"A few minor blisters?"

My hardcover survey came in the mail yesterday and am using it as a checklist. At the time of the survey and in the report it states "a few minor blisters". He stated the bottom paint was in good shape and wouldn't need to be done till spring.

My question is, do you think waiting till spring will make it worse?

blistering and hydrolysis is a slow process...so waiting will not be a big deal.

but my boat was a horror story beyond the minimal blisters described by my surveyor.

if your boat has been in tropical water and in the water it's whole life....make sure you investigate beyond, "simple blister".

when I was done, I had 55 gallon drum full of dust and stripes of my bottom that much of it I peeled off by hand.

not trying to scare you, but it can be bad, usually isn't though.

my boat made it from Florida to new Jersey on that mushy bottom, so in some ways, not a huge deal, just something to check and deal with.

I wouldn't worry about dealing with the blisters if minor, especially with the older boats which have thick hulls. Sometimes people make to much of a big deal regarding them. If they start to get large, then you may need to deal with it. Keep in mind to properly complete a blister job the boat will need to be on the hard for a number of months of properly dry out.



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Capt. Don

Have a few on the hull. Just do the big ones at every haul out. Take pictures and can see how big they got over the years between bailouts.

IntervaleII said:

I wouldn't worry about dealing with the blisters if minor, especially with the older boats which have thick hulls. Sometimes people make to much of a big deal regarding them. If they start to get large, then you may need to deal with it. Keep in mind to properly complete a blister job the boat will need to be on the hard for a number of months of properly dry out.



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Capt. Don

Click to expand...

Partially correct.

You can have hydrolysis of the laminates without major blisters.

Drying time is dependent on how you donit...and usually a couple months isn't really it.

If you peel or gind, once to dry laminate...you are there or close. If you are peeling. spend the money for a heat and vacuum system...which times can vary wildly depending on the peel job.

If you do nothing other than let it sit...it might take years to properly dry.

I researched this subject energetically for 6 months while I did a major job including a whole fabric covering of the bottom including a 6 foot by 6 foot 10 layer relamination. I called many experienced yards and industries beyond the boat business....there is a huge gap in what is passed around and what is what. Fortunately most boats do only have minor blistering...but you can't tell just by looking and many people with moisture meters really aren't proficient with them.

Most of what is professed on the internet is true about "minor blisters".....but more than the random boat have hydrolysis to the point where ignoring or just filling isn't really the best answer. If you never expose the bottom to freezing temps ordon't keep the boat long...well I guess no big deal.

There are blisters and then there are BLISTERS. I'd get second opinion from a well experienced yard tech who is used to dealing with (repairing) blisters and/or BLISTERS.

Small occasional Blisters can be not a big, costly problem. Many, many small ones and large BLISTERS can become a BIG and expensive situation to deal with.

Just about every fiberglass boat has it's own individual characteristics in regard to how well the material was laid up (by persons or machines), condition of or type of material during lay-up (resins in particular), and climate conditions in the place of building. This individual characteristic "finger print" on boats extends not only to boats built by separate builders but also to boats built by same manufacturer in same location - e.g year after year of building 100's of same models. I know this to be fact having worked when young in a fiberglass boat manufacturer's production line.

So... there is no one statement that can ring true about every builder's quality of build. In other words, for older boats it is always best to get more than one opinion regarding survey circumstances before plunking down gobs of cash!

Happy Boat Shopping Daze! - Art

A paper on blister/hydrolyzing by a well respected survey company and who did my last boat...it's short and understandable.


It also reflects much more of the experienced companies that have dealt with blisters than the "don't worry about them" or just fille'm up with epoxy" crowd.


Hartoft Marine Survey, Ltd., Annapolis


another good one with the most repeatable analysis the top places adhere to.....


"Not all bottoms with hydrolysis damage have blisters, but all bottoms with blisters have some degree of hydrolysis damage."

And...

"One cannot, however gather sufficient information from the exterior to define the extent of the
hydrolysis damage or to design a repair. For this, one has to look into the laminate interior."


http://www.zahnisers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Repair-Blisters.pdf

Peel machine, you can strip the hull down and re fiberglass.

I would have loved one instead of a 4 inch grinder..

Thank you for all your help. I want to do things right, I'm kinda meticulous that way. The blisters were pointed out on haul out to me and were quite tiny and not in the same place. There seemed to by "no worry" with either the surveyor or the boat yard who quoted me 5k for bottom paint and repair.

psneeld said:

I would have loved one instead of a 4 inch grinder..

Click to expand...

Yes, sure look pretty easy, fast and clean too.
I have ground fiberglass with belt sander, and that was awful.

These things function like wood planers with flat blades. Says 2 -3 blades used per boat and 10 sq meters can be peeled per hour.

On a real old small 17 foot boat, a long time ago, I removed the gel coat using a propane torch and scraper, heat the gel coat, scrape it off. But I dont recommend it.

There are lots of different opinions about blisters. And some brands/years are more inclined to get blisters than others. Uniflite was notorious, but I have never heard of a structural failure of a Uniflite hull. Someone, Pascoe as I recall, did a pretty thorough write-up of the issue expressing his opinion and experience.

A previous boat of mine, which I bought used, had about 100 quarter-sized blisters when it was 10 years old. I had each of those ground out and filled. A few years later, when the boat was next hauled for bottom paint, it had about 20 blisters. No way of knowing whether they were new or offshoots of the old blisters. In any event, I had each of those ground and filled. A few years later, there were virtually none and none appeared since.

For my current boat, which is semi-custom and laid up in 2008, I negotiated a warranty to include 10 years of blister protection. So far, I have had zero blisters.