Frank Langer
1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Our 1984 E30+ has been babied for most of her life, and I have kept her in great shape since acquiring her from a discerning owner 11 years ago. I have hauled her every two years, sometimes a bit more often, to check hull, renew bottom paint, etc. She has always had some blisters at the waterline in the aft quarter, but only for about 3 feet near the stern, mainly on the port side, extending only about 2 inches below the waterline. When I hauled her this time, I noticed a bit more blisters on the quarters, but also a number of blisters where there hadn't been any before, mainly on the starboard side extending about a foot or a bit more below the waterline, but none on the underside of the hull fore or aft of the keel. In total, I am counting about 80 or maybe a few more on the hull all round, most about the size of a small fingernail, a few a bit larger. There are some sections of the hull where no blisters are evident.
I have removed all the bottom paint, and I see evidence of a few, though not many, places where there has been a small epoxy repair, likely to deal with earlier blisters, though I can't tell for sure. None of these repairs are showing current blisters.
The boatyard staff, who have a good reputation, are mixed on their views. The main guy says that to be relatively (though not absolutely) sure of getting rid of them, I need to grind the gelcoat down to fibreglass, get rid of any blisters/voids, dry the hull as much as possible in this northern BC coastal environment, add 3 - 4 coats of Interprotect 2000 and bottom paint. A couple of other staff are suggesting just grinding out the existing blisters and filling with epoxy, coating with Interprotect, and dealing with any new blisters at each haul out, indicating that it's a 33 year old boat, albeit in great shape.
Yard staff have started to grind down the gelcoat from the bow back, and in the first third of the boat from the bow going aft, there are only 4 blisters, though I can see a few more in the upcoming mid section that hasn't been touched yet, and the other side of the hull has more.
I am leaning to have them grind the gelcoat down to the fibreglass, filling any voids and coating with Interprotect 2000 to minimize the possibility of blisters returning, but this is a very expensive process. The other option is to grind the gelcoat to where I can clearly see where there are blisters, then filling those on a spot basis and coating with Interprotect 2000. This option would be much less expensive, but has the risk that new blisters that are currently developing but not obvious will appear at each haul out. The one staff asked me: "why remove perfectly good gelcoat anywhere there aren't signs of blister?", but if they are showing up nearby, are they also lurking in the blister free areas?
I am looking for your best advice on what approach you would take, drawing on your wisdom on this site, and especially if you have done any work on blisters on your boats, and how that has developed over the years.
Thanks for any help with this! I need to make a decision in the next couple of days, as the yard staff await my direction on how to proceed. I am currently 66 years old, in quite good health, and plan to sail for at least the next five to ten years, and love this boat for so many reasons, so I want her to last--she is my passion!
Frank
I have removed all the bottom paint, and I see evidence of a few, though not many, places where there has been a small epoxy repair, likely to deal with earlier blisters, though I can't tell for sure. None of these repairs are showing current blisters.
The boatyard staff, who have a good reputation, are mixed on their views. The main guy says that to be relatively (though not absolutely) sure of getting rid of them, I need to grind the gelcoat down to fibreglass, get rid of any blisters/voids, dry the hull as much as possible in this northern BC coastal environment, add 3 - 4 coats of Interprotect 2000 and bottom paint. A couple of other staff are suggesting just grinding out the existing blisters and filling with epoxy, coating with Interprotect, and dealing with any new blisters at each haul out, indicating that it's a 33 year old boat, albeit in great shape.
Yard staff have started to grind down the gelcoat from the bow back, and in the first third of the boat from the bow going aft, there are only 4 blisters, though I can see a few more in the upcoming mid section that hasn't been touched yet, and the other side of the hull has more.
I am leaning to have them grind the gelcoat down to the fibreglass, filling any voids and coating with Interprotect 2000 to minimize the possibility of blisters returning, but this is a very expensive process. The other option is to grind the gelcoat to where I can clearly see where there are blisters, then filling those on a spot basis and coating with Interprotect 2000. This option would be much less expensive, but has the risk that new blisters that are currently developing but not obvious will appear at each haul out. The one staff asked me: "why remove perfectly good gelcoat anywhere there aren't signs of blister?", but if they are showing up nearby, are they also lurking in the blister free areas?
I am looking for your best advice on what approach you would take, drawing on your wisdom on this site, and especially if you have done any work on blisters on your boats, and how that has developed over the years.
Thanks for any help with this! I need to make a decision in the next couple of days, as the yard staff await my direction on how to proceed. I am currently 66 years old, in quite good health, and plan to sail for at least the next five to ten years, and love this boat for so many reasons, so I want her to last--she is my passion!
Frank
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