I have an 88 Hunter 30, and have it hauled out every other winter for storage and maintenance. During the haul last Monday, the marina guys noticed a large indentation under in the fiberglass under the shower pan area. I don't see any indication of the area hitting an underwater object, and it's on the bottom of the boat, far from where any jackstands might have been the last time it was hauled. If you pound your fist on the glass in that area, it sounds noticeably more hollow, and flexes a bit compared to the areas around it. We used a hole saw to cut into it, and the fiberglass around it is dry, not cored, and not delaminating. The total area is dented is around 3ft by 2ft.
Poking around the web and the SBO forums, I found this:
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/hull-indentation.85522/
which mentions that the area under the head is underserved by stingers or other support, and sometimes caves in.
I'm well out of warranty, so my options are to either cut out the liner in the head and try to drop in support, or to grind out the hull and build it out to match the shape. The marina folks think that building out the outside, and not going in from the inside is the best (and cheapest) way to fix the issue. My hesitation is that by filling the dent in with glass doesn't tell me with certainty what the problem is. I wouldn't know for sure unless I cut out the liner in the head, but I don't want to tear the liner apart if I don't have to. It'll never go back together like new.
Any thoughts? What would you do?
Thanks,
Brian
Poking around the web and the SBO forums, I found this:
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/hull-indentation.85522/
which mentions that the area under the head is underserved by stingers or other support, and sometimes caves in.
I'm well out of warranty, so my options are to either cut out the liner in the head and try to drop in support, or to grind out the hull and build it out to match the shape. The marina folks think that building out the outside, and not going in from the inside is the best (and cheapest) way to fix the issue. My hesitation is that by filling the dent in with glass doesn't tell me with certainty what the problem is. I wouldn't know for sure unless I cut out the liner in the head, but I don't want to tear the liner apart if I don't have to. It'll never go back together like new.
Any thoughts? What would you do?
Thanks,
Brian