Strengthening a Hobie deck

[Frank Hopper]

My beach boat is a Hobie 17. They are built very light, I am not!. I kneeled on the deck the other day and cracked the inner deck skin. I intend to turn the boat over and lay some more material inside the deck through inspection ports. What material should I use? Light and strong is the key.

 

[Bruce Niederer]

Sand the inner surface as best you can, and use epoxy to laminate in some fibers - glass can be used or carbon fiber can be used. The carbon fiber costs more but will be much stiffer for the weight. A good source for carbon fiber is The Composites Store <www.cstsales.com> or the Defender US catalog <www.defenderus.com>.