I found my hobie 16 has cracked hull supports (foam inserts that the pylons rest ion) considering the loads on the boat during operation, is that foam insert meant to keep the pylon from moving further into the hull or is it mostly to keep the legs from moving front to back and left to right?

We took a close look at the foam blocks and there was little foam to keep the pylon legs from descending into the hull. As a matter of fact the bottom of the pylon sheared the bottom of teh block out. I did notice that the deck raised and lowered when the tramp was jacked up and let down. I figure that the up and down motion was restricted primarily by the pylon being glassed to the underside of the deck of the hull. I hope that glassing and filling the cracks in the glass blocks will fix the up and down motion of the pylon in the hull. there don't seem to be any delaminations in the deck near the pylon inserts so once the operation is done the up and down motion will be restricted.

Any assistance is much appreciated.

The pylon should not be able to move the deck up and down. Hopefully some experts will advise, but take a look at these pictures.[mg2:10731]

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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my front pylon foam block looks like this

Whew, expert

I've had two boats with this "condition" and extensive conversation with Mmiller of Hobie regarding repair.

That foam piece is called the pylon shoe. Is your boat a 1980 or 1981?

Cut back as much glass "flags" as possible (down to the top of the shoe) and wet out some big pieces of 6 oz. cloth to lay in there. Drizzle epoxy everywhere you can...above and below, in front and in back of the shoe.

Both of the instances I encountered the INSIDE of the shoe is what seperated from the hull. One had been sailed too long in this condition resulting in a 6" long, horizontal tear clear through the hull allowing water to seep in. Knowing the shoe was loose I thought I could fix it by cutting a port in BEHIND the pylon and using the above method. The tear had allowed water to soak in to the foam and repeated sailing caused the crushing and deterioration of foam a good 8 to 12 inches all around the tear, long story short was not repairable. You need a good STIFF hull surface to reattach the shoe. If you can catch this condition soon enough you can repair. Check the hull itself for soft spots (just like delamination) all around the shoe before spending the time and effort to repair. If too soft, find another hull.

John