I've always heard grp hulls need to breathe through the bilge. Is an epoxy paint a good choice for a bilge paint
epoxy for the bilge
- Thread starter jnielsen
- Start date
Say what? Once cured, GRP does not need to breathe. The bilge area needs to breathe to reduce moisture related issues like mildew and mold.
There are paints designed to be in the bilge, to prevent oil, gas, and sludge from penetrating fiberglass.
Bilgekote Protection Paint | Interlux
Hard wearing coating for bilges, lockers and bulkheads. Chemical resistance to fumes, fuel and oil
interlux.com
A better issue to be concerned with is why your bilge contains water. That should be the exception, not a general condition. And the breathing thing is nonsense.
Here is an article that deals with the causes and cures for osmosis in fiberglass. At one point he notes that fiberglass needs a way to disperse moisture taken into the fibers and the bilge area is the best way for this to naturally occur. It seems that given the right circumstances water can enter fiberglass from the exterior and needs to be eliminated . Proper construction can at least mitigate this incursion if not prevent it, but from what I understand you can't count on a grp boat hull being totally waterproof. This is why barrier coats are used. But they may not solve a problem and in some circumstances might exacerbate it. The Real Story of Osmosis Blistering
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