Delamination Repair

Hi guys:

I've started repairing my second set of Hobie 16 hulls with the epoxy injection method and it is working great. I injected the epoxy last night and checked it this morning and the hulls are hard again. The reason for my post is to let you know about some photos I put on the web of the process. When I was preparing to do this I searched the web and couldn't find any photos of the actual process so I've posted some.

Last summer I bought this H-16 and fixed it up a little and sailed it and had a blast. It had ports on the hulls that were in bad shape. I found some old, blue hulls without port holes and I'm in the process of fixing them up for this summer so the yellow hulls are history. I put some photos here:

http://www.cooknwithgas.com/Sailing/Hobie_Repair.html

I'll continue to put photos on the above page as I progress.

Have fun,

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska

Next time, use wider masking tape. I bet that took longer to mask with the 3/4" tape, than it did to do the actual repair.

Jeff:

Your on-screen measuring device must need to be calibrated. I used 2" tape. http://www.cooknwithgas.com/Sailing/Blue_Hulls_Tape.JPG

I recommend using a heavier tape like 3M masking tape. The "duck" brand works ok if you don't leave it on too long and it's cheap it tears a lot when removing the tape.

Have a good day,

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska
www.cooknwithgas.com

Looks simple. I have the very same blue hulls. I have a small delam spot starting that I want to do this on. Two questions.

1) How deep do you drill the holes? And how do you control the depth of the drill bit.

2) When you're finished, is there something to clean up the holes, or do you just leave them?
http://www.cooknwithgas.com/Sailing/Hard_Hull1.JPG

Ryan:

Very good questions. It's simple to drill the holes - just drill through the first layer then it will cut through the foam then hit the bottom layer. STOP at this point and don't drill through the bottom layer or you will have epoxy dripping into your hull when you inject. It's fiberglass, foam, fiberglass. The fiberglass is kind of tough and you have to purposely drill through it.

For your second question, I plan to slightly re-drill each hole with a larger bit for kind of a countersink look so I can dab a bit of gel coat on top. The epoxy resin can't stand the sun for long so you have to cover it up with something. I'll post photos. Paint would also work. I put that truck bed liner stuff over the first hull holes but this time I think I'll just dab some gel-coat on the holes.

I have an idea to mix some powder coat powder with polyester resin to make my own gel coat mix and use that. I have some white and blue powder coat powder I can mix to get close to the blue color. I understand the polyester resin is more resistant to UV so I think I'll try it.

One more thing on the holes - the center hole is bigger to accept a tight fit from the syringe. I got some horse-injection syringes from Tractor Supply locally and I did a test drill with a small bit on a piece of wood. The outlying holes are smaller (1/8"). Just inject until you see the epoxy coming up then put tape over the outlying holes.

Here is something else I may not have mentioned - when mixing the epoxy, I did four pumps of resin, four pumps of hardner and one heaping tablespoon of adhesive powder (the white powder) and mixed it all up. Then I sucked it up into the horse syringe and injected it into the center hole.

I hope this was helpful,

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska
www.cooknwithgas.com

Very helpful, thanks Scott!

Did you use the "Git Rot" epoxy stuff, or some kind of stuff from the hardware store? I should be attempting this repair in a week or two. I found one small soft spot, about the size of a coffee cup.....Other than that I'm fairly solid.

Ryan:

Use "West Systems" Epoxy Resin, Hardner and Filler. Buy the pumps kit so you can do one pump for hardner and one pump for resin for accurate mixing. I used the 404 "adhesive filler" and added one heaping tablespoon for four pumps of each hardner and filler. Mix it all up in a cup, suck it up in a large syring, then inject. I found that small circle patterns for the holes work the best - about the size of a full roll of masking tape with one hole in the middle. I was using some dinner plate size circles but those were too big.

Good luck!

Scott Laughlin
http://www.cooknwithgas.com/Sailing/Hobie_Repair.html

Sorry for high jacking your thread......really, I am.


Am I going to need this much for one delam spot that is the size of a coffee can lid??

http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?...p;Store_Code=MS


Also can I mix it up with a lot of filler to repair my gelcoat damage?

Ryan:

That will be more than enough. Be sure also to get the right filler for the job. For injection I used the 404 adhesive filler (white powder). If you have to fill in a hole exposed to the outside, use the maroon colored filler (I don't have the number with me right now).

To answer your question, yes, that is enough and it is the right stuff. Your questions are completely related to this thread so don't worry about it.

Take care,

Scott Laughlin
Omaha, Nebraska

Tri_X_Troll

The spot in the blue hull shown looks like, what we call, a gel coat void. Rather than a delamination. Much easier to fix. It is simply a bubble between the gelcoat and the glass. Was likely there since the boat was built. Chip away until you remove all of the gel coat around the void. Sand and fill with an epoxy filler. Sand and spray color if you want, but the filler is all you really need.

The void is one of the spots on the boat that I need to fix, as is a small delamination area on the starboard deck.

What is the shelf life like on the west systems? If I use it to fix my small area and stick it on the shelf for future use, will it be ok?

I was hoping to fix both of them this week, before the weather is too warm.