Tuco has a cracked hobie hull

[The Riddler]

I've been taking on water in the hull for about a month. A gallon at 1st after a few hours, then it became worse where I could not drag my kayak up the beach because of the weight of water in the hull. Over 10 gallons after a 6 hour trip to chase zooms! I inspected the entire hull but cold not find anything noticeable. Today I put the kayak up in the air and filled the entire hull with water and put the drive in the well. I read that some cracks won't show up until the drive is actually moving.

 

I found the problem area. There is a 3/4" crack under the seat scupper. It poured out a steady stream of water when I filled the hull about 3/4's. I used a soldering iron along with some scrap plastic as a repair. Hoping it does not come back.

 

Has anyone had a crack under the seat scupper hole? Did hobie warranty or were you able to fix it without recurrence?

 

 

 

[staktup]

Man, that sucks. Which year hull do you have again? If you don't get a replacement, maybe you can try G-Flex epoxy. I'd like to hear testimonials from SOLers on this product. Good luck, hope Hobie treats you right...

[The Riddler]

It's a 2010 hull. Thanks for the product suggestion. I'm just out of warranty too a little over a month.

[kross57]

Not a very convenient time for it. I have friends who had the same problem. I know there is some kind of epoxy patch from Hobie for that crack, but it didn't work out and they ended up providing a new hull. The way you beat on gear I would go for a new hull. Hobie is usually great about this stuff. Good luck!

[JKay]

It's a 2010 hull. Thanks for the product suggestion. I'm just out of warranty too a little over a month.

 

Rid...I'm on hull number 3 with my Revo. The first one was the cracked cam columns underneath the old style mirage drive holddown hardware. The latest was this past spring. I had cracks in both my seat scuppers. I had the same issue with you with a lot of water in the hull. In my case, the crack had migrated from the seat scupper, just into the seat area and was about 1-1/2" long, but wide enough that water readily poured in there every time I would take a wave over the bow or side.

 

In typical Hobie fashion, they took care of the issue. Since you are just outside the warranty period, I don't know what they'll do, but it'll likely be fair. You may have to pony up a couple hundred dollars for a new hull, but you definitely look like a candidate for a replacement hull. I would start with a good Hobie dealer near you. If you know of one that still has some of the newest boats, they may take one right out of inventory for you. I would make sure that you get the latest hull; the improvements are worth it.

[kross57]

JKay, didn't they send you some kind of epoxy plug first?

[The Riddler]

I'm gonna go through the dealer and see what Hobie will do. One thing for sure is, cracks in Hobie hulls are alive and well. It's just on mine it's not the infamous, "Drive Well" crack.

[JKay]

JKay, didn't they send you some kind of epoxy plug first?

 

Yes, they did. I only gave Tuco the condensed version due to time constraints this morning. Sooooooo, when I first had the cracks in the seat scupper area, the cracks were limited to the inside of the scupper itself. Hobie provided a repair kit that consisted of PVC caps, sandpaper, IPA wipe and 5 minute epoxy. The PVC cap was installed underneath with epoxy after roughing up with sandpaper and cleaning with the wipe. The purpose was to both seal the cracks and beef up the areas to prevent the crack from creeping. It didn't work. The crack wound up creeping into the seat area. I put in a separate warranty some months later and they wound up replacing the hull. It's kind of a PIA to deal with some of these issues, but Hobie is among the best in the business regarding warranty issues. I'm sure that they'll get you squared away,

[kross57]

Gotta say, if Hobie WASN'T great with warranty issues, they'd be out of business. These problems are rampant.

[JKay]

Gotta say, if Hobie WASN'T great with warranty issues, they'd be out of business. These problems are rampant.

 

Yup. Anyone who says that Hobie's failure rate is on par with industry standards needs to go back to school for a basic mathematics course. Someone once tried telling me that and I looked at them like they had a third eye.

[cnnashman]

I know Barrell will strongly disagree but after really checking out my Outback over the last two years and a few others that i had access to, i am still convinced that Hobies are not as thick throughout the yak as some other manufacturers offerings.

 

I know they say the drive well area is thick but in flexing other areas it's definitely thinner than some other yaks i have compared them to. Some other Yaks like some Oceans are very very solid and don't flex at all. Just my opinion

[Shipwreck]

Hobie's warranty dept. certainly gets alot of practice at keeping the issue quiet.

I wonder how sustainable a biz model this is. I wonder what the average number of boats supplied per user, per boat is. It sure aint 1.

[denw72]

Im on my 3rd hull in about 5 years just got my new hull a few weeks ago i was passed the warranty as well and went through my original dealer all i had to do was take some pics send the serial # and pay for shipping and they sent me my new hull.

[kross57]

The trouble is if they made the hull thicker, a heavy boat would get even heavier. Ship, at $1700-$2,000 per boat, the cost of a replacement is built right in. I doubt they are losing money.

[EricJ]

On occasion, I see someone selling an Outback or Pro Angler literally 1-2 months after buying. Makes me wonder why... I often thought the person identified something like a crack and is trying to dump it before it gets to be too big of a problem.