Our 2008 h36 had two cracks at that location but propagated radially out from the tube. The top of the tube is bonded to the deck/upper part of the boat from above and below when the upper part of the boat was bonded to the hull. You should be able to inspect the bond from the underside through the hatch in the aft berth. Hunter seemed to use a red epoxy on the tube and backing plate when bonding the top to the underside of the deck. The hull/deck seam is like 5200. The deck seems to be two layers of 1/4” frg with the cracks being in the upper layer. They were not visible in the lower layer when looking up from below deck, but somehow let water through. The cracks allowed water to leak down the outside of the tube, but not into the headliner. There is a plywood backing plate/donut that serves apparently as a flange to secure the tube to the underside of the deck. It started to delaminate from water intrusion. Why couldn’t they use G11???
Per Ken’s post above, moving the rudder did not open the cracks or allow the tube to move. The rudder shows no damage or signs of repairs, so I don’t think it hit anything. Rudder is solid while shaking. I brushed thinned epoxy to seal up the delaminated areas of the backing plate and then used 5200 to seal the cracks on the top side. That stopped the leaks and we have sailed about 600nm since then. Applying thickened epoxy and matting to ground out cracks is a better fix that I might do in the future. I need to RR the drag link bearings, which are highly rusted, and removing the horn(?) from the rudder post then would make the repair easier.
Maybe a year after we bought the boat in ‘15 from it’s first owner I removed the deck plate looking for a leak. The area around the tube, where yours is cracked, had been ground and heavily reinforced with more layers of glass matting. No gel coat had been applied over the additional frg. The radial cracks I have start a little ways from the tube, away from the reinforcement around the tube. The manufacturing procedures for the h35.5 show how the tube is bonded to the deck with about 12 strips of matting laid around the tube so the overlap and pass next to the tube. No aluminum or steel plate visible. The procedures are posted on this site somewhere and are highly instructive for h36 owners as well.
In 2015, when I found the cracks and reworked area, the dealer said that Hunter was reinforcing that area and had the work done on this boat at the dealer prior to selling the boat when it was new. Supposedly they forgot to do it at the factory. They layered up about 1/4 to 3/8” of glass matte around the tube. I don’t know enough about frg to know how stress stacks form or how serious they are.
The rudder bearings are probably just the high molecular weight plastic donuts top and bottom like in other hunters of the earlier era (‘90s). They were bonded in the tube with 4200 maybe and can be removed without much effort. I can’t remember at the moment if the tube is flared top and bottom to hold the bearings like my h30 had. I’ll look for some photos of the dealer rework and add to this post if I find them. Also, add more butyl to the hole where the engine controls and pedestal wires go below. That leaked more than the cracks and drained onto the very back of the headliner in the aft berth.
Dan
Per Ken’s post above, moving the rudder did not open the cracks or allow the tube to move. The rudder shows no damage or signs of repairs, so I don’t think it hit anything. Rudder is solid while shaking. I brushed thinned epoxy to seal up the delaminated areas of the backing plate and then used 5200 to seal the cracks on the top side. That stopped the leaks and we have sailed about 600nm since then. Applying thickened epoxy and matting to ground out cracks is a better fix that I might do in the future. I need to RR the drag link bearings, which are highly rusted, and removing the horn(?) from the rudder post then would make the repair easier.
Maybe a year after we bought the boat in ‘15 from it’s first owner I removed the deck plate looking for a leak. The area around the tube, where yours is cracked, had been ground and heavily reinforced with more layers of glass matting. No gel coat had been applied over the additional frg. The radial cracks I have start a little ways from the tube, away from the reinforcement around the tube. The manufacturing procedures for the h35.5 show how the tube is bonded to the deck with about 12 strips of matting laid around the tube so the overlap and pass next to the tube. No aluminum or steel plate visible. The procedures are posted on this site somewhere and are highly instructive for h36 owners as well.
In 2015, when I found the cracks and reworked area, the dealer said that Hunter was reinforcing that area and had the work done on this boat at the dealer prior to selling the boat when it was new. Supposedly they forgot to do it at the factory. They layered up about 1/4 to 3/8” of glass matte around the tube. I don’t know enough about frg to know how stress stacks form or how serious they are.
The rudder bearings are probably just the high molecular weight plastic donuts top and bottom like in other hunters of the earlier era (‘90s). They were bonded in the tube with 4200 maybe and can be removed without much effort. I can’t remember at the moment if the tube is flared top and bottom to hold the bearings like my h30 had. I’ll look for some photos of the dealer rework and add to this post if I find them. Also, add more butyl to the hole where the engine controls and pedestal wires go below. That leaked more than the cracks and drained onto the very back of the headliner in the aft berth.
Dan
Last edited: