new bottom paint flaking

I got my 2006 34 Mainship about three months ago.

This is my first time I've had a boat bottom painted. I got a local vendor who does a lot of bottom painting.
Four weeks, after the new paint job, I had the diver come in, to clean the bottom. He said there was 8 areas, some the size of a silver dollar where the new paint flaked off. In his words he said the people painting the boat did a "lousy job" in preparation.

I got on my own scuba tank to take a look...I only found 5 places, the size of a dime, where the new paint flaked off.

Can some one out there advise me:

The new paint is pettit hydrocoat.

Is this flaking normal? Can it get worst? Can you advise what I should do.

Regards

jann said:

..........Can you advise what I should do.

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Yes. Talk to the people who painted the boat. Show them evidence if possible. Ask them to correct the problem.

jann said:

I got on my own scuba tank to take a look...I only found 5 places, the size of a dime, where the new paint flaked off.

Is this flaking normal? Can it get worst? Can you advise what I should do.

Regards

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So far as whether or not it is normal, I've had a lot of bottom jobs and never have found any evidence of flaking. So just based upon only that bit of empirical evidence I would say it is not normal.

Best guess would be a poor prep job (bottom not pressure washed and sanded good).

My experience doesn't sound like your problem but FWIW....

I had a problem with flaking paint after completing an epoxy barrier coat. The epoxy had been allowed to completely cure before the bottom paint was applied. Interlux tech advisors said I'd have to sand off the failing bottom paint, then apply an additional "tack" coat of epoxy followed by the bottom paint while the epoxy was "thumbprint cured". Had to do this in four sections as the epoxy kicked fairly quickly. No issues since then.

I have the hull pressurized twice as the first time they miss a lot. The I sand the entire bottom before appling the bottom paint.

It sounds like they did not clean/prep the bottom.

It is usually a bad sanding job. Unless the area's happen to be where the jack stands were located, then they may have launched to quickly after removing the jacks to touch up that area.

We had our boat professionally bottom painted in January. It was hauled last Friday for a buyer's survey, and the bottom was covered in paint blisters - many the size of a Toonie (large silver dollar). The surveyor suggested that it was pressure washed and painted - no scraping or sanding, and probably wet. As the bottom dried in the sling the blisters subsided. (We were away and didn't see it first hand.)

In any event she is being hauled in a couple of hours and the yard will be making any repairs required - probably a complete scrape/sand and repaint. They are mystified as to what happened as well.

Are you sure they're paint blisters and not in the gel coat?

Greetings,
Mr. s. That's my question as well. I would suspect gel coat blisters as opposed to paint blisters.....I hope not.

Sooo....the surveyor says there were definitely paint blisters, since since they disappeared when the hull dried, but today there were some obvious hull blisters as well. Nothing like the story I got from last week though - today there were roughly a dozen blisters in total.

Tomorrow should tell the tale; will the buyer be happy?

Greetings,
It is my understanding that gel-coat blisters disappear on drying as well. I would question the "expertise" of the surveyor if he categorically stated they were solely paint blisters.

The OP said the blisters subsided while the boat was still in the slings, so assuming that was no more than a couple of hours, they most likely were paint blisters.

Both gelcoat blisters and hydrolytic blisters can subside but it usually takes a couple of days at least. it's very easy to see if they are paint blisters ...... pop a couple and look.

Don't rush to shoot the surveyor quite yet.

boatpoker said:

The OP said the blisters subsided while the boat was still in the slings, so assuming that was no more than a couple of hours, they most likely were paint blisters.

Both gelcoat blisters and hydrolytic blisters can subside but it usually takes a couple of days at least. it's very easy to see if they are paint blisters ...... pop a couple and look.

Don't rush to shoot the surveyor quite yet.

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What??? My brother's boat had blisters that disappeared within an hour after haul out. We had to run around and circle them with a marker as soon as the boat left the water to catch some of them. Put that surveyor out of circulation by whatever means necessary.

Conrad said:

Sooo....the surveyor says there were definitely paint blisters, since since they disappeared when the hull dried, but today there were some obvious hull blisters as well. Nothing like the story I got from last week though - today there were roughly a dozen blisters in total.

Tomorrow should tell the tale; will the buyer be happy?

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The buyer will use it as a negotiating point if he likes the boat.

I won't be shooting the surveyor; he is good. He didn't look at all of the blisters but the ones he zeroed in on were paint. He also supports the yard's - and prevailing - view that occasional blisters are nothing to be alarmed about. The hull on this vessel is very structurally sound anyway.
The osmosis bogeyman of 15 - 20 years ago has largely died away. For sure, one must pay attention to hull blisters, but they are generally not a structural issue.

While I agree that the osmosis issue is overblown, I'd be suspicious of those "paint blisters" he identified. We suspected paint blisters for the bumps that we had circled before they collapsed. But when the paint was removed there was a discolored outline in the gel coat that suggested they were actual blisters. Impossible to tell for sure until the paint is removed and some investigative grinding is done. And unless all of the bottom paint is stripped, it's virtually impossible to identify all of them. We chased individual bumps after three winter haulouts before finally biting the bullet and stripping off all the bottom paint for a detailed inspection and comprehensive fix. Incidentally, there was a 42 Tug next to us undergoing a blister repair/epoxy bottom job when were doing the final fix on bros boat. Endemic to the breed, apparently.

For sure the investigation underway at the moment will ID just what we are dealing with.
The primary lesson for us is that the broker should not be the one making any diagnosis (sorry, the site won't let me pluralise the term) and that getting the experts together in a congenial environment will make things work.

The vessel in question, by the way, is an Ennos Sapphire 32, which is built like a tank.