Final photos -major restorations

Before ...trailer

more trailer (before)

...After

after (2)

note the re-dyed tramp. Unfortunately the shiny new gromets do not show in the photo.

after (3)

Trailer after

trailer final,

...everything has been re-done on the trailer (as well as the boat). Bolts, bearings...even the hubs and leaf springs were stripped and refinished. I stripped and painted the original u-bolts and brackets too - these were hard to find and replace. Bearing buddies were added as well.

Wow man, that looks great! I repainted my trailer last year, but I didn't go to quite the detail level you did! I just scrubbed it with soap and water and then hit it with several cans of yellow Rustoleum.

damn!!! how long did a job like that take?

WOW. . . very creative, nice attention to detail. And I thought mine looked good painted black.

Jaime, Will and Newbie,

Thanks very much for the compliments, they are appreciated. As for the "attention to details", I am a stickler in that regard. But to me, that is where the beauty of the job resides. It is nice when others notice that.

As for "how long" it took me. Well, I picked up the boat and trailer on Jan. 14 of this year. I worked on it during the evenings - after the baby went to bed - for the most part. The only daytime work I was able to negotiate was on 3 separate weekends. These were reserved for priming and painting (and acid-stripping in the case of the trailer). These jobs had to be done in a continuous manner, and my over-worked wife was able to accommodate. The actual painting is the easiest, most rewarding and sometimes most stressful part of the job. If a single run or sag occurred in the paint, I wet sanded the entire coat and started again - I just wasn`t willing to sacrifice a perfect job. That is how I achieve personal satisfaction in this type of work - although it drives my wife and friends nuts.

Over the past seven years, I have tackled some bigger projects. However, with a new baby in the house, I needed a smaller project that I could work on at home in the garage - not an easy criteria when one loves to work on boats. I have some sailing experience, and I have always loved the look and the idea of a performance catamaran. In my opinion, the Hobie 16 is the most attractive of them all - bar none. With its beautifully up-curved hulls, heavy aluminum castings and elegant pylons supporting the raised trampoline, I find the H16 almost irresistable. I am sometimes a little surprised when I hear enthusiasts talk about all the great attributes of the H16 but forget to mention this fact. To me, boats can be (and should be) a thing of beauty. And, if I can say one thing about the H16 for certain, the original designers believed this too.

In any event, I will be away for two weeks after today. Following that, I am willing to share everything I did with whoever is interested - and I hope there are some who are interested ...There are a pile of oldies but goodies out there that are in need of some TLC.

Dave

really interesting thread. i've got a 1984 16 that needs some work on the hulls (soft spots, assorted dings, worn bases - repainting!), so i'd be very interested in reading some detail on what you did to your boat.

Great job Dave. I'll prob try a tackle my H16 this fall in a similar fashion as you. I have no previous experience however in hull restoration. Have you already posted an outline of your steps, products, techniques? If so - thanks and where? If not, any chance? Thanks Dave

Gavin & CatRon,

Thanks for the compliments and the interest. Here is a list of my steps in a general sense. I will be glad to answer any specific questions as well.

(1) When I selected an H16 for restoration I looked for a boat with no delamination, good castings and non-skid in good shape. Non-skid is next to impossible to repair to any degree of cosmetic beauty. It generally has to be re-done completely, and since I wanted a boat that looked original when finished, I didn`t want to re-do any non-skid. As for the rest of the hulls, I really didn`t care how bad they were (mine were bad) because I was going for a total refinish anyway.

(2) The entire boat was disassembled and all hardware was removed from the hulls and supports ...only the pylons remained attached.

(3) No less than 3 detergent scrubs (emphasis on scrub) were performed on absolutely everything. All stainless hardware was washed / cleaned with a de-scaler and then polished. All aluminum casts were scrubbed with straight muriatic acid and abrasive pads (using care not to expose anodized parts to the acid). After this, they were cleaned and polished with an aluminum cleaner containing a polishing grit. All anodized aluminum was cleaned (gently) with the same technique but without the acid.

