I recently bought 2 used Hobies. Met the guy at dusk and didn't give them as good of an inspection as I should have before I made the purchase. The next day I started looking them over planning all the mods I had been scheming on. That's when I noticed that the bottoms were pretty bad scarred up. My question is should I just let it be or will it cause enough drag to justify hitting with some real fine sand paper to slick them back down? Or is sanding them back smooth a bad idea?
EricVF
I wouldn't worry about it, polypropylene is rugged, not meant to be fast like a fiberglass surfboard or boat, so disregard most of the gouges unless you see a hole developing. I use a fine grade 220+ sandpaper to smooth out the high spots and if you need to fill in a hole or crack you can get a Hobie welder repair kit on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Hobie-Welder-With-Stock-72097001/dp/B004CGCY34
It's hard to own one for a year+ and not have the bottom look all torn up. I'd say it's nothing to worry about, but sanding it lightly wouldn't hurt either.
What you wanna look out for is areas that have been worn thin. I made the mistake, with my first yak, of dragging in across the ground a lot. An area about 5" long had worn so thin I was worried about it being punctured by even a sand spur. So just look for spots like that, where it's been obviously dragged to the water as opposed to being wheeled.
What you wanna look out for is areas that have been worn thin. I made the mistake, with my first yak, of dragging in across the ground a lot. An area about 5" long had worn so thin I was worried about it being punctured by even a sand spur. So just look for spots like that, where it's been obviously dragged to the water as opposed to being wheeled.
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