle of a screwdriver to tap on the hull where the bulkheads are. There will be a change of tone as move over the bulkhead. If there isn"t then it's not attached. Since you have all those ports finding the most of them should be easy.

Chances are this was the reason the decks were pulled to start with and the problem is fixed.

Post some pic's of the cracks.

There was about 2 liters of water afer sailing Saturday, I forgot to empty before, next time I will check first.

The trampoline track lifts 20 " at the rear near the cross bar. The mast will stay stepped until the end of season.

I lifted the front of the port hull with my son 120 lbs on the starboard hull to see if there is some loose there is only a little flex. How much flex is accetable?

I found a small crack behind the daggerboard on the bottom of the hull the gel coat is missing for 2", on the inside it looks like the bottoms of the hulls were glassed over.

How do I post pic's without a web site?