Hi,

I've just broken my Hobie 16 hull. I'm having no luck in finding another hull, its an old boat. I'm wondering about the feasibility of repairing the hull. The deck tore off the hull between the two posts centered around the side-stay.

Can anyone advise me about the feasibility of this repair, and how I might go about it.

Any clues where I might find another hull would also be welcome!!!

Thanks,

Steve

It somewhat depends on what year your boat is. For instance 1979's had some serious delamination problems and would not be worth the effort to repair and you'd be better off with a replacement.

How did this happen? Describe or post pictures of the damage. That would help in advising the best remedy. 1979 highlight serious

Steve,

Where are you located? I know of an older Hobie for sale in what the owner says in good sailing condition for around $650. It is in North Carolina. He did say he had to rebuild one transom but claimed to have done a good job. I have not seen the boat and am not sure it is still available but if you are close enough and interested, I could give you his number.

Howard

delamination issues are not limited to '79 models. Plenty of the old boats have soft hulls. It sounds like your boat is damaged in an area where a good amount of forces work on the hull anyway. From the little I have read I would not recommen to repair. Post some pix for a better assessment. Patrick

Steve,

Tough luck on your hull. As for a repair, it is possible to do, but definitely not worth it unless you can do it yourself. Even then, it is still probably not worth it.

To restore the necessary integrity to the repair site (without seeing a photo first), I`d say you only have one option and that is to remove/cut the entire hull cap away from the rest of the hull in order to make your repair. Doing this properly and coping with the issue of those pylons coming up from the hull could make this a bugger of a job - even for a pro.


Dave

Steve,

I got to thinking about your problem and you MAY have one more (relatively cheap and easy) repair option... In a nutshell and depending on the extent of your damage, you may be able to install a substantial backing plate of teak, hard mohogany or custom glass inside the hull through the damage area and secure it there to support/cover the damage area from the inside. You may have to cut a bigger hole in your hull to do it. After that, it will be a relatively easy job to build up the laminate and finish it out nice and true.

This is an epoxy job, I wouldn`t use polyesters. But if you secure a strong backing plate and do a strong and proper layup of glass and epoxy, then it should be plenty strong.

You may not need a replacement hull after all.


Dave

seems like there are a bunch of old hobie 16s around, seems like getting a replacement shouldn't be too hard (but then again I don't know where you are located)

Unfortunately, I'm located in NSW, Australia. My first option is to try to find another hull, but I'm not having any success.

Repair is the final option. I will try to post a photo of the damage.

Thanks for the advice, I love this boat.

Steve

show us the pic and we'll see. I recently fixed a few dings in the port bow of my boat (looks pretty spiffy, if I do say so ) so I am all up for glass work (esp with the trailer box I am making). However, neither of these is particularly structural.

Here's a couple of pictures of the damage.

And another

and still another one

I'm no expert, but I would think that the hull looks repairable to me. You might have to cut in a access port or two so you can lay up some glass from the inside, but that's no big deal. I would try to dissamble the boat so you can work on it upside down, to lay in the interior repairs. It might not be pretty when it's done, but I would bet that you'll be sailing it again.
Jack

I think it could be fixed... but I think the key is to over-build the shroud attachment to distribute the load further down into the hull.
But yes, it won't be pretty unless you are a perfectionist (and I am not... as you will soon see pics of my trailer box). Ah, what do you have to lose? Get some west system, some fiberglas cloth and go crazy.

Well, the feedback has been encouraging enough for me to have a go, and since I haven't found another hull, what option do I have?

I'm thinking that I will need to cut a hatch somewhere to allow me to access that area to glass it up, then repair the hatch. Any thoughts on distributing the load from the shroud stay? How about carbon tow down to the keel, backed by a foam bulkhead?

Any suggestions on actually how to do the repair would be welcome.

Thanks,

Steve

you could use a chainplate type system. These are very important on monohulls, but here is a pic (from a monohull, but you get the point-http://www.semyan.com/GataLuna/Images/Dscn0095.jpg ) through bolted to the inside of the hull with lots of epoxy/glass/plywood backing then there wouldn't be that much pull on the repaired top of the hull.

I don't think your going to be able to repair that by glassing though a couple of ports. If I was going to even try that repair I would do it by cutting a hole or slot in the inside hull large enough to actually be able to work on it. I notice the foam blocks there so they would have to be removed to do the work.

The other thing's I would consider would be pulling the cap, making the repairs and reinstalling it or glue it together good enough to make a mold of the deck and then make your own part.

If you are able to fix this hull you might want to add a small port to the other side and glass the deck to the hull in that area. Good luck.

I do not know what a used Hobie sells for in your area... from my experience here in TX parting out and finding a replacement would be the way to go.
If you decide to repair... I would try to remove the deck in one piece. Make the repairs to hull and deck separately. This will be still pretty difficult since in most areas you will deal with a sandwich made from composite material and a layer of foam. At least you will have space to work on the part from both sides. You will also be able to use a power sander to prep areas that would be otherwise not accessible. I would not try to make a mold and recreate the deck as a whole (to difficult for most people to build such a piece as a sandwich composite construction). Once deck and hull have been repaired just epoxy them back together. You could use a longer piece of stainless steel to create an anker for the shroud to spread the load over a larger area. Good luck.

Patrick