oceandreams89
Member II
Goodmorning everyone,
I have been working to remove the 21 years of bottom paint from the hull of my 1989 38-200. I noticed some bumps in the bottom paint a while back, and decided to strip it all off and have a look at the extent of the problem. After intense scraping and sanding, the bottom was finally revealed, and it shows thousands of small pea sized bumps covering most of the hull. I have sanded the entire hull smooth which opened up a few of the little buggers, and I popped a few more with a dental pick. No fluid came out of any of them, and the gel coat chipped off dry, with apparently dry laminate behind. I originally felt that maybe Ericsons primer coat had bubbled. and formed paint blisters, but I couldnt get that lucky.
Like I said, I have sanded them smooth and the bumps have been cut down flush with the hull and is smooth to the touch. I'm aware that voids will still exist behind these areas, but short of removing all the gelcoat, I dont see what I can do about it. Repairing each one individually would take the rest of my life, and I'm 39....
My plan right now is to test the hull with a moisture meter, and see if any moisture is detected inside, and perhaps do a percussion sounding of the hull to try to find voids. If all goes well with the moisture meter, and hammer, I'm thinking of barrier coating and painting and seeing what happens. I figure that by barrier coating, it will prevent any further moisture from making the situation worse. Even if the bumps come back, they will at least be sealed. I certainly dont want to trap any existing water in though either. Does this sound like a reasonable plan? (Remember....one of you may want to buy this boat someday in the distant future.... )
Some have said, just paint it and go, and see what happens, but I'm afraid that will make things worse by allowing water to contact these areas and enlarging the blisters. I lost my job as a pilot several months ago, and dont want to put any more money into this, this year, than I have to, but at the same time, I dont want to be foolish and have the issue get worse, especially since I have gone through extreme labor in removing the bottom paint. I know painting one or 2 coats with ablaitive paint would be much easier to remove in the future for a repair, but I really hate to go through this again.
Any experiences with this problem on other 80's Ericsons, and solutions that anyone tried? Some say the gelcoat blisters are cosmetic only and I should just live with them, but I just am worried about making the situation worse, especially since they have now all been abraded by sanding, making the surface more pourous.
Thanks for any insights anyone can offer....
Todd
ps. Another sanding took place yesterday (4/1) to remove left over paint residue. There are less dark spots now than in the pics. Forgot to take new ones.....these are after completion of the first sanding where 99% of the paint has been removed. Yesterday was detail sanding to remove the small spots left over....probobly wasnt needed, but it made me feel better and gave me something to focus on...
Some of the larger dark spots seen here are where I removed primer coat down to the gel coat. Not always where a bump existed.... The primer is white and chalky, the first coat applied at the factory was red....the rest was all blue.
The boot stripe and cove stripe were red when we bought her 7 years ago. We changed the color to blue and added a white waterline stripe. The waterline of the paint was moved up about 1", especially at the bow because she was always sitting low in the bow due to the forward water tank. The waterline was vastly different from where the factory placed it. I figure...in all, about 300 lbs of paint chips were removed from the hull. Perhaps this will make a small difference. Where RED is seen in the pictures, is where bottom paint was removed from the waterline. The top of the bottom paint was flush with the white stripe....
This picture shows the starboard waterline, about midship. The brighter white is the primer coat applied at the factory. The blisters were pushing up through the primer coat. When the blisters are sanded smooth, they are flush or receeded slightly from the primer coat and look darker than the surrounding primer, because they are gelcoat surface without primer on them which appears darker. A dental pick to these spots chips off the gelcoat revealing the small void.....I'm thinking that several coats of barrier will fill the tiny voids....??
I have been working to remove the 21 years of bottom paint from the hull of my 1989 38-200. I noticed some bumps in the bottom paint a while back, and decided to strip it all off and have a look at the extent of the problem. After intense scraping and sanding, the bottom was finally revealed, and it shows thousands of small pea sized bumps covering most of the hull. I have sanded the entire hull smooth which opened up a few of the little buggers, and I popped a few more with a dental pick. No fluid came out of any of them, and the gel coat chipped off dry, with apparently dry laminate behind. I originally felt that maybe Ericsons primer coat had bubbled. and formed paint blisters, but I couldnt get that lucky.
Like I said, I have sanded them smooth and the bumps have been cut down flush with the hull and is smooth to the touch. I'm aware that voids will still exist behind these areas, but short of removing all the gelcoat, I dont see what I can do about it. Repairing each one individually would take the rest of my life, and I'm 39....
My plan right now is to test the hull with a moisture meter, and see if any moisture is detected inside, and perhaps do a percussion sounding of the hull to try to find voids. If all goes well with the moisture meter, and hammer, I'm thinking of barrier coating and painting and seeing what happens. I figure that by barrier coating, it will prevent any further moisture from making the situation worse. Even if the bumps come back, they will at least be sealed. I certainly dont want to trap any existing water in though either. Does this sound like a reasonable plan? (Remember....one of you may want to buy this boat someday in the distant future.... )
Some have said, just paint it and go, and see what happens, but I'm afraid that will make things worse by allowing water to contact these areas and enlarging the blisters. I lost my job as a pilot several months ago, and dont want to put any more money into this, this year, than I have to, but at the same time, I dont want to be foolish and have the issue get worse, especially since I have gone through extreme labor in removing the bottom paint. I know painting one or 2 coats with ablaitive paint would be much easier to remove in the future for a repair, but I really hate to go through this again.
Any experiences with this problem on other 80's Ericsons, and solutions that anyone tried? Some say the gelcoat blisters are cosmetic only and I should just live with them, but I just am worried about making the situation worse, especially since they have now all been abraded by sanding, making the surface more pourous.
Thanks for any insights anyone can offer....
Todd
ps. Another sanding took place yesterday (4/1) to remove left over paint residue. There are less dark spots now than in the pics. Forgot to take new ones.....these are after completion of the first sanding where 99% of the paint has been removed. Yesterday was detail sanding to remove the small spots left over....probobly wasnt needed, but it made me feel better and gave me something to focus on...
Some of the larger dark spots seen here are where I removed primer coat down to the gel coat. Not always where a bump existed.... The primer is white and chalky, the first coat applied at the factory was red....the rest was all blue.
The boot stripe and cove stripe were red when we bought her 7 years ago. We changed the color to blue and added a white waterline stripe. The waterline of the paint was moved up about 1", especially at the bow because she was always sitting low in the bow due to the forward water tank. The waterline was vastly different from where the factory placed it. I figure...in all, about 300 lbs of paint chips were removed from the hull. Perhaps this will make a small difference. Where RED is seen in the pictures, is where bottom paint was removed from the waterline. The top of the bottom paint was flush with the white stripe....
This picture shows the starboard waterline, about midship. The brighter white is the primer coat applied at the factory. The blisters were pushing up through the primer coat. When the blisters are sanded smooth, they are flush or receeded slightly from the primer coat and look darker than the surrounding primer, because they are gelcoat surface without primer on them which appears darker. A dental pick to these spots chips off the gelcoat revealing the small void.....I'm thinking that several coats of barrier will fill the tiny voids....??
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