84 e38 with blisters, still buy???

So I am looking at a 1984 E38 shoal draft. So far I love it. Went to get the thing surveyed and its was evident there about 1 in. or so sized blisters covered the underside of the hull. Because of I lowered my offereing price but am looking for opinions as to weather or not you would purchase a boat with a blister problem.

• How much might it cost to repair?
• Could the blisters weaken the structural integrity of the hull itself?

Any thoughts from people with the same experience would be great. Or any thoughts from anyone with same kind of problem or dilema.

Thanks,
Derrick

Derrick,


Journey was similarly infected. Had her gel coat peeled and then barrier coated. Most of the blister were shallow and disappeared after the gel coat was removed. The dozen or so that were deeper were repaired. That was about eight years ago and they have not returned.

I would find out how much peeling and barrier coating would cost and adjust your bid appropriately.

Although seriously deep blisters could weaken the hull I have never heard of a boat sinking because of blisters.

Ray Rhode
S/V Jouney
E35-III, #189

Our '89 E38 developed a pretty widespread case of very small blisters - thousands all over the hull. And as I've posted before the yard was unable to fix it, in spite of peeling the hull twice. Still the issue was never structural, and probably wasn't even detrimental to performance. So if you can get enough knocked off the price to do the repair I would go for it.

BUT, if you think you might want to sell the boat any time soon, I might shy away from it just in case the repair job does not take. In my case I spent about $5K for the failed fix, and then had to knock off $5K when I sold her. So we sort of got screwed twice.

It Depends....

derrickrn said:

So I am looking at a 1984 E38 shoal draft. So far I love it. Went to get the thing surveyed and its was evident there about 1 in. or so sized blisters covered the underside of the hull. Because of I lowered my offering price but am looking for opinions as to weather or not you would purchase a boat with a blister problem.

• How much might it cost to repair?
• Could the blisters weaken the structural integrity of the hull itself?

Any thoughts from people with the same experience would be great. Or any thoughts from anyone with same kind of problem or dilemma.
Thanks,
Derrick

Click to expand...

If they are gel coat blisters, they are common on boats from the era. I have personally seen lots of these on makes as diverse as Baltic's to Ericson's to Ranger's, Niagara's, and even Cascades from the 70's.
It is extremely rare for these to be in the glass roving layers or be "structural."

Cost was minimal for our boat in labor and some fairing material for an area of a few feet long on one side of the bottom when we bought it in '94. Sanded, filled, faired, and painted. We have the bottom painted every three years and have not had to fill any blisters since. Our rudder does have some small bumps, but they never seen to worsen.

Depending on the price vs overall condition of the boat you are considering, you certainly may want to allow some purchase $ for this work. After all, the present owner certainly knew of this obvious condition when he last had it hauled, and ignored it.
Like most on-going maintenance things, it's the "pay now or later" mantra for an owner.

Regards,
Loren