Ok guy, I am in the middle of the "drill and fill" routine on my H18. I am at a stand still waiting for more vacuum film to come in so not to waist time what should I wet out and re-enforce? I am filling all the "extra" holes the last 30 years of owners felt she needed.
My hulls are from 81, no cracks or leaks just very light flex in the decks, that I am working on. I have put 4" hatches in the stern decks. Should I add some glass to the transom plate edge to hull joint?
I am all so putting on the new rudder system and new rudder gudgeons. I just don't want to lose the stern! and we plan on a lot of distance sailing.
I have the SX wings, mast and a spinnaker, I also have the re enforcement plates for the shrouds and the forward cross beam. Should I add extra glass at the re enforcement plates?
any other recommendations?
Thanks
I would add reinforcement plates to the rear cross beams also. The rear beam takes a lot of abuse from the wings, force from you sitting/bouncing on them. See where the plates fit, I think they will fit inner and outer connection points. My hulls have cracked where the deck meets the hull at the rear cross beam, all 4 connection points. If you can reach them from the port hole you added, I would glass th inside as well. I put the plates on the inner beam connection, but could not add on outer due to my glass repair, but if yours are not repaired the plates should fit. Also inspect your dagger trunks for leaks.
Scott
Hobie 18M in Chicago
Just ordered the 4 extra plates for the aft cross beam, thanks for the input!
I will be adding 3 layers of cloth at all re enforcement spots, starting out as large as I can reach and then get smaller.
I started with small pieces of cloth and then built up with larger pieces. I felt the small pieces allowed me to guarantee good contact with the original glass then the larger pieces tied it all together. It is hard to get the large pieces smooth in hard to work areas.
Scott
Hobie 18M in Chicago
shipchips1 wrote: Just ordered the 4 extra plates for the aft cross beam, thanks for the input!
I will be adding 3 layers of cloth at all re enforcement spots, starting out as large as I can reach and then get smaller.
Jim, don't go crazy on the extra glass, the 1981 Hobie 18 hulls are tanks already, so you are probably just adding needless extra weight. Adding the plates can't hurt, but the 1981 model didn't have them and the reason they were added later was because the 1984-1986 models were built with much lighter fiberglass layup (too light as it turned out) and suffered more than normal warranty claims for broken hulls. By the 1989 model year Hobie finally got it right on the balance of weight and strength for the H18, but of course by then they weren't selling very many new boats.
When you got the wings did you get all the mounting hardware including the plates that rivet to the beams? Originally for the Magnum wings the wings just used slugs in the trampoline slots, but they had a bad habit of pulling out of the slot.
You are going to need some kind of support for your wings when folded. Here's a simple set I built from a quick trip to the hardware store out of PVC pieces.
http://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures/?g2_itemId=11711
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Damon Linkous
Great info on the 81 hulls being tanks, so should I even bother with any extra glass?
Using the re enforcement plates couldn't be a bad idea on the stern cross beam right?
Yes I got all the proper mounting gear with the boat, I did have to replace one of the mounts but they are all riveted to the beams and look good.
I made a wing mount all most exactly like the one pictured, I think I used that pic for my model.
Thanks guys for all the great info!!