I recently discovered several large soft spots in one of my hobie Cat 16 hulls. I have read all the forums on how to do the repair and am ready to take it one. I am a little confused however about what is the best material to use to the repair. I see a lot written about West Marines products. I also see something written about Git-Rot. What is the best product? My cat is stored on a trailer when not in use so does not sit in the water full time.
The argument for Git-Rot is that it is thinner so can better penetrate. Many have been very happy with it. My own first experience with Wests Systems for Delam was no great but I do not think it had anything to do with the product. Just my dumb-luck and inexperience. Wests is thicker I had a hard time getting it to flow well from the syringe into the delammed hull.
Dustin
Magna, UT
Prindle 18
I used fiberglass resin (Bondo Brand) sold at Wally World for $9/qt, worked great on my soft spot and flowed just like the Git-Rot I bought for 3x the price and 1/4 the amount.
git rot rocks
I used fiberglass resin (Bondo Brand) sold at Wally World for $9/qt, worked great on my soft spot and flowed just like the Git-Rot I bought for 3x the price and 1/4 the amount.
ditto. save the west for serious repairs, the bondo/3m resin works great for injection. get the big syringe and drill the holes to fit the tip and you can move some material pretty quick, even if your by yourself. there is a library of injection threads to read here, very popular topic for "vintage" cat owners! fill 'er up!
coastrat
I used git rot, and I'm pretty happy with the results. It had great flow. I had some big soft spots and went through a lot of it. If I were going to do it again I would probably try the bondo brand and save quite a bit of money.
Per the write-ups on this site and a couple others I drilled holes around the perimeter of the soft spots then holes right down the middle, all 3-4" apart, then taped the deck and injected in the middle holes until the git rot came out of the outside hole, then I covered that hole with tape and continued filling through all of them. Be sure to pull the tape and clean the deck pretty quick. I waited and spent a lot of time removing tape. I didn't really have a choice but to wait because I had to leave but I paid for it later.
I've seen people make a pretty pattern with their holes, I didn't, 1st off my boat is 30 years old, I don't plan on winning any beauty award either way, second, I will be giving her a paint job this season to freshen her up a bit, I did a cover up and sanding with get coat and it is pretty smooth, I'm betting that it will barely be noticeable after paint. I have limited time (mainly because I have two little boys) so I do what works and as efficiently as possible.
Here is a link to my photo album of my delam repair:
http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg562/csantana823/Delam%20Project/