soft hull?

Canadalaser

New Member
Last summer I was training on my laser one day and i capsised. I performed a dry capsise, i slid down the side of the hull to the daggerboard but as I did this the hull "popped" inwards for a moment, turning from its regular convex to a concave chine under my weight. This worried me and I righted the boat and sailed back to the yacht club. The next day, I asked another member of my racing team and he said that he had had this happen to him as well and that he just ignored it. Our boats are about the same vintage (his is '79, mine is '83). I just kept sailing as usual but I am now considering upgrading a lot of features on my boat in an attempt to make a successful summer of solid racing. I was wondering whether or not this "popping" is the result of my hull going soft. Has anybody else ever had this happen to them? Thanks, JB.
 
I have an older Laser, 1974, and whenever I turtle and have to walk across the overturned hull to the daggerborad, the hull does flex a bit and it does pop sometimes. It has never been a problem though, and that is the weekest part of the hull as it is fartherst from any support, ie. the daggerbaord trunk, mast step, and such. It doesn't have any real lasting effect and doesn't further weaken the boat as I have noticed. I simply don't think this is something to worry about as I have seen the same exact thing happen to a brand new Laser as well.
 

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