A friend and I have taken our H16 apart and are looking for way to fix two soft spots that we have found just forward of the front pylons. These spots are about 3 feet long and maybe 6 inches wide (at the most). We have talked about reglassing and injecting foam into the spots. We are wanting to fix the spots without adding a lot of weight. Can anyone give any other ideas on how we should fix this? Joe<br><br>
There is only two ways to solve this: <br>A. Buy a new cat, which is for sure the best thing to do because with option B the boat gets heavier and the sails not younger! <br>B. Drill about 5mm holes in diameter intothe deck until u reached the softer sandwich level. This must be done about every 5cm from hole to hole. Then inject epoxy in the sandwich level, let it harden and then cover the holes with topcoat. <br> <br>Good luck <br> <br>PS: This happened to quite some older boats maybe due to suboptimum use of Epoxy in the production process in Europe. I have seen some boats that were fixed in this way, but race sailing was then history for them.<br><br>
I would suggest drilling the holes only big enough to accept the injection needle. Drill one at the top of the soft area, nearest the bow, and one at the other end of the soft area. Drill the hole only thru the top layer of the delamination. Then, inject West System or other epoxy into the top hole until it drains out at the bottom. When this happens, stick a needle into the bottom hole to stop the flow and leave both needles in the holes until the epoxy cures. When you remove the needles, you will only have a small hole to fill! <br>Worked great on my boat and weight is... well not much. Cheaper than buying a new hull! <br>P.S. Use some colloidal filler in your mixture. <br>Good luck....<br><br>
I worked in a boat repair facility for 4 years doing this type of repair. My best advise is, if possible, take the boat to a professional fiberglass repair facility that does boats. I saw too many self done butcher jobs. Glass work is not hard, but the more you do, the better you get. Tackling soft hulls on your hobie as a first time job, and then gel coating...egads, save some grief and be kind to your boat. Get someone else to do it. <br> <br>If you can't get anybody else, then drill very small holes about 3-5 cm apart. Inject a 30 minute epoxy with no thickening agent and come back and fill the holes with epoxy after a couple of hours. If you try and gelcoat, mix a small amount with colored dye in it and use some wax paper over the repair to minimize sanding. This stuff is hard as a rock and in trying to sand it you'll muck up the rest of the finish on the boat. <br> <br>Just my 2 cents. <br> <br>Cheers!<br><br>
Well I used to sail a club hobie 16 before i bought my own and i noticed a soft in the clubs boat and well of cource i had to repair it. I asked around and the best advice i was given was to sand the top of the soft spot down heaps and recoat it. It might make the hulls hevier if you use the wrong stuff but it's stronger that way and since its an old boat it shouldn't make much difference. Well at any case have fun and just get advice from other people and dont just follow one thing just do what you think is best its all learning.
Drill holes all over the soft spot making sure you drill only the deck but not through the part hanging lose inside the hull.
Get a seringe from your local hardware store and a box of drywall screws and a cup of cooking oil.
Sounds kind of strange... I know
Mix your epoxy, load your seringe and start shooting inside your delamination throught the holes you drilled working in rows.
Grab your electric drill and work the screws all the way through your laminate after dipping them in oil. The screws will grab the lose part of the laminate, lift it and squeze it to the deck and push the exess resin out. You will waist some epoxy, be ready for spills, but you will add no weight to your hull and it will be as good as new.
After the epoxy has cured the screws will come out with little effort because of the oil.
Slap some filler in the screw holes, paint, go sail!
PS: check your drill bit when you drill the holes, if it comes out wet, you will probably have to cut port holes to allow the delamination to dry out, epoxy does not stick on wet foam.
Check out my prior posts on the Open Forum by clicking on "HoldenBeachin" at the right then click "show all user's posts". I had a similar problem with one hull on my '76 H16. I had planned to put in deck ports, so when I cut the holes for them I filled the delaminated area with a can of "Great Stuff" foam from the hardware store. I heard from many forum readers who did not think this was a good idea, however, the repair is still rigid after two weeks of hard use at the beach earlier this month, and the foam is not as heavy as epoxy. Good luck.
