Blisters

[rappareems]

Upon hauling my boat this weekend I noticed hundreds of little blisters starting about eight inches below the water line and extending about a foot or more down.  Most on the starbord side.  They are abot 1/4 inch in diameter and all rather uniform size. I popped a few and dug one out and it was through the gelcoat but no further.

This is my second season with boat.  I didn't have any blisters when I hauled last year. This Spring, I did sand down the barrier coat to get a better bottom, which the former owner and left very heavy.  It is the Interlux epoxy version of barrier coat. One friend is saying I'm looking about $800.00 in materials and 500 man hours of labor, another says "don't worry about them..."  I am! Any suggestions?

Mark

Mark Cassidy
#232 1986
"Rapparee"

[dave davis]

Sorry to hear about your Blisters. Your boat is two years older than mine and the the problem sounds exactly the same. Hundreds of small , 1/8-1/4 size about one foot below the water line and mostly on one side. Mine are mostly on the sunny side. They all showed up last year and all I did was to pop them open and vacuumed out the entraped liquid. Then I filled them with Barrior Coat using a tooth pick. Let dry and filled again until the were cnvex. And took photos. Thats it.
I am sure there are other ways of handling the problem, but I thought I would try this method first.
I am sure that Ron has a much better and more positive method that he has written about. I like his Two Color method that he has explained. Maybe I will have to do a more complete job next time.
I will be coming out of the water next month for another problem not related to blisters. I will see what it looks like after one year...