Over the weekend one of the boats in our race suffered a bad damage when one of the shrouds ripped a large area of the top of one of the hulls on their H16 as they were sailing along. Sorry we don't have a photo of the damage but it looks like the "glue" at the seam on the outside edge of the hull close to the shroud gave way and then it basically ripped across the top of the hull and is still attached on the inside edge. The distance between the two rips is about 40cm.

They managed to get their boat back to the beach without the hull filling with water but now they are wondering whether this can be fixed or whether they need a new hull.

I've seen lots of boats where the top of the hull has been cut and replaced, however never at the load bearing point where the shroud meets the hull. Has anyone ever seen this area repaired sucessfully before so that it is strong enough to bear the load of the shroud afterwards?

More than the glue gave way, since the shroud anchor goes through both the deck and the hull layups.

I would say a call to their insurance company is in order. That hull is toast.

Anything that's fiberglass can be repaired. It's just a matter of how much time and effort you want to put in to it. Go here to see a T-bone repair that was stronger than the original structure when finished. Caution though, I'm guessing the repair took a good 40 hrs to complete.

http://ohyc.com/html/tbone.htm

Good Luck