Used Boat Blisters and Hydrolysis - Part 2

6/11/2008
10:25AM

Message from Suzanne. "Are blisters something that is talked about on a survey? How would you know if a used boat had them to begin with?"

Blisters are something every surveyor will look for during a survey, but remember blisters are indicative of hydrolysis however you can have hydrolysis without blisters as I have on the Patricia Ann. Carefull sounding of the hull with a hammer will usually discover this condition.




6/10/2008

1:50PM

Yesterday, the Patricia Ann came out of the water as planned. The bottom did not look as bad as we had expected. We had delayed a new bottom job knowing we were going to repair the blisters. We got 27 months out of the antifoulant paint; it was time however.

We have the boat at Tiger Point Marina and Boatworks in Fernandina Beach, Florida. This yard is in Northeast Florida just north of Jacksonville. Other than just being good folks to be around, they offer some of the least expensive services anywhere; even a do-it-yourself yard is available.

The operation is managed by owner, Bill Kavanaugh. He has a great group of skilled technicians on site. You can contact the yard at 904/277-2720 or email at tigerpointmarina@aol.com.

The physical gelcoat removal is being completed by Tom Musto, owner of Boat Savers, Gel Coat Removal.

A pressure wash got the scum off so we could see details. Once she was "clean", you could see the blisters on her hull. You can see many in these photos. Most of the blisters were not larger than a dime. But if you have read Part 1, in the long run, its better to deal with the problem sooner than later; the blister problem will never get better.

This was the worst area found where some delamination was occuring on starboard side. This will have to be hand-ground out and then re-glassed with new fibercloth and epoxy resin.

The area is about 15 inches long. No blisters were found here but hydrolysis was at work from within.

You can see the blisters in this photo. A few of them were weeping but no badly. Now something to think about, this is a slow repair process, the boat has to dry out to be able to replace the epoxy barrier coat. If you can't allow the time, don't even consider this or you will be wasting your money

Here is a photo of the "peeler", the hand-held device to remove the gelcoat. The cutter head rotates to strip the gelcoat, a small amount of glass chop and any remaining paint at about 1/64 of an inch. The device is attached to a large shop-vac eliminating any significant environmental concerns.

Tom is shown using the "peeler", taking about a 6 inch swath off per pass. Notice Tom is protecting himself with the use of an airline respirator and hearing protection. The "peeler" is very loud!

After about 10 minutes, we are making progress. The white area is gelcoat not removed by"peeler" where the mold had an indentation during layup at the factory and the gelcoat was thicker.

Three hours of work, about 1/2 done. The blue areas not removed by the "peeler" will be removed by grinding.

So what happens next?

Tom will be back in two weeks where he will finish the grinding, The boat will have begun drying by then. He'll them pressure wash it again.

Mosture readings will be taken at that point.