Gelcoat blister questions

[BWT]

Re: Gelcoat blister questions

my call would be to follow my original post; sand down the hull with 60 grit to open the blisters and remove the gel; I don't think that the blisters are very deep and more than likely this will be as far as you have to go. Then go back over with a barrier coat (IP2000) then bottom paint. This is of course assuming that you intend to keep the boat. If not, or if they aren't too much of an eye sore then turn a blind eye

Good luck!

~BWT

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat blister questions

my call would be to follow my original post; sand down the hull with 60 grit to open the blisters and remove the gel; I don't think that the blisters are very deep and more than likely this will be as far as you have to go. Then go back over with a barrier coat (IP2000) then bottom paint. This is of course assuming that you intend to keep the boat. If not, or if they aren't too much of an eye sore then turn a blind eye

Good luck!

~BWT

if you do this....they will return......the problem is in the laminate....a barrier coat will just cover the defective substraight....the only way to get rid of them permanantly is to repair the laninate.....but even then.....they might return.....the problem is the glass.....yes...the whole hull

 

[ingalp01]

Re: Gelcoat blister questions

Agree with oops... Do the whole hull. You'll find more blisters as you go along, and all of them will need to be ground away, and if there's no moisture in them, you'll find loose fiberglass strand, remove until you have solid hard glass, sand/grind outward away from that and prepare the entire hull to receive, first, new glass in all the ground out divots, and new gelcoat or paint on the un damaged areas, but either way you'll have to re-coat the entire hull and you might as well fix everything you find. Look at my resoration thread and you will see what the blisters look like closed, opened, and then ground away, and extensive discussion on repairing them, as well as a few good links to gelcoat blister repair articles.

Just my .02 cents worth...

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Gelcoat blister questions

Hmmm..

Does not seem like that Big of an issue here ..

I guess It could be if your asking an Expert .. .. ..

Two choices here .. mebbe 3 ..

1. Grind off All of your gel to raw lam/glass .. then Epoxy coat or IP2000 and bottom paint ..

2. Dykem your bottom and sand with 80G .. .. then coat with Epoxy or IP2000 ..then BC ..

3. Leave them alone ..

You want to go with option 1 or 2 ? .. Complete Strip and sand down with shore spots done.. your looking at 4-5 thousand depending on the shop. ( could be less with some trunk slammer ).

There is NO structural damage that these blisters will do this year .. so research it and look at your options ..

Im tellin ya the truth on this .. .. as a pro fix .. I would go #3 personally for now ..

YD.

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat blister questions

Im tellin ya the truth on this .. .. as a pro fix .. I would go #3 personally for now ..

YD.

that is the best thing IMHO as well.......forgettaboutit

 

[BWT]

Re: Gelcoat blister questions

the only way to get rid of them permanantly is to repair the laninate.....but even then.....they might return.....the problem is the glass.....yes...the whole hull

Kinda thinking this is what I suggested? Looking at the blisters here, they are obviously not deep; at best (or worst) 1 layer deep beneath the gel. by essentially opening them up and removing the pits you are removing the layer of "defective substrate" (obviously some areas will need to get hit a little more aggressively than others) . At that point IMO the proper fix is to IP2000 and paint. I do agree that the severity of these blisters is borderline if it's worth doing anything with. Personally, if it came down to having to hire a yard to do the work or not, I would let then slide based on cost. However, if time allowed and I were able to do the grunt work myself with a few hundred bucks in materials; peace of mind would be worth it. The way I look at it, if you're having problems now, they are not going to magically go away. Eventually you'll have to pay the piper if you keep the boat for any period of time, and right now the piper is about as cheap as he's gonna get When possible better to be pro-active rather than re-active. Just my opinion...