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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Blister Repair and Waterproofing

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3466 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/19/2011 : 04:23:34

The time has come that I may bite the bullet and have the bottom preserved. When I bought the boat almost 6 years ago, it had perhaps 20 blisters of nickel/quarter size. It was then discovered during painting the following year that a few of the blisters were paint blisters and not an issue. Thru the years, I have kept an eye on the remaining blisters during annual pressure washes. The PO also kept the boat in the river all year-round and that means that a minimum of approximately 12 years of it's life has been in freshwater year-round.

Last Fall during pressure washing, the bottom had noticeably more slime on it and since I had gone 4 years since last bottom painting using a multi-year copolymer paint, it seemed that this year I would probably have to get the bottom repainted. I decided to have the boat pressure washed this past Spring to assess the slime build-up/paint situation. During that pressure wash, two things were apparent. First, all the copolymer paint was gone. This was apparent since rubbing your finger on the bottom, no paint came off on your finger. The bottom was now down to many years earlier, the application of a hard paint. Secondly, now with all the copolymer paint off of it which consisted of the paint job done 4 years ago and whatever remained of an ablative paint 5 years before that, the bottom was down to the barest it has been in quite some time. It was then I noticed that instead of about 20 blisters, I now had about 40-45 blisters all approximately nickel/quarter in size. It is possible that all the blisters have been there for quite some time and only the ones not noticed before only became noticeable because all past bottom painting from the last two paint jobs was now gone but ...I suspect that some of them may have appeared for first time during th past year. Anyway, I have been considering these two scenarios since the pressure wash this past Spring (all the blisters were there for quite some time vs new ones emerged during past year).

At a minimum, I have to have the boat hauled out for repainting the bottom but this is also the opportune time to get the blisters repaired and have the bottom waterproofed. Regardless of which way I go, I am not going to do the work myself and that means huge cost. The good news is that since I do not paint yearly, I have avoided the annual cost of hauling the boat out and having painted. the bad news is that if I go with the repairs and waterproofing, the cost will be considerable..similar to having the boat painted by the yard annually.

Where I keep my boat in the upper Potomac River, there are limited boat services. The marina I go to for the pressure wash, only allows boats in their maintenance yard for a max of two weeks or so based on the state park rules and maintenance can only be performed in the mtn yard by do it yourselfers or using the yard personnel. Regardless of who does the painting, it's $200 for first week in mtn yard and then $50/day after that...they really limit time in the mtn yard. Blister work...that is beyond their capability and mtn yard time. So, that means I have to go further down the Potomac. On the web, I came across someone that got an estimate on a 25' sailboat in the Colonial Beach area - A whopping $7500 ! But Colonial beah is quit e haul for me and I definitely would not consider going further down river than that for maintenance. But there is another marina that is a possibility - Fort Washington Marina. That is about ~ 10 miles down river. I got an estimate from a contractor that is adjacent to the marina and does a lot of the marina's fiberglas work - The company is called Fiber Glass Fabricators. They would move the boat over to their store to perform the work and store the boat until work was completed. The cost between the marina for the hauling out, PW and eventual launching and then the contractor blister repair, barrier paint prep, 7 coats of barrier paint and then anti-fouling paint and including the cost of my buying of the required gallons of barrier paint and anti-fouling paint...the total cost is estimated at $5100. A lot less than $7500 but a considerable cost representing half the cost of the boat.

Still...it is a "Good Old Boat" and I am leaning toward getting the work done. It is the right thing to do rather than ignore the blisters, paint the bottom and revisit 4 years from now. I believe now is the right time to do it.

If I go ahead with this, it will be in October.

Larry
'89 Robin's Nest#5820, Potomac River/Quantico, Va
http://catalina25.homestead.com/olarryr.html

Edited by - on

Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2011 : 06:43:19

You are correct, getting the blisters repaired is the right thing to do. Not only because she is a good old boat but because it will only get worse as the hull absorbs more water. I had the same problem many,many, years ago, and I did the repairs myself over the course of 4 months during the spring and summer. I sanded most of the gelcoat off, from the waterline to the bottom of the keel, and then applied 7 coats of Interlux-1000 and 3 coats of Interlux-2000 barrier epoxy and then 2 coats of anti-fouling paint. If you do get it done I suggest that you haul the boat out and repaint the bottom at least every two years.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2011 : 10:05:57

My family kept our boat at Ft. Washington Marina when I was a kid. We had a covered slip, which is now gone. I don't know anything about the quality of their yard work. All I remember is how badly silted in Piscataway Creek always was. Hopefully they maintain the dredging between the day markers.

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.