(4) All gromets were drilled out of the tramp. Then I did two detergent scrubs with a brush followed by two degrease/dewax/de-silicon wipe-downs using a professional product for this type of removal (RM 900 by B.A.S.F). This last step is crucial for anything being refinished and its importance cannot be overstated. I use the technique whereby clean cloths are constantly folded, then wiped, then exchanged - always in one direction only.

(5) The tramp was then re-dyed using a quality automotive vinyl dye (not vinyl paint) and new gromets were installed.

(6) After 2 or 3 detergent scrubs, I used RM 900 on the hulls at least 3 times using the above technique. A scrub brush was used aggressively on the non-skid in addition to the wipe-down method.

(7) Being careful not to touch the hulls with bare hands too much (grease contamination) I proceeded to sand the whole works down with 80 grit and a RANDOM orbital sander. This removed as many scratches and defects as possible. I sanded completely through the gelcoat layer only when absolutley necessary to remove a bulge or defect.

(8) I used vinyl ester resin to patch and fair the small dings and gouges/scratches. Some scratches had to be dug out with a dremel in order to get the resin in for patching. The keels were done with either epoxy and fumed silica as a filler, or the vinyl ester (depending on severity). Just make sure that only epoxy is used if the foam core is exposed because the polyester or vinyl ester will dissolve the foam.

(9) The repairs were sanded smooth (with 80 grit) using either a sanding block or the sander. However, using the orbital sander for this kind of fairing can be difficult and takes a lot of experience to do it well - the block may be better for most. Also, these last few steps were repeated several times (a ton of work) using different types of angled lighting to detect the hard-to-see defects and thus begin another round of repairs. These subtle defects will not be so subtle after the high-gloss two-part polyurethane is ultimately applied.

(10) Once I could no longer find any defects. I progressed my sanding up to 180 grit. Then I rubbed chalkline chalk dust all over the hulls and found many other scratches and pinholes to fix.

(11) After doing the chalk thing twice, I sprayed the hull bottoms down with cheap red auto primer and proceeded to sand all the primer off. The red primer remained in all the small defects I had missed - and there were many. I did this step twice. Then proceeded to 220 grit when everything was finally perfect.

(12) One more degrease/dewaxing as described above.

(13) After building a ventilated paint booth in my garage (using tarps) and wetting the floor constantly to keep dust down, I used compressed air followed by a tack cloth on the hulls. I sprayed on 3 coats of EP-FD epoxy primer by Endura (last coat thinned %15) with wet-sanding between the 2nd and third coat. Followed by 3 coats of EX-2C two-part polyurethane topcoat (also by Endura) with the last coat thinned %15. Note: on the hull tops, only one coat of primer thinned %15 was used followed by the same topcoat application as the hull bottoms described above. I did this because I was concerned that applying too much paint over the non-skid area on the hull tops would ruin the texture of the non-skid. As it turned out, I am very happy with the results. FYI - Each coat of paint/primer on the hull bottoms took about 20 - 22 oz of paint (total per coat for both hulls), and about 10 oz of paint (total per coat) was required for both hull caps/tops. This paint is very expensive, so this last bit of info is important in buying and mixing the appropriate quantities.

Hope this helps,

Dave

Thanks CD. Truly incredible work on your part. You are a perfectionist without limits/bounds.
I'll be doing my hulls after sailing season and will refer to your guidelines I'm sure. Hope you'll be around to bounce ideas/problems off.

Thanks again for putting this kind of detailed info on the net. This is exactly what forums are for - there are thousands of H16 and other boat owners with nicks, scrapes and dings all wondering how the hang are we gonna fix all this. Now we know.

Nice work Captn Dave

Just an FYI question- Do you know how much the boat weighs after the restoration?

Tom Korz

CatRon,

I will be here and will be glad to help - especially when it comes to those nagging little specifics we all run into on these jobs.

Dave

Tom,

Good question. I do not know the exact original weight of the boat. However, I added 6 coats to the hull bottoms at 20 oz per coat and 4 coats to the hull caps at 10 oz per coat for a total of 160 oz of paint/primer. The gelcoat I removed through extensive sanding would have to be at least 1/2 that amount for a net weight gain of about 80 oz (5 lbs). This would be a high-side estimate. I suspect my gelcoat removal is actually higher than what I have stated.

