Hull Blisters - need repair?

[zool]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

But is the issue resolved?...is it better to chase blisters, or let them come to you?

Maybe there isnt a right answer..just preference.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

I fixed some blisters on my boat . . . I'm glad that I didn't ask anyone about it though

 

[RufNutt]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

I am in the process of removing blisters. and I didnt just fix the one here or there . I started out at that process of trying to do maybe 15 over the whole boat. I ended up stripping off the gelcoat and the layup layer. My opinion is blisters are pretty well inevetable if your boat is left in the water all year long with no protection.

I started to do the individual repair and after picking away I realized there is a bigger problem here other then the blister showing up here and there.

I am not here to argue I am here to share my findings. Living in a colder climate these blisters do different damage. As they freeze they weaken the lay up layer to gelcoat bond. Think of watching a wall sealed with vapour barrier and moisture gets behind it. Think of that in a blister and it freezes. Water expands when freezes.

Now in warner climates where it never freezes I can't tell you what damage is being done and only someone that actually done the process I did can.

I bit the bullet and stripped right down to the main laminate layer got rid of the lay up chopstrand layer and gelcoat. You could see the damage these blisters have caused. It simply had to be removed. I am going to replace the layup chopstrand layer with a cloth and everything will be epoxy based.

You will never see the actual damage that is done by blisters until you actually remove the gelcoat . It is actually scary because to do it right or at least attempt a job and say you gave it a fighting chance to work. It is going to take a long time to do and most people will not do it themselves. You could never afford to pay someone especially on a smaller craft. But for me it is just another project

Like I said I am only sharing my findings. When you have stripped down a boat hull to this level and investigated it over a 2 year period you will see.

I was taking off chopstrand and come out 3 days later and find water weeping out a pin whole. Where there was no blisters. Got rid of all chopstrand and the boat hull dried out. chopstrand sucks up water and holds it . So to me you can fix blisters individually but once they start it will be a continuous repair . So if you dont want a blister maintenace schedule. From what I am seeing is the gelcoat and chopstrand lay up layer should be completely removed to give you a fighting chance against blisters.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Like I said. .. you can wait a season or two .. but you should fix the problems before they expand ..

Just me though ..

I have to fix the mower to cut the lawn out here ..

YD.

 

[RufNutt]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Like I said. .. you can wait a season or two .. but you should fix the problems before they expand ..

Just me though ..

I have to fix the mower to cut the lawn out here ..

YD.

From what I have seen I would not even wait a season or two if I was starting out with a new boat. First appearance i would be right on it. And hope the underlying damage that nobody can see under the gelcoat has not started. Also the damage to the chopstrand layup layer is so hard to describe unless you see it that even a tap with a hammer will not show you these weakened bond spots. Just think as the gelcoat is being held on by a layer of chopstrand and resin as the moisture expands in freezing climates the bond gets weaken and less pieces of chopstrand are bonding the gelcoat in some pretty big massive areas. In the summer heat as these areas heat up the blisters act like steam and soften up the chopstrand lay up layer and spread the moisture too. If you can get in the right layer you can litterally scrape these areas off around blisters. Not trying to scare anyone as all this can be repaired but to do it right or at least try is the thing.

I can see boat yards loving these spot repairs knowing you will be back. Quick money and good money for them.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

(I think I saw the horse twitch.)

RufNutt

You're correct on the freezing, it could cause the blisters to get larger if they were still full when that time of year arrives, it's spring right now though, so we have time.

Your hull was different than most, it's not common for someone to be able to peel the top layer off with a scraper, that's why peelers were developed.

As you learned on yours, it's an all or nothing project, you either dig in and fix it correctly right from the start, or do nothing, because half way attempts are of no value. You should post some pics here of your hull to show what the laminate looks like under the gel coat.

Is it worth doing a complete blister repair of removing all the gel coat and affected laminate below the waterline and then rebuilding the surface to this owner...that's for him to decide, there's no right or wrong either way.

If it were mine I would probably dig one out and look at it just because it would bother me, then maybe after inspecting it just leave it, or do a temporary patch on that one spot, but this would cost me nothing except the time to do it. I would never do a complete blister repair on the hull because I don?t want another project that will consume a great deal of time and money, but another person might choose to do it, either way is fine.

If the OP is going to pay someone else to dig out a blister to inspect it, then fix that spot, the cost may not be worth it, but depending on the value of the boat and the depth of the pocket book an owner may decide to do it. To pay to have all 7 or 8 blisters repaired if the hull has an actual blister problem is the waste of money.

On a couple of occasions I?ve found a reason for some blisters that were different. One time when doing some warranty work for a company I found that sunflower seed husks had caused the blisters. An employee had been eating them while it was being built and they had dropped all over the place. Other times it was due to an employee that would sweat a great deal, on very hot days the drops of sweat would form blisters where ever he worked.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Ondarvr, just curious, how did you find that it is was because of sweat drops?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

I knew the guy in this case, and when he worked for me we wouldn't let him work anywhere he could sweat on a part being made or repaired. You can frequently see drops of water from the backside of the laminate as you are building the part, other times you can't. We found parts with drops of moisture on them and then looked at the guy making them, he was soaked with sweat and it was dripping from his face.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Thanks. I was so curious to know how it was identified. I thought it was identified using chemical test of some sort. Knowing the guy simplified matters great deal I would guess.

