Cracked Hull / Hobie Pro Angler

Bad news guys, I went out in some rough water in Tillamook Bay yesterday and my hull cracked.  I bought the boat used, but it looked like new.  I know people can plastic weld, but how can I ever trust this boat on the ocean even if I repair it?  I don't even know if it's reparable.  Here are some pictures.  The cracks are on the floor near the front corners of the seat.  Anybody seen anything like this?

Wow, what exactly happened to cause that? What year is the yak?

Wow, what exactly happened to cause that? What year is the yak?

All I know is I took the boat out yesterday to Tillamook Bay.  There were significant wind waves with a few of them braking over the bow.  I' didn't notice the damage until today when I was cleaning up the boat today.  The plastic looks particularly thin in that area where it cracked.  I don't think the boat has seen a lot of use, but I know it's a few years old because it has the old style seat.  I've only had the boat for a couple months.  I weigh 250 pounds, but I don't believe I was abusing it.

Below is a link to how rough it was.  Not really that bad compared to how rough the ocean can get.  could it be from stepping in the boat while it's in the water?  It's cracked on both sides, so it makes me think it must have been from the chop on the water.

HOLY CRAP ! Now I feal bad, I know there are a lot of guys on here that might be able to help I have never welded plastic but I know the area around it will need to be reinforced some how. That sucks.

HOLY CRAP ! Now I feal bad, I know there are a lot of guys on here that might be able to help I have never welded plastic but I know the area around it will need to be reinforced some how. That sucks.

Don't feel bad.  You had nothing to do with it.   It's better that it happened now rather than in the ocean.  Plus, it gives me a reason to get a PA12, outback Native slayer propel, or something a bit smaller.  The PA 14 is kind of like a sail boat in the wind and a little wide to paddle too...

The location of that crack suggest to me that is likely caused over time by just using the kayak. Every kayak bends a little when it is in the water because you are not distributing your weight over the whole length whereas the water is pushing up evenly. The kayak bends most at the places where the load is concentrated (the seat) and where it is weakest like those channels which I assume are drains for the side compartments. After many cycles of bending/unloading the material will get brittle and crack. Wave activity would accelerate the failure.

I'm also going to throw in the combination of bad design using a cut in a beam as the drain and poor control of the rotomolding process that allows the material to be that thin in that area.

I have no experience with the PA line of boats. But I would not expect any boat to crack from slapping around in the waves like that. Is it possible that these cracks were forming and went unnoticed until now? Without any experience with those boats I'd probably agree with the above poster - possibly just a byproduct of usage, maybe unavoidable by you, and the root cause could just be bad design and/or too thin of material in that location.

Tangential: I wonder what the quality control is like on the line for Hobie. Or to say it another way: I wonder what the expected variance in hull thickness is.

I doubt there is much quality control except for weight and exterior appearance. Measuring wall thickness would mean drilling holes in a representative sample.

I doubt there is much quality control except for weight and exterior appearance. Measuring wall thickness would mean drilling holes in a representative sample.

I was thinking they might caliper various accessible places.

I doubt there is much quality control except for weight and exterior appearance. Measuring wall thickness would mean drilling holes in a representative sample.

There's non-destructive ways to measure thickness.  Simplest would be to shine a light and see how much went through the plastic.  More than so much light penetration means too thin.  There's other more sophistacted methods one can use too that can tell you the actual thickness.

I doubt there is much quality control except for weight and exterior appearance. Measuring wall thickness would mean drilling holes in a representative sample.

There's non-destructive ways to measure thickness.  Simplest would be to shine a light and see how much went through the plastic.  More than so much light penetration means too thin.  There's other more sophistacted methods one can use too that can tell you the actual thickness.

Ultra sonic measurements are posible but not cheap and hibie are expensive enough without them raising the price, I don't believe anyone would be willing to throw down another $500 on top of the price. It is apperantly to me by threads here that hobie crafts are very fragile like a formula car, I drag my big tuna up the river in the rocks or down the ramp to the water ( short ramp ) only.

I doubt there is much quality control except for weight and exterior appearance. Measuring wall thickness would mean drilling holes in a representative sample.

There's non-destructive ways to measure thickness.  Simplest would be to shine a light and see how much went through the plastic.  More than so much light penetration means too thin.  There's other more sophistacted methods one can use too that can tell you the actual thickness.

Ultra sonic measurements are posible but not cheap and hibie are expensive enough without them raising the price, I don't believe anyone would be willing to throw down another $500 on top of the price. It is apperantly to me by threads here that hobie crafts are very fragile like a formula car, I drag my big tuna up the river in the rocks or down the ramp to the water ( short ramp ) only.

On the good side, they do seem to make improvements as time goes on. There are several minor things different about my 2014 Oasis that make me glad I bought it instead of a 2010, for example. And I believe based on what I've read that they are making improvements to the drivewell strength to avoid drive well cracking.

On the bad side, I fear that quality control could be an issue, and the plastic is definitely way softer than other brands (Ocean Kayak and Wilderness Systems, in my experience). You'd think that if it scratches easier it would crack less, but no.

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