Hull and Cockpit

[psness]

Forgive me for a dumb question. The underside of my newly bought 1979 DSII seems to be fairly rigid except in one or two spots there seems to be more flexibility or "give". Also when I walk on the cockpit floor, there are a few places where there is some minor bounciness. Is this normal or should I be concerned about the structural integrity in these areas? There are no visible cracks.

[Peter McMinn]

Actually, this is an interesting question. When I bought my 3-digit DS, I saw that the cockpit floor had been reinforced, possibly aftermarket. Subsequently, I've learned that hulls from various generations have quite different degrees of rigidity. Those cracks might be halted by glassing in reinforcement such as PVC, or other light, structural material. Can anyone weigh in on this?

[psness]

Mine has no cracks, just some slightly bouncy areas both inside the cockpit and underneath the boat. It sounds from you like it may be common and nothing to worry about as long as there are no cracks??

[Peter McMinn]

Ah. Sorry Paul. One drawback of this reply function is that there's no quoted material. So, no cracks--Good!

What I would suggest is to poll the boat owners in the generation you have and see if they've had any troubles. Generally, for racing, folks want a stiff hull for racing, and earlier hulls seem to offer this. If you posted a similar query with an emphasis on manufacturer or year, you may get some takers who can help.