Hi,
I've inherited responsibility for a club Hobie 16. It's about five years old. The hulls are leaking water, one hull very badly. On its most recent sail, with light crew, low-medium wind, and little splash, quite a bit of water got into the hulls. I don't think it's the pylons because these conditions seem to rule out water leaking into the pylons. I've inspected the rudder and plug fittings, and for the most part, they seem to be well-seated in silicone (although I do wonder about the rudder fittings).
Seems like I need to do a leak test. I've never had to do this before, and in my searches have stumbled across a couple of references to leak tests involving soap & water, blowing air into the hulls with a hair dryer, etc.
I don't suppose by any chance anyone is aware of any websites which document this.
Any suggestions for the best way to do a leak test? Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers,
d.
I would check the gudgeons. Just remove them, clean off the transom of each hull. Apply some good silionized caulk and put them back on.
Then I would check for cracks and wear marks on the bottom of the hulls. Take the mast down and flip the boat over. If there is solid wear, re-coat the bottoms. I recommend using a product called PC-11 epoxy. It can be found at Ace Hardware.
Next, while you have the boat up side down, squirt siliconized caulk into the underside of the lip where the top of the hull meets with the sides. Many times the hull becomes porus at this seam and is tough to locate the exact location. Do the entire seam.
If you are still getting water in after all of that, your pylons are the most logical source.
Check out the leak test description I wrote for the Hobie Forums FAQ section: Leak test procedure