Mystery leak in the Outback

I have an annoying leak in my Outback.  Nothing huge (at this point) but it has me a little concerned.  Yesterday I was out for about 4-hrs and took on about a gallon...the conditions were zero wind/surface smooth as glass so I know it's an external leak in the hull but I can't see anything obvious. I filled the hull with water about 1/3 full and could not find any leaks/drips.
This boat is a 2006 model purchased just a couple months ago as "new old stock" from Ballards. Anybody have any experience with this? Where are the "usual" leaks? Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

Gordon

Use a trouble light inside the boat in a dark garage. Cracks will show up pretty clearly.

Brilliant! Can't wait for it to get dark!

Thanks!

hmmmm, that sounds like the beginning of the infamous drivewell  crack. It's usually a tiny, almost imperceptible, crack at the front of the drivewell where the drive contacts the hull.

 Here's a pic from inside the hull.


Hopefully I'm wrong as that leak is bad news. It only opens when you pedal and lets a bit of water in on each stroke. It starts about how you've described it and only gets worse. I really wish this wasn't a damhik. I've replaced 3 hulls.

 Which brings me to the good news. Hobie generally replaces the hull with a new one. Assuming Ballard's is a Hobie dealer, you should have no problem at all (other than the wait). If not,.... I dunno

But wait! There's more!
If they do give you any grief, you can use this excellent tut someone generously posted on the board to repair it. 

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=6033.msg62598#msg62598

That repair worked great! I don't have any long term data on it though as I gave them that hull  after about a month when  the replacement came in. They cut the old hull up and put it in a dumpster.

hmmmm, that sounds like the beginning of the infamous drivewell  crack. It's usually a tiny, almost imperceptible, crack at the front of the drivewell where the drive contacts the hull.
 

You nailed it FFTW, thanks for the insight!

This boat is only three months old and in spite of a fin mast failure, a blown out drive drum and now a cracked hull I still love it dearly. If I wasn't so spoiled I'd go back to my trusty OK Trident but I don't see that happening.

My -new old stock- addy, 4 months old, also taking on too much water lately, better start looking for that leak.

But since the 3 month old HB FF bit the dust on the addy anyway, it's back to old reliable fiberglass SINK.

Man, all these Hobie's cracking their hulls, and Mirage drive problems definitely give me pause.  I still want an Addy, but looks like I better save my sheckles until I can afford a 2011 or later model at a minimum.  That and have enough for a spare parts and tools kit.

Hmmm.  Maybe I should offer my services as a stress analysis consultant to Hobie to help the engineer a fix to all these durability problems.  Will work for kayak.

Something plastic sits in a back room for 6+ years and it's likely to have issues

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Plastic does not make a good load baring surface. With the added stress we put on these hulls with turbo fins I'm not surprised we see problems.
My hull is shot after many attempts to fix the leak it is now a giant hole.
I will be rocking out the OK Prowler till I get a new hull.
That boat has never had more than a couple cups of water in the hull.

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Plastic does not make a good load baring surface. With the added stress we put on these hulls with turbo fins I'm not surprised we see problems.
My hull is shot after many attempts to fix the leak it is now a giant hole.
I will be rocking out the OK Prowler till I get a new hull.
That boat has never had more than a couple cups of water in the hull.

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FG I take it you're out of warranty with Hobie? I'd be curious if they were willing to do anything at all if you were actually out of warranty.

Something plastic sits in a back room for 6+ years and it's likely to have issues

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Typically the warranty period starts at the purchase date. I wouldn't expect these hulls to break down just from aging on the shelf out of the sun and elements (might be wrong on this point - not a materials specialist). It will be interesting to watch how Hobie covers Gordon's hull in this situation.

Something plastic sits in a back room for 6+ years and it's likely to have issues

Unless it's in direct sunlight, sitting in storage for 6 years should have no ill effect on the structural integrity of polyethylene. The fact that this same failure has occured with many brand new boats as well leads me to believe the issue is with the design. 
 

This boat is only three months old and in spite of a fin mast failure, a blown out drive drum and now a cracked hull I still love it dearly.

Yup, me too. That sounds like ALL of the circa 2006 problems I had 
Well, the drum didn't happen till 2011, but the crack and the mast failure happened within the first year (2007).

 I don't think its an old plastic problem though, unless it was stored in the sun. More along the lines of product development issues as those failures seem less and less frequent post 2009.

Push comes to shove, try the Gflex repair. It seemed to work wonders. Just make sure you follow the instructions and prep the surface properly (flambe). You also might want to do the repairs on the inside of the hull mainly because it looks better.

Something plastic sits in a back room for 6+ years and it's likely to have issues

Unless it's in direct sunlight, sitting in storage for 6 years should have no ill effect on the structural integrity of polyethylene. The fact that this same failure has occured with many brand new boats as well leads me to believe the issue is with the design.

It sounds like a consistent problem to me. I doubt everyone reporting the issue is storing their boat in the scorching sun all summer and getting the cracks. From my perspective I wouldn't buy a boat that has those issues and I was considering the Hobie at some time in the future but for now I'll stick to the old basic kayak. Despite the mechanical advantages of the Mirage drive I think that dealing with cracks in the hull is not worth laying down my cash on that kind of boat.

I got a 2010 Adventure, bought it in '11. No problems with the hull whatsoever.