I'm looking at a mid 80's hobie 16. unfortunately, the previous owner left it in the water for a period of time and it developed blisters in the gel coat. I have not seen the boat in person, just looking at photos, but it looks like everything under the waterline is affected. Can these be repaired and what is involved in the repair? I've enclosed a photo, the black paint was added by me to the photo to cover the reg. numbers. Thanks for any input.
Scott
I fixed a $325 Hobie 16- same deal. The guy swore it was in the water only 6 mo--- it was maybe 6 years- in Florida so you can imagine the weeds. 500 blisters per side but the decks were solid; I excavated all the non-structural surface blisters, filled with Bondo, epoxy primered ($100), sanded and sprayed gelcoat ($20). Looked like crap with the orange peel. More sanding and buffing, and after all this work I ended up with a $700 boat. NOT WORTH IT!
I have had some experience with this years back on my 30 foot Jeanneau monohull. Only way to fix it -- remove all the gelcoat and go back with new. West System Epoxy has complete kits and instructions. Check out their website. http://www.westsystem.com/ This is a lot of work if you're going to do it right.
Good luck!
Don