 

[pec2402]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Thank you all for your input.

I've decided to let it go a summer and see if they get worse (or if they increase). The boat never sees cold weather, as I store the boat in a climate controlled environment during the winter months, so I'm not concerned with freezing/expansion. I'm going to assume this happened because I left the boat, without a protective coating, in the water for almost all of last summer, which shows my lack of knowledge (note - for the 2.5 seasons prior to last summer, the boat never spent more than a night or two in the water and there was never a bubble on it). However, the boat will only be in the water for 6-8 hours at a time, maybe 20 or so times this summer, so I can't see this problem getting worse, if my diagnosis is correct...we'll see!

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

To clear up a couple of things. Blisters are not inevitable even if a boat is left in the water 100% of the time, there are many thousands of boats with nothing more than anti fouling paint on the hull that have lived in the water their entire life and haven't blistered, others may blister rather quickly and not spend much time in the water at all. If and when blisters occur can depend on many different things, or combination of things to create the right environment or circumstances for them to form, a builder may make 100 boats and only one may blister, this is using the same mold, resin, glass, workers, etc to build each one. Far more don’t blister than do.

On my boats I would never expect a hull to blister if I kept one in the water all summer, and I wouldn’t take any preventative measures to avoid them. Now if I had a much larger boat that lived in the water 100% of the time I may do something when it was brand new to help prevent the possibility of it blistering, but I still wouldn’t expect it to blister even if I didn’t do anything.

That was a long winded way of saying you didn’t do anything wrong by leaving it in the water for the summer without a protective coating, you just happened to be unlucky this time.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

To clear up a couple of things. Blisters are not inevitable even if a boat is left in the water 100% of the time, there are many thousands of boats with nothing more than anti fouling paint on the hull that have lived in the water their entire life and haven't blistered, others may blister rather quickly and not spend much time in the water at all. If and when blisters occur can depend on many different things, or combination of things to create the right environment or circumstances for them to form, a builder may make 100 boats and only one may blister, this is using the same mold, resin, glass, workers, etc to build each one. Far more don’t blister than do.

On my boats I would never expect a hull to blister if I kept one in the water all summer, and I wouldn’t take any preventative measures to avoid them. Now if I had a much larger boat that lived in the water 100% of the time I may do something when it was brand new to help prevent the possibility of it blistering, but I still wouldn’t expect it to blister even if I didn’t do anything.

That was a long winded way of saying you didn’t do anything wrong by leaving it in the water for the summer without a protective coating, you just happened to be unlucky this time.

No offense but I completely disagree. Leaving the boat in the water without a protective coating for a full season or year is asking for trouble. I doubt if he trailered it and didn't leave it in the water he would be seeing the issues he is seeing now after leaving her in for a long period of time. Its common knowledge that fiberglass is porous. Leaving any boat that is a fiberglass bottom in the water year round without protection is not smart imo and increases your chances of there being issues.

 

[kahuna123]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

BS
Blistering is a sign of poor workmanship and or product. In Florida we have thousands of boats that spend their entire life in the water without a scratch.
You removed the gelcoat with a scraper???????? No peeler???? No wonder you have blisters. On a 04 boat you didn't have a 10 year hull warranty?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

BS
Blistering is a sign of poor workmanship and or product. In Florida we have thousands of boats that spend their entire life in the water without a scratch.

I agree, this is typical, only a small number of boats actually blister, but when they do you hear about it because it’s such a hassle to fix correctly. One thing that made it even worse was that for a time there were many repair shops out there doing blister repairs using poor methods that resulted in more blisters after a year or so. This made the problem seem even bigger than it was, with many law suits and complaints.

 

[pec2402]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

I didn't even think to check the warranty on the hull, but will definitely do so tonight. I am right around the expiration, if it is 10 years.

This thread has definitely done one thing well - show there are manyyy different opinions on this matter. And to be honest, I still don't know the best answer but regardless, I won't be doing anything until the end of the season...

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Yes, check your warranty, it may be covered.

There really isn't much controversy or differing opinions within the industry, although depending on which party you talk to they may want to point a finger in a slightly different direction to deflect a little blame. There are so many possible causes, that saying this or that is the exact reason for each incident is difficult unless the lab analyzes the specific hull, and then it still may not be clear. The concept of the blister and how it forms is understood rather well though, so is the repair process, it?s just so involved and costly that people try to find shortcuts. Also repairing blistered hulls is a niche market, it?s similar to a plastic surgeon that specializes only in nose jobs, they know much more about the subject than a general practitioner.

I do this for a living, I discuss gel coat and resin with major boat builders on a daily basis to determine the exact products they may want to use in their boats, I have also been an expert witness in court cases involving blisters. So I have seen and discussed this subject in depth with the best people in the industry over several decades.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Hull Blisters - need repair?

Usually blisters are one of the exceptions on a hull warranty, often limited to only a few years of the full hull warranty term . . .