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.
I don't see any indication that it has any barrier coat on it. The white areas appear to be the original gel coat. Don't be aggressive in your sanding. You should avoid sanding away any of the gel coat. Catalinas built in 1989 and thereafter had factory applied barrier coat. If a pre-1989 boat has no significant blisters after 35+ years, it might not need a barrier coat.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
Thanks guys... I lost the keel photo trying to get it right side up on here... getting photos to post correctly is becoming annoying. But you are right, there isn't hardly any barrier coat on the keel... but I didn't sand it off, it was that way from Leon... for some reason when he faired the keel, the barrier coat didnt bond to the glass looks like. Here are pics of the port side barrier coat.. there was no bottom paint in many areas and a good number of those places have devel9oped blisters under the barrier coat... I was obliged to sand them out and so they can be repaired properly... its a lot but I think I'm doing it right.
For info - Take a look at my website for the blister repairs performed some years ago. Areas were so bad with blisters on top of blisters that many areas had to be repaired with fiberglass cloth, resin, recontouring hull portions and then 7 coatings of interprotect followed by bottom painting.
Thanks Larry, nice webpage by the way. Condition looks the same as what I have going on. I don't plan to fiberglass the repairs though. I was careful to not take too much meat while sanding, and I think that a judicious application of epoxy barrier coat will be a sufficient repair.. I hope. If not, I can sand it back off and glass the areas if necessary. Fortunately, it doesn't look like the blistering problem is very prevalent on her underbelly... and the starboard side only has maybe 25% as many blisters... but the keel is completely bare to the fiberglass.... and the glass is very smooth.. might have needed a rougher surface to bind too maybe.. I dunno
I finally figured out how to get my pictures upright... but now they look squished a bit. Anyway, here's the new cushions... I think it looks pretty nice, especially when paired up with Leon's woodwork refinish work.
They look perfect! Nicely done. Along with the woodwork, it breathes new life into the cabin and makes the boat very welcoming. I too have a dinette style cabin that has some nice advantages. You have a long settee for lounging while your guests can grab a seat across the way. The table drops down to create a nice padded hangout for smaller kids / grandkids. Or you can add a bridge board across the aisle to place a Queen-size air mattress between the table and settee which is very comfortable for sleeping over. I made a modified table to take up less room at the dinette. Rather than coming all the way out from the port side, it’s only 1/2 as long as the original table, and I eased the outer corners to fit my more “portly” friends on the benches. I still kept the old table for when I want to set up the bed, but the smaller one works great for hanging out with friends and family.
Bruce Ross Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032 Port Captain — Milford, CT
It's always hard to tell from photos, but I don't see anything that looks like blisters on the hull. Blisters look like blisters on the heel of your foot, i.e. a raised bump filled with water. What I see on the hull looks more like many layers of bottom paint that are so thick that it is chipped and peeling, creating deep pits. The remedy for that is to strip off all the old bottom paint. If there's a barrier coat under it, you can leave it if it's in good condition.
If the boat has a cast iron keel, it's probably a different issue. Cast iron keels were fairly crude castings. The factory coated them with what appears to be coal tar epoxy to seal out moisture. Then the rough surface of the keel was smoothed with a fairing compound. Finally, they were painted with antifouling. But the factory didn't attach a galvanic sacrificial anode to the keel to protect it from corrosion. Water is one of the most invasive substances known. Given time, it can penetrate steel. It's also an electrolyte, and when it penetrates the coatings to the iron keel, it causes a chemical reaction that releases a gas. That gas lifts the fairing compound from the keel. The remedy is to remove all the loose fairing compound and replace it, and then to attach a sacrificial anode to the keel to prevent it from happening again.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
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.