Dave

Hey CD,

I'm about to start the restoration of a 77 Hobie 16. Regarding sanding the hulls - how did you prepare the non-skid area for painting?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

H77

Hello H77,

No short cut here. For the non-skid it was scrub, scrub, scrub. I started with soap and water using a stiff nail-brush. Then (with the same brush) I used Simple Green and lots of scrubbing followed by a wipedown with RM 900. Then, a lot more scrubbing with a fine (soft) brass bristle brush about the size and appearance of a large toothbrush. The trick here was to scrub ALL the dirt out of every individual indentation of the non-skid...it was not easy. I was very concerned about this part of the job because I knew that the two-part poly (like any paint) would eventually chip if any contamination remained in the non-skid.

Once the non-skid *appeared* completely clean, I repeated the process three times more (with a *new* nailbrush) using RM 900 by BASF to remove all waxes and silicone. RM 900 is a professional dewaxer/degreaser/silicone remover and can be ordered via autobody suppliers. This product (or something like it) absolutely MUST be used extensively on the hulls. Removing waxes and worse, silicone, requires very specific solvents. So, use what the professionals use and be wary of anyone suggesting a compromise in this regard.

In total, both hull caps underwent about 3 to 4 hours of intense scrubbing each...definitely "grunt work" and critical.

Dave

Captain Dave,

thank you for the advice!

I hope you'll be around for the next few months, so that we may tap you for more information if need be.

What you have have described in your previous posts is certainly inspiring.

H77

H77,

Oh yea, I`ll still be around ...provided I don`t kill myself on my shiny new H16 - the one I barely know how to sail! But, at least the boat looks great - even upside down!

Dave

Dave,
Very impressive and detailed information about the repair. I am at the start of a similar project. Are there any special associated health hazards with this?

Ya, lots. But, nothing really out of the ordinary when one considers spray painting, sanding/grinding fiberglass and working with acids - in the the case of the trailer. Perhaps worth mentioning is the toxicity of epoxies. Most tend to think that the strong smelling polyester resins are a big hazard, and that the relatively odorless epoxies are no big deal. The truth is, epoxies are the ones to use caution with.

Dave

Dave, I am interested in the product you use to dye the tramp. I run a youth H16 camp with 5 boats that could use a brightening of the tramp (all colors).
Did the dye process make the tramp slippery? Does the dye come off in the sun or water? Has the dye transfered to clothing when rubbed with your elbows and knees? We are in Vancouver with ocean salt water. Do you have knowledge if this might work in our conditions.
Finally, what product do you recommend for the dye process? Does this have to be done by a pro with shop facilities?

Beautiful work Captain Dave! Thanks for the detailed information. I know I'll be consulting this thread for information about future projects. Make sure to post some pictures of that pretty boat on the water!

MarkJones,

I cannot attest to the dye in saltwater conditions. As for making the tramp slippery - no, not at all. It does abraid off with a lot of use but not very much. And it does this as a gradual wearing process - it does not chip or flake if applied properly. I suspect I notice this more because the underlying colour is yellow and I have dyed it black (touchups are easy and cure in 15 minutes). If you were to stay with the original tramp colour when dyeing I would say this may be little or no concern at all. I did notice a small amount of transfer to my bathing suit on one occassion. This was my first sail on the boat after the dye job and I had carelessly allowed a fair bit of sand to remain on the tramp when sailing. But, it was more like a fine dust and rinsed off the suit no problem - it may have been surface dust/overspray and nothing to do with the sand at all - I am not sure and it has not happened since.

Derek thanks for the compliment and good Idea on the photos. Here are a couple.

Dave

and another!

Dave,

I am restoring a Prindle 19 and running into trouble with the aluminum castings. These appear to have rusted onto the extrusions (at both ends of the mast, cross beams and boom). Any ideas on how to remove them?. I have tried toilet bowl cleaners and WD40 to no avail. Can I use heat? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks