Hi everyone,
I'm wondering if any of you have experienced any symptoms of
osmosis on your Vegas. I recently purchased Vega #68 (-67)
and seems like she has a large osmosis problem. When I was
evaluating her, I noticed small cracks in the bottom & keel
but thought they were simply the result of too many layers
of old antifouling, causing the paint to crack. I also believed
my father (who has much more experience with boats than I do)
who said cracks like those aren't likely to be anything
serious. I also heard that osmosis is very very rare on Vegas
and thought it would always manifest itself as blisters on
the gelcoat, not as cracks.
However, now when I sanded and repainted the bottom, I found
out that those small cracks extend through the gelcoat! So it's
not the old antifouling paint that is cracked, the whole gelcoat
layer seems to have small cracks just about everywhere below
the waterline. The problem seems to be worst on the keel,
where it looks like some yellowish residue has leaked out of
the cracks.
I uploaded three pictures to show what I mean. Two of them
are taken of the keel near the rudder and the third is taken
just below the waterline. On the third picture, I've sanded
the paint away to reveal the cracked gelcoat. As you can see,
the cracks form quite a different pattern as on the keel.
I wonder if there can be any other explanation for these
cracks than osmosis. Of course I'm feeling a bit disappointed
as osmosis is likely to lower the boat's value quite a bit.
Then again, I got her for a very low price so I didn't
expect the boat to be in any way pristine condition. And
my brother is a trained boat constructor so he might be able
to do the repair at a reasonable cost if needed.
It's just strange that my boat would suffer from such a large-
scale osmosis, since as far as I know, she's been in Finland
for most of her life and has been in water only 5-6 months
a year. I remember reading that the only Vegas with reported
osmosis problems are the ones that have been kept in the water
continously for many years..
Nuutti Koskinen
I'm wondering if any of you have experienced any symptoms of
osmosis on your Vegas. I recently purchased Vega #68 (-67)
and seems like she has a large osmosis problem. When I was
evaluating her, I noticed small cracks in the bottom & keel
but thought they were simply the result of too many layers
of old antifouling, causing the paint to crack. I also believed
my father (who has much more experience with boats than I do)
who said cracks like those aren't likely to be anything
serious. I also heard that osmosis is very very rare on Vegas
and thought it would always manifest itself as blisters on
the gelcoat, not as cracks.
However, now when I sanded and repainted the bottom, I found
out that those small cracks extend through the gelcoat! So it's
not the old antifouling paint that is cracked, the whole gelcoat
layer seems to have small cracks just about everywhere below
the waterline. The problem seems to be worst on the keel,
where it looks like some yellowish residue has leaked out of
the cracks.
I uploaded three pictures to show what I mean. Two of them
are taken of the keel near the rudder and the third is taken
just below the waterline. On the third picture, I've sanded
the paint away to reveal the cracked gelcoat. As you can see,
the cracks form quite a different pattern as on the keel.
I wonder if there can be any other explanation for these
cracks than osmosis. Of course I'm feeling a bit disappointed
as osmosis is likely to lower the boat's value quite a bit.
Then again, I got her for a very low price so I didn't
expect the boat to be in any way pristine condition. And
my brother is a trained boat constructor so he might be able
to do the repair at a reasonable cost if needed.
It's just strange that my boat would suffer from such a large-
scale osmosis, since as far as I know, she's been in Finland
for most of her life and has been in water only 5-6 months
a year. I remember reading that the only Vegas with reported
osmosis problems are the ones that have been kept in the water
continously for many years..
Nuutti Koskinen