Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

In late winter, I plan on striping the many layers of paint off my 23's bottom and want to try to anticipate what to expect, in the way of additional work, beyond repainting, as I plan to keep the boat in the water next year. It's an '85 and haven't seen much in the way of posts discussing blistering, so I'm hopeing to only have to do repair a few scrapes along the centerline. Is there anything else to consider, that I may be missing? Dink [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

If the bottom isn’t to built up you can see blisters right through bottom paint …otherwise after sanding or stripping the hull you would see them. If the bottom is blistered up you’ll need to address that first (grind out, washdown/scrub several times and let it thoroughly dry )

Extreme and badly blistered boats around here get stripped down in the fall, opened up (a lot of times via soda/hydro/sandblasting) , scrubbed and scrubbed (to remove the glycol in the blister) and left that way till spring. I’ve even seen shrink wrap skirts put on the ground under and around the boats bottom with some form of heat to accelerate the drying …
Once that is all settled down, all the blisters need to get filled and faired out. After that…regardless of what you find … BARRIER COAT !!!!! If your keeping her in the water it would be foolish not to put a barrier coat on the bottom after stripping it down…a little extra time and not that much $$ to help stop any blistering . Petite and Interlux both have Barrier coats …and Interlux has lots of stuff on their website on the “how to’s”

DUNK, I would think, would have a lot of insight to this ..

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

I have had my 20' SC for 12 years and kept it in the water for 6 mos each year. I have never had any blistering problems at all. My "new" 1989 23' SC has never had bottom paint. Are you saying that barrier coat is a must? I had a 24' Aquasport before the SC 20' and never had blistering problems with that boat either.

Have I just been lucky?? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

Naturally not all boats will suffer from this and no you don’t have to do anything … but there is no way (that I’m aware ) that you can tell if it will or wont happen. Environment, time in the water, fabricating materials will play their roles differently.
i.e. Poly resins allow water to pass , vinylesters a bit less , Epoxies better yet ... Water temps etc

Me personally …with a freshly stripped hull , or a never before painted hull that was going to get bottom paint …and will spend a lot of time in the water….now’s the time to do it. It’s a preventative measure to slow or stop water permeation into the glass and its cheap insurance !! Given the cost of boats, engines, fuel, slips ….. this is pocket change. Some bottom paints cost more than what’s needed to coat a small boat.

Having a boat fixed that has a blister problem is a headache (Lots of labor) …and done professionally can cost big time … I’m not talking a couple spots …Hundreds if not thousands of blisters … Those pockets (blisters) are separations in the gel coat and laminates of the hull… this is, in a sense, small scale delamination ...They did a TV show on this that the boat was so bad they had to strip the boat right down to the fiberglass laminate !!! I wouldn’t want to guess what that would cost. Just from a resale perspective I certainly wouldn’t want to buy or at the very least give anywhere near top dollar for a boat suffering from this …. People walk away from boats that have osmotic blistering... just something I would not want to see on a boat survey.

I guess I’m very pro to barrier coating after seeing a few boats that I personally knew go through this process …The worst was a 31 Bertram the other a 35 …. Its not a pretty sight to see the hull pocked up with thousands of blisters ….They spent a lot of time in the yard getting fixed.

just my opinion [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

Scott,

So you're saying you're FOR the barrier coat...

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

Pettit Protect is a excellent choice. I put 4 coats
on the 20 Master Angler I had. A few gallons of
acetone and few dozen clean rags are needed to
remove all the mold release. It doesn't matter
how old the hull is. A organic respirator is a
must, especially with that Pettit stuff!!

http://www.pettitpaint.com/products2...d=1&SubCatid=2

R

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

Dink-

Scott has offered sage advice. If you're going to go through all the trouble of stripping the bottom, then definitely apply an epoxy barrier coat before you repaint the bottom.

As far as stripping the bottom is concerned, it is a dirty nasty job. After doing a few myself....I would much rather pay someone to come by and soda blast it because they bag the entire bottom and dispose of all stuff in an environmentally sensitive manner. There is a guy in Uxbridge that does media blasting . You may want to look him up in the Yellow pages.

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

Barrier coat, YES DO IT.....I have had my 1970 20 for 19 years I took down the bottom about 12 years ago. I did have some blisters and repaired them.then put on the barrier coating before bottom painting. The bottom has been almost perfect since then.I slip mine from april till dec every year...Even if I had a new hull I would Barrier coat it......Joe R. 1970 Potter 20 cc ,Susie II

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

Scott,Ed,Joe
Thanks for the advice. Once I strip the paint off I will likely apply a barrier coat, just to be on the safe side.
I really was wondering what everyone has experienced on the older SC's regarding blistering.

I've owned 5 boats prior to this SC and never had any blister problems.
Rich

Re: Stripping the Bottom , Then What?
 

I'll second that on barrier coat...its a must.