Blisters

[Steve Whalen]

Am looking at purchasing a 1985 Catalina 27. This boat has not been sailed in 8 years. We noticed it had some small "chicken pox" on the hull. Has anyone had problems with blisters and if so did you have the hull repaired. Also it has a Universal diesel, what are your thoughts on the condition of an engine setting for 8 years? Please email me at swhalen@cvps.com Thanks for your help!

 

[rose20532]

C 27 blisters

I have a '75 Catalina 27 and there are no blisters at all and never have been thank God. I bought my previous boat quickly and did not have it hauled. When it came out of the water it was one huge blister all over the bottow, some the size of basketballs. I got rid of it.Anyway, I have read several places that early '80's Catalina 27's have had blister problems. They changed the fiberglassing or something. Be careful...you don't want a chronic problem you have to deal with everytime you haul it for bottom painting. Good luck.

 

[Kevin]

Looking to purchase

I am/was looking to purchase an '84, 27' Catalina. The survey that had been done 6 months ago mentioned blisters, and said that they did not pose a structural problem. I had another survey done last Friday, and saw the boat out of the water. The surveyor and the marina owner estimated that there were between 200-300 blisters in the 1-1.5" range. They would cost $10 each to fix. Though they do not "pose a structural problem with the hull", they are a problem that need to be fixed, so that they do represent a $3,000 or so liability to the worth of the boat. I spoke with another sailor who recently purchased an '86 Catalina, and it had "about 30 blisters", which I would not view as a problem. To me, blisters are like dents in a car. You can still drive it, they do not affect the driveability, but when I buy a used car (I put about 40,000 miles a year on a car, and I am not going to buy a new $40,000 car and lose $20,000 in depreciation in two years since no one wants a two year old car with 80,000 miles or a three year old car with 120,000 miles) I want to buy it and bring it up to snuff right then, so that, while I am not driving a new car, I am driving one that is performing and looks the way that it should. If I were to purchase this boat, I would have to put about $4,000 into it right away. (with some other minor problems) I just don't think that an '84, 27' Catalina is worth $19,000, as they said that the least that they would take is $15,000. I have found another boat, an '89, 28.5' Hunter (with Marine Air, a BIG consideration in La.) listed for $19,000. I have not seen it yet, but the pictures look good. Anyway, I guees it all comes down to "how many blisters, and how much to fix them"?

 

[Gerry, GMJ Marine]

Steve, My first concern would be with the engine. If it's not seized after 8 years, I'd run it for a while to see what happens and how it runs. Next, I'd want to change out the fuel and clean the tank. With those two things squared away you've got the power part under control. I'd check the bottom and observe where the blisters are located. Make a general map of the bottom on paper, circling in the areas that have blisters, and a rough count and sizes in each area. Now you can put the map away and go sailing. When you haul-out in the fall, check the bottom against your map. If it's static I wouldn't worry too much. If it's spreading then you might want to consider starting repairs. Blisters don't mean the end of the world and unless they're huge like in an earlier post it would take years for them to adversely effect the integrity of the hull. That's why I suggested the map, as a way to follow up each year to see what's happening. Being up on Winni, I'm assuming the boat has been sailed there. If so, I'm curious if it had bottom paint on it. If not, that could be a reason for the blisters. In any case, with the problems you mentioned, and if you can get the engine running okay, I wouldn't expect to pay more than $12,000 for this boat. After all, with the existing problems you know that you're going to have to spend additional money down the line to correct these problems. You can e-mail me at gmjmarine at comcast dot net if you want to discuss this further. Good luck.