Osmotic Blisters

[Jim Willis]

Blister facts, fiction(?) and fixing.

Thought I had incorporated all this in Fiberglass Trilogy #3 (A&B). This was drawn together from all I have read, seen been told and done. You will see it in the Gelcoat and Plastics Forum. This includes the "bad years for blisters" myth.Now to specifics. ALL blisters start small and should be fixed BEFORE they become big. Big blisters have to be fixed with some structural strenght too (glass fiber if down into the laminate."Pox" in the barrier coat can just be sanded off and coated recoated with epoxy.Do get a surveyer who is not acting for the seller but for your and factor all this in the price. THEN (if you can) do the job yourself (with cheap help) using any spare cash for a long drying time for all the blisters. Fixing blisters in water-laden glass is a waste of time. Always finish with a barrier coat.ThanksJim W

 

[Ron]

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

You'll be hard pressed to find an older glass boat without blisters. Don't worry about the small ones. Sand them down and paint over them. The big ones have to be repaired, but it's not an end of the world (or the boat) deal. If you have a place where you can work on the boat yourself you can fix them yourself. West System has a great deal of info on the subject for FREE. I had many small blisters on my H37C when I bought it 6 years ago. I sanded them down and they never came back. I have three or four larger (two inchers)to do this year at haulout (December) and I'm not worried. Read a lot of articles written by experts and then weigh what you read here with a grain of salt. We all mean well, but sometimes the facts are hard to seperate from the fiction... Good Luck on your new boat... Ron

 

[Kate]

Blisters

I have never heard of blisters being small stuff. Read Tim's link to David Pascoe, contrary to what someone said on this site awhile ago, he does know sailboats!

 

[Tom]

I posted a link with all sorts of info on blisters

BTW there are methods out there to accelerate the hull drying process in case you don't want to waste a season or so. (Some are custom systems but a bit expensive) But if you are going to fix the blisters you MUST get the moisture out or you are just wasting your money and trapping the blistering inside.