Just a quick question, looking for anyone who can relate. I have recently purchased a Nacra 5.0 after sailing hobie for years. I got it for a steal, and have noticed that the previous owner, while the boat was on the trailer, must have cranked the rachet straps down WAY to hard exerting a compression force on the starboard hull that was enough to at least make some hairline cracks show up in the gelcoat, and who knows what else internally (I don't have any access ports installed). I have sailed it good and hard all summer and have nothing to complain about except a small amount of water in the hull after maybe every 3 good sessions. I have done lots of body work on cars, and if I close my eyes and feel where these cracks are I can actually feel that the hull is slightly kinked out around the area in question.
This will be my winter project. I was planning on re-doing the keels anyway and my thought for this other hull damage was to grind the gel coat in a generous area around the cracks down to structural material and progressively lay larger glass patches, maybe 3 or 4 layers, and re spray the gel coat. Even if I were to install an access port it would be nearly impossible to do the same on the inside of the hull due to the length of the cracks and detectable kink. Although I'm sure anything on the inside for some added integrity would be helpful. Any advice would be extremely appreciated .
