Soft spots on hull

[John Blue]

On my 1978 Hunter 27 I have a soft spot on the hull that was caused by too much weight on one of the stern end cradel pads. I can flex the spot in and out with my hand. When my marina pulled the boat out this year I was informed that it is a problem that is common with older Hunters. I told them I felt that it was caused by improper positioning of the cradel and not having it blocked properly. I closely "supervised" the blocking of the cradel this year and there is very little, if any, oil canning of the hull. Both stern pad areas have stress cracks with one side being much worse then the other. The local repair shop recommended that plywood be fiberglassed in on the inside to the hull to stiffen it. This would cost several hundred dollars. My questions are, does the damage have to be repair if I make sure the cradel is always blocked up correctly (my cradel sags in the middle and needs to be blocked up in the center) and is there other ways that this could be repaired that would be less expensive.

 

[David Foster]

Never heard of Hunter problem with stands

Our yard (over 300 sailboats are wintering there) does not see a problem specific to Hunters.I'd talk to a fiberglass expert about possible repair. I believe that applying layers inside the hull may be a reasonable action. JC II did this to strengthen the hull of the h25 he is fixing up.DavidLady LillieDavidLady Lillie

 

[Bruce Niederer]

Hull repair

First, the pads should be located fore and aft at the bulkheads and the bulk of the load should be on the keel. The middle pads should just be for balance. None of the pads should be tightened up so much as to unweight the hull off the keel.To strengthen the laminate in the areas that are soft involves laminating in some biaxial glass patches, probably 2 or 3 layers of concentrically smaller pieces with the first being the largest and proceeding to the smalles last. The reason for this is to not create an isolated hard spot that often acts as a stress riser. The large patch should be significantly larger than the area of the soft spot and the smallest about the same size as the soft spot.