Sorry, just one more thread on a blister/peel, Interlux fix

Just surveyed a 1990 Carver that had a peel job in Dec 2012. The peel job included Interlux 2000 epoxy, 14 MILS, and two coast of Interlux ACT bottom paint. After 7 years of being used in fresh water I need to do it again ? There are 50 blisters all over the bottom, ranging in size of a quarter to a few softball size.

How long should I expect a peel job to last? Should I expect to be doing this every 5 years?

The Brockerts

A gel coat coat peel followed by an epoxy barrier coat should last forever.

Sounds like the hull was not adequately dried after the peel.

I would walk away from this boat. Peeling and applying epoxy is not an easy or inexpensive project.

I peeled the gel coat on our previous boat in 1989 and current boat in 2006 and applied the Interlux System 2000 epoxy. I do talk to the buyer of the previous boat and the bottom is still fine. Current boats bottom is fine too.

Gel peel and epoxy barrier, if done properly, should be a permanent blister repair and should last indefinitely.

The Brockerts said:

Just surveyed a 1990 Carver that had a peel job in Dec 2012. The peel job included Interlux 2000 epoxy, 14 MILS, and two coast of Interlux ACT bottom paint. After 7 years of being used in fresh water I need to do it again ? There are 50 blisters all over the bottom, ranging in size of a quarter to a few softball size.

How long should I expect a peel job to last? Should I expect to be doing this every 5 years?

The Brockerts

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Sounds like hydrolysis ..... Run !

Yes, a proper peel job should last forever.

No procedure will last forever guaranteed. If a boat needed peeling to begin with.... chances are that unless drastic bottom work, beyond a simple peel and epoxy barrier, it might come back. Especially if you just peel just gel and matt layers off. Chances are hydrolysis is deeper ....if not, you may not have needed the peel to begin with. Simple blister repair may have worked just as well.


Upon much research and advice, I ground off the bottom versus peeling...better chance of getting deep enough to matter.


So far 8 years and no blisters have returned and my bottom was one of the worst I have heard of.

I would want to know how long the boat set between the peel and the application of the barrier coat. Letting them set in a dry-low humidity environment for several months helps ensure it is fully dry prior to sealing it back up is best practice. I suspect it was sealed up before the inner layers of fiberglass were fully dry.


Sounds like a potential recurring headache.

psneeld said:

No procedure will last forever guaranteed. If a boat needed peeling to begin with.... chances are that unless drastic bottom work, beyond a simple peel and epoxy barrier, it might come back. Especially if you just peel just gel and matt layers off. Chances are hydrolysis is deeper ....if not, you may not have needed the peel to begin with. Simple blister repair may have worked just as well.


Upon much research and advice, I ground off the bottom versus peeling...better chance of getting deep enough to matter.


So far 8 years and no blisters have returned and my bottom was one of the worst I have heard of.

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I’ll second that, I’ve seen too many hull layups go sour, ...and proceed anyway to completion with hidden damage from moist fibers, premature curing, dirt contamination, undercatalyzing,etc. I’ve seen sodas spilled, with just a quick wipe up with a dirty rag, and without a doubt, most hand layups suffer from a good quantity of sweat drops!
You can only do so much, so avoid buying into a known bad situation, and if you must do surgery on your hull, allow plenty of time under a tent with dehumidifier s inside and out to really dry it out.

Oh, I don’t know. My boat was peeled about 15+ years ago by a reputable yard. I does not have any indications of blisters so far. In boat life I think 15 years is just about forever.

One example doth not make a pattern.


Go back a reread all of SteveDs posts on blisters....then research from there.

Not sure what you mean by peel job. Peeled the old paint or peeled the gelcoat and layers of mat. Peeling the actual fiberglass should last a long time if the peel went deep enough. So either the peel wasn't deep enough, the surface wasn't prepped properly for the 2000 barrier coat, or the barrier coat wasn't thick enough. You state 14 mils. That's about the thickness of a credit card and should be more than adequate for a barrier coat.

Mfr recommends .010 which can be obtained by 2-3 coats sprayed or 4-5 coats rolled. Find a scratch on the bottom somewhere and see if you can guess the thickness of the barrier coat. If they alternated white/gray colors it should be easy.

I'm guessing they didn't go deep enough so you are faced with repeating the job with a different vendor or simply repair each blister individually. A far cheaper proposition and one you can easily do yourself.

Did some research on this recently. A proper "peel" should be a peel plane job, removing all the gelcoat. The rebuild process requires new glass cloth and vinylester. I`m told vinylester won`t go off properly unless it is reasonably thick, the cloth allows for that.
A peel works well for gelcoat blisters near the surface, but soda strip and individual blister grinding and drying out is better for deeper blisters.
True? I don`t know, but my advice source, Fenwicks Yard in Sydney, know their stuff.
Based on what the OP has reported, I suspect the boat has both deep osmosis blisters and the more shallow gelcoat type blisters. Having both is not good, and costly to fix. As it has recurred, I would walk.

After gel coat peeling, the boat should be tented and allowed to sit until dry throughly.

A lot of yards use moisture meters and the meters have been know to give false readings.

After I removed the gel coat, I had the yard check for moisture. They had two different meters. One said 2% and the other 0%. Yard people said the hull was dry and ready to epoxy.

I did my own test where I tape a square of clear plastic to the hull, completely sealing it. I did this in 6 places on each side of the hull. Came back the next day and all the clear plastic had visible droplets of water inside indicating a still wet hull.

I waited 4 weeks with heaters inside the hull and a dehumidifier under the hull inside the tent. The dehumider extracted about 2 1/2 quarts of water. Hull was dry when no more water droplets formed under the plastic.

The hull did not have blisters prior to the peel. The epoxy coating was mostly to build back the gel coat removed. I removed the gel coat because the bottom paint was not adhering to the hull and peeling off. PO probably did an inadequate cleaning before painting.

Another one bites the dust.

- I could not get a price concession on the poor blister job
- I could not get a price concession on the antifreeze in the port engine oil
- I could not get a price concession on the last oil/filter change in August 2015
and my insurance carrier had another list
and the boat probably could not operate legally anywhere

Still looking.....

The Brockerts