Found soft spot on hull after putting on trailer

dflyin1 · #1 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

I own an 81 hunter 22 sailboat. I put her on the trailer this past winter and as I was scraping the old algae etc. I noticed a soft spot and some superficial cracks. When I say soft spot it wasn't as hard as the rest of the hull in that area. I was using my fist to pound around and see what the rest was like.

I dont know how the boat was constructed so I dont know if the area around it was lead or not. I have no blisters and no leaking inside the boat. She was at the marina all summer with no a drop of water inside.

My question is I would like to strengthen the area before painting the bottom and have no idea where to start. Any advice as to the severity of the problem or how to repair would be helpful

sailingdog · #2 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

It would help if you could post some photos, but since Sailnet's photo posting feature is basically busted, you'll need ten posts and a flickr.com account to do so. It would also help if you said where on the hull the soft spot was. Your current description could have it be almost anywhere on the boat, which makes it hard to say much.

dflyin1 · #3 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

Ill try to get some pics but i'll be laying about 8 inches from it so they may not be much help. The soft spot is about 2 feet behind the centerboard and to the left about a foot and a half if you are at the aft facing forward. the exact opposite side is a bit harder that that side is.

The cracks are very supperficial in nature and do not appear to be anything more than gellcoat. They are almost hairline in nature. The spot is approximately the size of a basketball.

Freesail99 · #4 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

Just a question, is there bottom psint on this boat ? I was wondering how easy you could see the cracks.

dflyin1 · #5 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

No not much left. I bought the boat in march of last year and decided to spend the summer just having fun and then do the repairs later if there were any. I live in Tennessee and it was in fresh water so I made the decision to wait, I hope that doesn't come back to bite me. LOL

I basically crawled up under the trailer and used an old credit card to scrape the bottom and that is when I saw it.

Freesail99 · #6 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

As others have said, photo's would help alot. Make sure you make the payment on the new card on time, you may need it, lol ..... I am kidding ( g )

Quote:

I basically crawled up under the trailer and used an old credit card to scrape the bottom and that is when I saw it.

sailaway21 · #7 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

Send along some photo's. The song chain in Off Topic is a good way to get your post count up. In the meantime, I wouldn't worry over much, it could be normal. Any chance this section of the hull was sitting on a boat stand or something before you got pounding around? And please take a look inside at the spot where it's soft and let us know what the construction of the boat looks like there. You'll probably want to pick up Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Guide to Sailboat Maintenance and start paging through it. It's about the best out there for the projects you're contemplating and worth every penny.

Hartley18 · #8 (**permalink**) 02-17-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by dflyin1

Ill try to get some pics but i'll be laying about 8 inches from it so they may not be much help. The soft spot is about 2 feet behind the centerboard and to the left about a foot and a half if you are at the aft facing forward. the exact opposite side is a bit harder that that side is.

The cracks are very supperficial in nature and do not appear to be anything more than gellcoat. They are almost hairline in nature. The spot is approximately the size of a basketball.

So it's on the Port side aft of the centerboard and the skin has flexed a bit...

In about that spot you should find some kind of stiffener running between the ribs and the centercase - perhaps the skin has come away from it's supports.. All it takes for this to happen is for someone to put their foot in the wrong place whilst the boat was on the trailer.

dflyin1 · #9 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008

Thanks for all the info so far. It has been raining terribly here but I will try to get a pic this evening. I beleve you may be right about the stiffener. Is it something I should be worried about? I had considered sanding that area down and adding extra fiberglass but wasnt sure if that was going to be a good idea or not.

CKDK08 · #10 (**permalink**) 02-18-2008

If your 81 is like my 82 you should be able to lay on the port side berth and look down into the area of the hull aft of the centerboard. the water tank is in the center blocking that view but there is no liner in that area. Also by lifting the cover under the cushions you can see quite a bit.
The area under the sole is all lead so you can't see anything by removing the sole.
Do some measuring from the outside and see if you can match up the area that way.
Good luck. Let me know what you find.