Hi Grandpa,

Ken Marshacks advice is spot on. Starting in June 84'(I believe)to sometime in 86' the "Red Foam" hulls were produced. To determine if you have these hulls look closely at the lip/gunwale, if there is a thin red line down the middle .... for further comformation take a flashlight and a small mirror, and looking through the porthole inspect at the joint (inside) between the hull cap/top and the hull bottom. If you see what looks like "red" foam/caulking ...

Know follow Ken's advice by inspecting the underside of the gunwales for long longitudinal cracks at the bolt holes. With the palm of your hand "feel" the hull just in front of the crossbar, does it feel flat or are there whipples. If you have whipples it is because the bows are towing in under load.

How to fix: DO NOT use a mainsheet stack of a ratio of greater then 6x1, the 7x1 stack can generate enough force to cause the bows to tow in and eventually cause failure. On my origonal red foam hulls I could go "block to block" with the 7x1 stack and guess what eventually happened ...

You should reinforce the crossbar cradles, and shroud anchor points on the inside with some additional layers of cloth and epoxy (WEST System) following all the standard practices. And add the retrokit crossbar/shroud anchor support plates, they are available through your Hobie dealer at a reduced price for this. I believe you will have to supply serial #'s to receive this deal

My E-mail address is in my profile, please feel free to contact me with any questions and I will happily share my experience with you.

Quote: "Most men learn from their own mistakes, I on the other hand prefer to learn from OTHER mens mistakes." Bismark. ( I think it is also cheaper)

Sail Flat, Sail Fast
HarryMurphey
H-18mag/ #9458, Fleet 54 Div 11
P-19mx/ #86, CRAC