• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

E35-3 hull blistering

ChrisInMaine

Member II
I'm considering buying a 35-3 but was disappointed to find extensive blistering during the survey haul. I'm concerned about this because the vessel was surveyed 13 months ago and no evidence of blistering was reported at the time. The boat has been in the water pretty much continuously since the survey.

Is the sudden onset of this problem indicative of a deeper issue?
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
What did your surveyor say about the blisters issue? Sometimes cosmetic, sometimes expensive. Probably wasn't sudden.

Any photos?

Oh, and welcome aboard the forum.
 
Last edited:

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
There are previous threads where owners describe their blister repairs, including full peel of the hull gelcoat and adding barrier coats. Maybe this repair can be negotiated into the purchase price.
Frank
 

Dave N

Member III
walk away

Walk away and find another. Or get an estimate to have the best yard strip/repair, barrier coat, and paint(this will be serious money). Have this estimate subtracted from your best low price offer. There is no other way. There are many good boats out there. Be patient in your search.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
Walk away and find another. Or get an estimate to have the best yard strip/repair, barrier coat, and paint(this will be serious money). Have this estimate subtracted from your best low price offer. There is no other way. There are many good boats out there. Be patient in your search.
Just bear in mind, though, that even an extensive repair consisting of a gelcoat peel followed by barrier coat is not always foolproof. There are plenty of cases where blisters come back despite these exceedingly costly and draconian efforts. No guarantees.

If the blistering is as severe as it sounds, perhaps passing on this boat is the best course. That said, it's rare for blisters to present a structural problem for the boat. Still, since you don't already own this boat it might be best to look elsewhere. Why buy into a boat that may be an issue down the line when you go to sell it, even if the blisters themselves are unlikely to structurally compromise your boat?
 

ChrisInMaine

Member II
Thanks all. I'm waiting on final survey report to get a better sense of the extent of the problem and some photos. I'm still interested in understanding why this didn't show up on last year's survey. Someone suggested that it's because the boat was previously surveyed on the hard with a dry hull whereas we surveyed in the water. Does that sound like a reasonable explanation?
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
Thanks all. I'm waiting on final survey report to get a better sense of the extent of the problem and some photos. I'm still interested in understanding why this didn't show up on last year's survey. Someone suggested that it's because the boat was previously surveyed on the hard with a dry hull whereas we surveyed in the water. Does that sound like a reasonable explanation?
When you say the boat was "surveyed in the water" do you mean that a diver looked at the bottom? I'm unclear, because your initial post said it was looked at during the "survey haul." Was the boat in or out of the water when you looked at the bottom? And if out of the water, did you see the blisters while the bottom was still wet? It is definitely true that the blisters can and do flatten out as the hull dries while on the hard.
 

ChrisInMaine

Member II
Yeah I can see how that would be confusing. Our survey was performed mostly with the boat in the water, but we did haul her briefly to perform an insection of the hull, rudder, etc on the lift. So the bottom was out of the water but still very much wet.
 

ofshore74

Member III
Thanks all. I'm waiting on final survey report to get a better sense of the extent of the problem and some photos. I'm still interested in understanding why this didn't show up on last year's survey. Someone suggested that it's because the boat was previously surveyed on the hard with a dry hull whereas we surveyed in the water. Does that sound like a reasonable explanation?

^^^
What Christian said. A month ago I surveyed an 89' E-34 that was covered with hundreds of big and little blisters that immediately started shrinking once the boat was out of the water. I was told the only way to find them to repair them once the hull is dry, is to take a Maul (sharp tool) and circle each one so that at least you have the outline in the bottom paint to find it again. Otherwise they vanish.
 
Last edited:

ChrisInMaine

Member II
Thank you all for weighing in. I spoke with the surveyor today and his take was that the blisters were small (pinhead sized) and indicative of a production problem rather than intrusion. He said the biggest risk to our resale cost, and maybe we should adjust our offer accordingly.

The other concerning issue was moisture in the decks which he didn't feel yet required a core repair and could be best addressed by rebedding the deck hardware. This is normal maintenance - but we've heard from some that some folks that we should be very careful bringing a boat up from warmer climes to our home in Maine. The gist of this advice is that we will need to haul the boat and give her plenty of time to "dry out" before the winter sets in, otherwise the freezing will cause manage. I would think maybe a waterlogged boat could have that kind of problem but we're dealing with something less problematic.

Thoughts appreciated.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
My boat had a lot of those tiny blisters that came and went with wetting. Almost a calico pattern. They were just very shallow surface blisters, and mostly disappeared as I sanded. (I sanded the bottom down to bare fiberglass and put on a new barrier coat, after drying out in 100° weather in semi-arid climate.). There were maybe a dozen serious blisters that required actual repair, which was easy.


I actually hauled the boat in February and there was a hard freeze immediately afterward. Most of the "real" blisters burst on their own. Also the there was some freeze damage to the rudder, which was full of water. Still dealing with the deck, bit by bit.

All this is par for the course for an old boat. Not a big deal if you're a DIY guy. Probably expensive if you pay someone else to deal with it. But I doubt that there are (m)any affordable older boats that don't have these problems.

I was looking at a couple of Valiant 40's as the possible "next boat." Now those have serious blister problems! Makes any problems with Ericsons look trivial.
 
Last edited:

JSM

Member III
I purchased an 87 E34 in May of this year. We hauled out two weeks ago and immediately sand blasted 30 yrs of blue ablative paint off of the bottom and found hundreds of tiny "blisters" in the gel coat. All of these blisters were dry as a bone and none were any deeper than the gel coat itself. The blisters above the water line that were untouched by the sand blasting I pierced with an awl and found that they contained no liquid. I'm convinced that these blisters are imperfections in the gel coat. We're now in the process of sanding , filling and them barrier coating the bottom. Should be good for another 30 yrs.
 

ChrisInMaine

Member II
Thank you all for the advice. We have decided to go ahead with the purchase after some renegotiation. Will let you know how repairs go in the spring.
 
Top