Used Boat Blisters and Hydrolysis - Part 4

6/30/2008

6:45AM

On Friday, Tom was back at our used trawler, Patricia Ann, this time to finish up the peeling of her hull. There were a few spots that he could not get to with the peeler so he had to use a smaller rotary grinder. I suppose he was there about 4 hours. I couldn't talk to him as he was inside the enclosure.

The enclosure is used to control the dust.

In addition, moisture readings were also taken before the hull was pressure washed.

We are now beginning the 4th week of drying and the moisture content is dropping, some 15-20% below the original readings in some places. I am trying not to get too excited as you can't rush the process. I am still anticipating her being on the hill until at least mid August.

Stay tuned.

Used Boat Blisters and Hydrolysis - Part 3

6/18/208
07:30 AM


Good morning all,

The Patrica Ann is sitting on the hard; I sure do miss the girl. I'm going to go down later and visit with her a bit.

In Part 1 of our Blisters and Hydrolysis documentary I talked about how blisters and hydrolysis occurs, in Part 2, I gave an account of the first step in the process of repair, peeling the hull.

Tom Musto of Boat Savers has given me a 7 step play-by-play of how the complete repair will take place. I think you will find this informative as you continue to follow my documentary.

1. Strip the Bottom. This has already been done as detailed in Part 2.


2. Dry the Bottom. This was begun last week, June 11th to be exact. Moisture readings have been taken all over the hull bottom and the results written on the hull with a Magic Marker. Those are % moisture you are seeing. She obviously had a lot of water in her. During this step, readings will be taken each week followed by a pressure wash to help neutralize the acids and open up and tiny pin holes. We expect/hope this to be complete on or about August 15th.


3. Sanding of the Bottom. After the hull is dry, the entire hull will be sanded with 36 grit sandpaper. This ought to be fun...:)


4. Filling the Bottom. Upon completion of sanding, the bottom pin hole voids will be filled by applying a coat of clear epoxy resin. While the resin is still tacky, a mixture of epoxy and cabosil will be spread over the entire bottom. Cabosil is a filler which gives the epoxy a consistency of peanut butter. The small amount of glass work on the starboard side will be done in this step.


5. Fairing the Bottom. The entire bottom will be faired (sanded ) using 60 grit sandpaper to duplicate the original hull shape.


6. Barrier Coat Application. 5 coats of Interlux 2000E epoxy barrier coat will be rolled on; additional filling will be done as necessary.


7. Bottom Paint. 2 coats of bottom paint will be applied.

Well there you have it. The complete process is laborious but will produce a better vessel than before. Tom has stripped over 1000 boats in his 10 years in the business; he tells me the Patricia Ann is in real good shape with minor blister issues.

So what does it cost to have this work done? I am paying $135.00 a foot to have the bottom peeled and the epoxy applied. New bottom paint is not included. You could apply the bottom paint yourself at Tiger Point saving yourself even more money.

So, if you are buying a used boat and she has blisters or if your current boat has them, you now have a bit more information as to what to do, and how much it will cost you. If I am helping you buy a boat, I'd suggest we negotiate the cost of a repair in the purchase price.

Stay tuned, more photos and information will be provided as we continue.

Mike

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.