I know it's been covered many times....I've opted to first inject my delaminated area in front of the pilons, then install vent caps in the area smaller than the delam......I figure since I'll probably need new hulls in a couple seasons that I will lay a couple layers of fiberglass cloth on the inside of the hulls. Might as well beef it up a little, so as to avoid catastrophic failure, until I find hulls.

Here is my question.....should I flip the hulls upside down to lay the cloth on the decks? The resin seems pretty sticky, can I get away with laying it up inside the hull without flipping?

I know, I should have thought about the soft areas before buying the boat. It was solid when I pushed and banged then I stepped on it.

The object of this exercise it to get it on the water for at least this season, as I've already replaced the tramp, all running rigging, and a few blocks. Then, to find some newer hulls next winter.

resin is not sticky enough to hold a bit of resin soaked cloth against the force of gravity, it will just peel off

if you are going to lay cloth and it is possible to do it flat so gravity is working for you then do it

This has happened at least three times in my thirty year career with cats; someone taking advantage of someone that wants "in" to a wonderful world of freedom. This is where some of our Fleets fall short and just don't help. We can identify a bad boat and we should encourage the sale of good boats, along with the guidance on set up and safety concerns. We try to do it in our Fleet in Buffalo, but we still shake our heads when someone is taken advantage of.

Sometimes we can help and actually repair the boat. Sometimes we can provide parts; sometimes we just have to find a new boat for the person. It's just not like the Family we found a number of years ago.

Wyatt

Perhaps wax paper and a board with clamps?

I guess I can turn it upside down on the front lawn and do it.......if I can work up the motivation.


So far everyone that I've met out at Hueston has been very helpful and encouraging. I should have taken someone who knew boats when I went to buy it. I read a single post online telling me to look for soft spots, went and pounded my fists on the hulls and poked them with my finger. They seemed pretty hard at the time. It's possible that this area developed over the winter. Doubtful but possible.

I'd just make sure you do a through job of injecting resin and be done with it. Laying glass on the inside of the deck is going to be a tough job. And unless you're able to do a good job of it, it probably won't add much strength. You'll have to flip the boat over to lay in the glass and get it to stay. This means you'll be reaching in from under the boat and trying to work through a 5" or 6" hole and you'll only be able to lay glass as far as you can reach inside.

sm

Is this a Hobie 16? If so, putting glass on the inside will not necessarily solve the problem. The foam inside the inner and outer layers of glass has deteriorated. There's volumes of information about this kind of repair...but in a nutshell; drill several holes just through the top skin, with an "L" shaped wire, spin it inside the holes to break up the foam, inject resin (epoxy preferably since you may be dealing with some moisture) with a cheap syringe and until epoxy flows out of other holes, tape over holes ,and let it cure. This usually takes care of the soft spots for a while.

Yeah, it's a 16. I tend to over do things at times. I was going to inject, let it set up, then cut a porthole, then lay a few layers of cloth inside.

I just need 1-2 seasons out of these hulls until the budget allows for newer ones.

maybe just inject

cutting the inspection hatches into the most stressed part of the hulls may weaken them more than adding a few layers of cloth will strengthen them

save the time and money from that and just do a better job of injecting???