Protecting my fiberglass & gelcoat

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Gene

I'm buying a 1981 Watkins 27 Pilothouse Sloop. The boat has been stored inside since 1989. The gelcoat is in excellent condition. The boat will now be in the water in a canal in Punta Gorda Isles, Florida. What do I do to keep it NICE !!
 
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Tom

Island girl products - sold right here

Make sure you get the correct stuff, there is quite a few and it can be a bit confusing. BTW I had a '80 Watkins 27 before I got my current '99 C36. It was a lot of boat for a 27 footer and for what it was I will always have fond memories. It's kind of like a poor mans Island Packet 27. Solid and decent build (bit oversized standing rigging, etc) for the money (though no-frills on things like no teak floorboards -- but thats what carpet is for..;-). It will be a safe, solid boat especially to start on, though it will never win a lot of races. It just won't point as well as a lot of boats, and will start to make a bit of leeway - (now with my C36 - sailing is a lot more "wow") But what do you expect with a shoal keel and big beam which at the time was more important to me. Though on a beam reach she would do real well, especially if the sails are trimmed well. I can recall sailing over to sheephead bay and passing much larger sailboats with badly trimed sails. Hope you have the 15 hp (mine was a raw water cooled Yamnar 2QM15), Mine had one and did a yeomans duty, it would motor through just about *any* seas with its three blade. The "admiral" still fondly refers to her as ole "betsy". BTW the pilothouse is pretty rare - and I would think especially so in Fl. Do you know about the website for watkins below. Good luck good sailing
 
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Gene

tom............

There were only 7 W27 PH's made, 6 regular, and one special order as a tour boat. That boat is in Hudson, Fl, and we've spoken with her owners. The one we found is almost like new, you would think it's only a few years old. It has a NEW Yanmar 2GM20F 18hp engine. The interior is flawless. It even has a new refrigeration unit. We close on it Tuesday (as long as it floats when they launch it). We're excited.
 

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MArk

18 mils of epoxy

Gene, That's a super boat you're getting. For the best (below waterline) hull protection: 1. Clean and wet sand to remove all loose paint. 2. Dewax and otherwise prep the surface. 3. Coat with 18 mils of epoxy barrier/primer. 4. Top off with anti-fouling. The epoxy will virtually eliminate the possiblity of getting blisters. Happy sails *_/), MArk
 
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Tom

What Mark says is a good idea.

I did have (lets call it) thin gelcoat on my lower aft keel area - not necesarily blisters. Though it meant very little due to its area. But an epoxy barrier coat (after you thoroughly dry the hull) is not a bad idea. But if its gone 20 years - the odds of you getting blisters are lower than you might think. Cos if its gonna blister, it typically would have done it by now. The pilot house version really looks nice -- So I'll show off one or two pics of my old boat See link below and click forward.
 
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Jim Willis

If your gelcoat has been indoors all these years..

It might behave "as new" (not porous). You could just wipe it over with the Superglaze product for new boats. It is available on this site alone or as part of a New Boat Kit. Good for metal surfaces too. If you prefer a conventional wax approach I would recommend Collinite 855 paste wax. It is hard work to use but lasts better than the others. You can even put the glaze on over that if you want! Below the water line, the other postings here with regards to epoxy barier coat are right on the money. The barrier coat on my Gulf 32 has protected against blistering for many years in the tropics. The only part that did not get covered (on the stripe) did get blisters!. Since then we raised the waterline and put barrier coat all the way up onto the stripe. Good luck and happy voyaging! Jim W
 
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