Purchasing Concern & Blistering

[Al]

My wife and I are in the market to purchase our first sail boat. We reallylike the Cat 30's for many reasons. The one we are ready to purchase isa 1985 for 25K. I plan to have it surveyed and the Universal 3 cyl deiselchecked out by a good mechanic. The concern is that the boat has been outof water for a year. Since it is prior 87, I understand from most posts that theearly 80's were subject to blistering and delamination. Due to the fact the hull has been dried out, can anyone tell if water infiltration to the hull hasoccured? If so to what extent, what do you look for? I know the problemswith the hull could be cosmetic or costly to repair. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This is the only major concern we have with this boat. If this is a big concern should we just look for a 87 or newer (due to the manufacturer barrier coat). Any help, suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. (repost from owner forum, sorry) From a dedicated to be Catalina owner Al

 

[doug ellis]

I have a brand new 270 with blisters!!

I thought newer than '87 made Catalina's immune to blisters.....not so. My new 270 was coveredwith blisters upon pullout a couple of weeks ago! Warranty, yes, putwho wants to sandblast a new boat!

 

[LaDonna Bubak - Planet Catalina]

Doug, you should insist on stripping

If your new boat is already covered with blisters, insist that they strip it down to the gelcoat. Maybe that's what you mean by sandblasting but there's a less "sandy" way of doing it. There's this really cool machine that literally just strips the gelcoat right off. Sorta like a vacuum with a hand-held electric razor attached. ?? Best description I can come up with. I would throw a fit till they did that, dried out the hull for the winter

 

[Todd Osborne]

Blisters

I've only dealt with boats that are moored all year, and not shure how keeping them out of the water affects blisters, but I do know that the boat you are looking at is old enough that if it doesn't already have visible blisters, it probably won't get much worse. from memory, a common place for those buggers to show up is Port Fwd side, just below the head. they should be easily visible. Sice you are having the boat surveyed, your surveyor should easily be able I.D. any problem spots. Minor blistering is really only cosmetic

 

[Mark Gale]

Not all

They're certainly not all subject to blisters and certainly not delamination. More accurate would be that most people don't have problems, especially those who aren't in all year. If you don't have them, you can strip the bottom and apply a barrier coat.