[quote=mattson]Years ago, I repaired a very large area of delamination on a Hobie 18 that I picked up for $100. I was going to do a write up on it, but never got around to that. I did take photos of each step however. You'll find them here:
[url]http://www.catsail.com/projects/delam/[/url]
This was a significant area of hull, spanning practically the entire width of the deck from the daggerboard well to the rear crossbar. The only reason I went ahead with it was that this is not as structurally important an area as other areas on the boat, such as the bows where your damage is. Also, the boat was so cheap I had nothing to lose. I did find a smaller issue in the area you describe (a couple inches in diameter) and an even smaller area on one of the bows, and fixed those too.
One issue with the large area is that the repair took so much epoxy, it generated a significant amount of heat. It could not be touched, and I contemplated whether it would ignite. In the end, the repair worked but the hull surface was warped, presumably from the heat.
I sailed that boat for over 12 years, including channel crossings. But I did have some further delam in smaller areas that I repaired a couple more times. At some point, I decided it was getting to be too much and replaced the hulls with some free ones that came up.
Bottom line: Delamination is the beginning of the end. You may be able to get some years of sailing out of the boat, but it is something you'll need to stay on top of. And, as stated by others, that's a very critical area of your boat. I would not be surprised if you never had a problem with the repair, but I also would not be at all surprised if it failed on you.<!-- editby --><em>Edited by mattson on Mar 13, 2020 - 01:53 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
No HTML tags allowed (except inside [code][/code] tags)
