Hi all
I’ve a 1980s P16 which I have owned for 4 years and sail occasionally on the Mar Menor in Murcia Spain and it has always had soft spots on the inner hulls under the trampoline although the outside edges are solid and I wondered how much of an issue this is or could develop into?
Thanks in advance for any views and advice.

The problem will be that at some point you will capsize and you’ll need to stand on that part of the hull to right the boat. If the soft spots are large/severe enough, your weight will collapse the hull which could easily cause it to sink.

There’s really no acceptable place for soft spots on the boat’s hull. A soft spot is an indicator that the hull’s structure is damaged and failing. The soft spot will most likely continue to grow if not addressed.

sm

Thanks for the advice Dogboy I hadn’t thought about the capsize situation.
Any tips on a quick fix to strengthen the hulls or is it a case of enjoying the moment until nature takes its course!

I’m not sure about the hull construction of the Prindles. If the hull is a foam sandwich construction and the soft spots are relatively small, you can usually fix them by injecting epoxy into the laminate to bond the structure back together. Do a search on soft spot repairs, lots of info already exists about epoxy injection. Otherwise, you would be looking at cutting open the hull and reinforcing with extra glass or adding a bulkhead to strengthen the area.

The problem with the idea of leaving it as is and just enjoying the boat up until the moment that nature takes it’s course is that the moment and subsequent hours after nature takes it’s course will be a nightmare as you try to figure out how to get your half-sunken boat back to the beach.

sm

Yes copy that
Many thanks for your advice

This is how FrankenKitty began, remnants of a soft P-18. A buddy acquired a P-18. We took it out sailing in 12-15 knot of wind. While sailing, the leeward hull fiberglass started to wrinkle as the hull was folding inward. We quickly throttled down and headed back to shore. We knew there were some soft spots, but when the hull loads up, the delamination of the soft spots grows and they start "connecting the dots" where the hull is completely delaminated. The P-18 hull is foam cored (brown foam) and does not have a long life expectancy.

A couple of options, re-skin the boat. Or, one I had not tried but thought of, inject epoxy in between the skin and foam. Add some aid to inside to press the inner skin against the foam and then against the outer skin.

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Scott

Prindle Fleet 2
TCDYC

Prindle 18-2 Mod "FrankenKitty"
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