Gel coat and Geography
Hi Don,
I would advise keeping some perspective on annecdotal evidence concerning osmiotic blistering... whether Ericsons or ANY other brand of sail boat built after the changes in resin chemistry spurred by the oil crisis in the mid 70's.
Remember that all individual narratives are probably sincere, and that extrapolating them into general condemnations or praise-worthyness is, as Mr Spock would say, "Highly Illogical."
Our '88 model may have had the hull itself laid up in Mexico, but I have no direct knowledge. The HIN will not show the source of parts, only the manufacturer ID. And like the mast or the engine, the hull is a "part." Final assembly was likely in Irvine, CA, if I remember correctly -- just like our E-built boat.
When we bought it in '94 it had one area of light blistering about a foot by four feet on one side of the bottom. This was ground off and faired with some sort of resin mix, by Mariner Boat yard in SF. The problem never came back.
My previous boat, an '81 Niagara, was from a very high-end Canadian builder and had quite a few large gel coat bottom blisters that we filled with high quality polyester-with-thickener and they never re-occured.
I would probably follow the advice of a local builder, one of the true pioneers in FRP boat building (Tom Green, co-founder of Yacht Constructors) who always advised customers to just grind out the gel coat blister only, clean and dry it, and fill with good quality filler. Fair it and paint it -- and don't worry too much. Even some of the legendary-quality Cascades that he and his crew built had some bottom blisters over the decades, but not too many, not structural, and not re-occurring.
It is worth remembering that, absent a chemistry problem like the failure of the fire-retardent resin in those Valiants for a few short years in the late 70's, good construction practices from higher-than-average quality builders is your first line of defense against blistering... and a host of other problems.
Here is the link to a good discussion of this issue, on this site at little while ago:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3431&referrerid=28
Get a good survey, stay calm, and enjoy your Ericson for the next ten or twenty years. An E-32 is a real nice size boat for long term ownership.
My .01 worth, with Wednesday discount.
Cheers,
Loren in PDX
1988 Olson 34 #8