ok, ive had some troubel with these hulls in the past, but now ive sealed them, the new problem is after a hard sailing day up on tahoe, i find the hulls have about a gallon or two of water in them at the least, is this normal??? am i taking too much water on through my pylons? and if i am how can it be remedied? thanks
It depends a lot on the conditions, but a "gallon or two" seems a bit much. I've read that a cup or two is normal. I've yet to get any H2O in my hulls since renovation, but there's little wind here. What did you do to "seal" your hulls?
common leaks are around the pylon to hull seam, the deck to hull seam, the drain housing or the O ring, and sometimes the foam plug inside the pylons. Use a shop vac in reversed mode (blowing) to blow air inside the hulls - use water with some soap to find the leaks.
Patrick
ive done the vaccuum trick and sealed anything that had buubles with silicone, but i did not do the pylons around the deck, should i also seal up top around the castings and pylons? could my foam core have deteriorated? by the way, what are these little plastice nuts on my pylons? could water be gettin in there? and it was some pretty intense sailing, we were flyin a hull for most of the time... and we flipped twice, so it was on its side for a good 20 minutes...
hmm.. could be at the pylons then. My hulls always used to take on more water when the boat is on its side. About the plastic nuts, mine cracked and they seemed like a bad idea anyway so I replaced them with stainless steel lock nuts from ace hardware. I dont see how that has much to do with the leaking thouh.
I would not seal the pylon to corner casting... not that it would cause much problems - more because it will not fix the real problem for long...
Thake the frame off and check out the foam plugs... The ones in the front pylon have ventilation tubes. The rear pylons could (depends on year)have lead in them. Replace the foam if it is questionable (water noodle foam works well) - also consider taking the lead out (mine - '85 - did not have lead in the pylons).
Nylon hut with crack... I guess this is common. Replacing them with SS lock nuts might not work well since the bolt is not long enough to reach the nylon insert of the lock nut. Do not over torque what ever nut you use - IIRC this was the reason why Hobie used the nylon nut in the first place.
Patrick
i understand... almsot all of that, but i have a couple questions, what are the leads? and can i just undo the bolts without taking the tramp off? can i do it on the whole process on the trailer?
does it matter if there is a hole in the noodle, so its just a giant tube?
If you use the noodle with the hole, you have defeated the purpose of the foam: ...to keep the water out.
The ventalation tube in the stock foam is very narrow. When it clogs, you need to use a thin wire to clean it out. Folks that have hulls that pressurize in the heat, need to clean this tube out to allow air to vent. Save this tube, and put it in your new piece of SOLID foam. Because it is so narrow, tha amount of water it lets in is very tiny.