Too Many Blisters!!!

[rpell1@msn.com]

Hi all and Happy Thanksgiving.

I know what I see and know what I have to do.......But, I need to VENT!!!!!

My '91 Cat.30 has been on the hard for about 2 weeks now and I have discovered no less than 12 blisters on the hull and just as many small ones on my rudder.

This number seems a bit excessive since the Surveyor only found 2 when I bought the boat in Georgia in December 2008. The only changes have been environment..........much colder weather here in NY and the relatively low salinity levels in our bay.

Other than this, I have my work cut out for me this coming Spring!!

Oh, and yes, I did grind them all open and flushed them all out.

Thanks for listening and to all a Happy, Healthy and Merry Christmas and New Year....

 

[foolproof]

My sympathies!

I discovered blisters (a lot of them!) on my 75 C30 that I bought last year. I bought it as a renovation project, so I didn't pay a lot of money for it. But still, it sucked when I blasted of about 7 layers of bottom paint, and small pieces of the gel coat came with it! I'm not quite sure exactly what to do about it, but I think it will involve grinding them all out, fairing the holes, then epoxy sealing the entire bottom. Fortunately, I can do all the work myself, so it will cost nothing except for the materials, but still...!

I wish that they weren't there, but all I can do now is deal with it. Hope that it works out for you as well. Good luck!

 

[shipwreck66]

Just curious, what anti -fouling is on the bottom? I'm in freshwater, but changing from a shallow water lake to a deep water lake 40 miles away required two totally different bottom jobs.

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

Hi,
The boat had an ablative on it when I bought it and I added another coat of ablative this past spring. It had micron on it originally and I added the WestMarine.

Since I am exclusively salt water and you are fresh, I don't know how this will help you.

But, good luck.

 

[shipwreck66]

We have a wierd variety of algae, depending apparently on water temp. The shallow water produced a lime green smooth coating over the entire bottom, which really caused a lot of blistering, and many of us countered with high copper ablative such as VC Offshore. The deeper water produces dark green seaweed type algae that is far less caustic to fiberglass and just ordinary Blue works fine for 3 years, and far cheaper and easier to apply. I am familiar with the water around Brooklyn and wonder how much the pollution in water affects blistering?

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

Surprisingly, over the past seveal years, the water here in south Brooklyn has been getting much cleaner, with fewer contaminants. "We can now SEE the garbage lying on the bottom"

Seriously, the water has been exceptionally warm this past season. So, there might be something to what you are saying, except that none of the other sail or power boats in my club have this problem.

I just finished opening up the last of them today. I have a total of 9 on the port side and 5 on starboard. I also have 14 quarter sized on the rudder. They will be drying out all winter and I will deal with them in the Spring.

Thanks for your thoughts.