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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

blisters

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jim blotter
1st Mate

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26 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/17/2003 : 18:38:56

We just hauled our Cat 25 for the first time since we bought her 2 years ago. Not to my surprise we had many blisters. We've decided to paint the bottom, put her back in the water and haul her again in the summer to let her dry out and do the repairs necessary. I know there are many different ways to tackle this job, I would really like any information you all might have to help us tackle this the best way. We plan on diong the work ourselves( I'll watch while the misses does the work! Yea Right) We live in Virginia and the boat stays in the water.

Edited by - on

Douglas
Master Marine Consultant

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1595 Posts

Response Posted - 03/18/2003 : 01:28:17

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/barrier4u.html have a look here at barrier coats and a link to their products. I used them with great results.

Doug&Ruth
Triska (Alberg 29)
Tacoma Wa.

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f_sondergaard
1st Mate

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USA
92 Posts

Response Posted - 03/18/2003 : 12:31:49

Jim,

You might want to invest in Don Casey's book "Sailboat Hull & Deck Repair", it is a good book and will walk you throught the steps of drilling and filling your blisters. You will save a lot of money if you do the job yourself and it is not that hard to do. I repaired 22 on my 1982 Catalina 25 (Gentle Breeze) and a good friend of mine Done Jones just repaired several on his 25, Swept Away.

You can find the book at most book stores or just check it out of the library and return it when you are finished with the blister work.

Jason & Fran
1982 Catalina 25
Swing to Wing

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CatalinaGuy
1st Mate

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USA
55 Posts

Response Posted - 03/18/2003 : 15:32:48

I just finished blister repair on my C25. Here's what I did.

1. Clean gunge off the bottom
2. Use a hand scraper to remove as much of the old bottom paint as possible
3. Use a 5" random orbit sander with 60 grit sanding disks to remove all of the paint and get down to the gelcoat. It took about 40 sanding disks to sand the bottom of mine. Home Depot sells them in a contractor pack of 20 disks which saves a lot of money. During sanding, any blisters will be exposed because you will have to sand through the gelcoat in order to sand them flat. Many of the blisters will burst during sanding whch is Ok. Don't worry if they don't burst during sanding though.
4. Now use a rounded point dremel tool fitted in your drill chuck and grind the blisters out. You want to go deep enough to burst the blister and get down to clean fiberglass. You also want to slope the edges as much as possible out from the center of the blister. The fluid in the blisters is very acidic and squirts out under pressure. Wear gloves and eye protection and avoid contact with your skin.
5. Let the blisters dry out for several weeks.
6. Next wash the blisters out with water using a scrubbing pad and let them dry another week.
7. Now go back and wipe them out with a rag soaked in acetone.
8. Mix some West System Epoxy resin and fast hardener. Use a small foam brush and wet out the inside of each blister.
9. Wait for the epoxy to get tacky (about 45 mins) and mix some more epoxy resin this time with slow hardener. Add West System 406 (Colloidal Silica) filler until the mix has the consistency of smooth peanut butter.
10. Use a plastic spreader to fill each of the blisters.
11. Wait 24 hours and sand the epoxy patches flush with the hull - use your random orbit and 60 grit paper. This will be a bit tough, since the colloidal silica is difficult to sand. Don't wait more than 24 hrs, or the epoxy will be even harder to sand.
12. Fill any uneven blister repairs with epoxy mixed with 407 low density filler. Wipe the blister with acetone first. Wait 24hrs and sand the 407 epoxy fair with the roandom orbit sander.
12. Wipe down the entire hull with Interlux 202 solvent wash
13. Apply 4 coats of Interlux InterProtect 2000 epoxy barrier coat. This will prevent future blister formation.
14. Apply the bottom paint of your choice.

This is a pretty big job, but it's not difficult at all. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Good luck!

Doug Hibberd, 'Shiraz'
C25 SK/SR 1983
Austin, TX

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 03/18/2003 : 19:00:32

The interlux website has lots of great information on blister repair, and refinishing your bottom. I found it to be a great resource. I printed many pages out from this site and took it down to the sailing club when I refinished my 22 last fall

Frank Gloss
89WK/TR

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OJ
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 03/20/2003 : 17:12:26

Jim,
You would do well to invest $3 in Gougeon Brothers manual on blister repair and prevention.
Good luck.

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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.