Does it damage a boat leaving it in the water all year?

[newhaul]

My 1963 columbia defender has been in seawater for its whole life ( with occasional haulouts for 2 to 3 days every 5 to 7 years for bottom paint) never an issue .

[a64pilot]

My Wife’s father has designed Boat for Hatteras, Century and some bass boats in Tennessee some years ago.
According to him, the most stressful thing you can do to a boats hull, is to put it on a trailer and head down the highway, in particular he is against the roll on trailers, the ones with just wheels and no bunks.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My Wife’s father has designed Boat for Hatteras, Century and some bass boats in Tennessee some years ago.
According to him, the most stressful thing you can do to a boats hull, is to put it on a trailer and head down the highway, in particular he is against the roll on trailers, the ones with just wheels and no bunks.

ah the infamous and killer trailer hogging .
That will destroy a boat in short order if not properly designed.

[GrowleyMonster]

My boat built in 1976. Probably spent a total of 2 months on the hard, over its life. It hadn't been hauled out at all for probably 10 years before I bought it. Was half sunk and neglected for months following Katrina and then I bought her. Been out of the water twice, since, for a few days for a new strut and for rudder repair, and then for 4 days for bottom paint. I didn't even haul out when I changed the shaft recently. Took off the prop and zincs in the water, pulled the old shaft into the boat (had to temporarily remove my 5kw electric engine) and quickly stuck the new shaft down the stuffing box. My boat is definitely a water boat, not a land boat. Hasn't hurt it a bit. Next time I haul out it will be thoroughly scraped and sanded in the water first, then hauled and painted and splashed. (I do my own diving.) So what... 43 years old, in the water practically the entire 43 years. Don't worry about a little seawater eating your fiberglass hull. You may see some blistering but that's not such a tragedy, just a little more work to fix when you do haul out. Worry more about your deck core rotting from rainwater getting in through cuts and holes for fittings and hardware, or cracks.

[Outlandie]

Assuming your boat is fiberglass, you may have noticed boats for sale indicating they have been barrier coated. This extra measure is because fiberglass hulls can absorb hundreds if not thousands of pounds of water over time. Blistering has been a problem with some production boats.

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by Dooglas

My 1983 Newport sailboat has spent its entire life in the water other than being hauled for maintenance and bottom painting, as has my 1979 Uniflite powerboat. The laminate has not "dissolved" or whatever. In fact, the hull of each of my fiberglass boats shows signs of lasting more or less forever. Unfortunately I can't say as much of the mechanical systems aboard, but storing on the hard doesn't help them much anyway.

Ignorance is bliss...

Read up on underground fibetglass storage and piping...a lot more scientific research than the boating world.

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by Clivevon

Who knows? I understand osmosis remains an issue & is is more of a problem in warmer waters I believe... My surveyor told me that epoxy is not absolutely waterproof, & that the hull will be soaking up water over time, although very slowly. Best to take it out for 2 to 3 months over winter to give it a chance to dry. Best advice is if you are using the boat, keep it in the water. If not, take it out. I know there are other factors but personally I like to take my boat out every other year at least.

For starters, fiberglass boats are not made out of epoxy. Yes, fiberglass absorbs some moisture, but I know of no basis to say the fiberglass is better off if the boat is dry stored in the winter. As you just made the claim, you will need to provide some basis to back it up other than casual conversations over a beer.

[J Clark H356]

Older fiberglass boats used a different layup than the newer boats. If your hull used vinylester it is much less prone to any osmosis or blistering.

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by J Clark H356

Older fiberglass boats used a different layup than the newer boats. If your hull used vinylester it is much less prone to any osmosis or blistering.

Actually, fiberglass boats use a number of different layup methods. And yes, vinylester resin is often used as a barrier coat on newer fiberglass hulls - and can be added as a barrier coat on older hulls as well, if you choose. I know of no reason to imply that older fiberglass hulls are less well built or less stable. There are many 50 year old fiberglass hulls around that are still in use and performing well.

[john61ct]

65+ year old

[ohgary]

I am sure the Caribbean crowd would have a very different than a great lake crowd. If your on the great lakes you better get your boat out before the lake freezes. a foot or more of ice wrapped around your boat at dock is not going to be good.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by boatingnewbie

I'm new to boating and curious about how bad it is or isn't to leave a boat in a slip (in the water) year-round (such as in Florida on the ICW).

Is a boat's hull fine long-term (being kept in the water) as long as it's occasionally cleaned?

Some FRP boats are prone to blistering and others not. Even within the same manufacturer for the same model and same year.

It depends on rhe ambient conditions and the quality of the resin mixing. Many manufacturers now use vinylester resin at least under the waterline. It is better than polyester resin, but still not perfect.

For a new boat, I recommend applying a barrier coat.

For an older boat that hasn’t shown any sign of
blistering in 20 years, EEE, it likely never will. Beware this can be difficult to see under thick, poorly applied (rough) anti-fouling, especially through a dive mask lens.

For a cool freshwater boat moving to warm salt water climate, if it doesn’t have one, apply a barrier coat. 35 year old Great Lakes boats that have not had one blister, may be plastered after a year or two in the

In reality, after anti-fouling stripping (recommend hiring this out as it is a dirty, dirty job), a DIY barrier coat is an inexpensive and relatively easy to perform job, representing cheap insurance against boat value degradation.

After stripping anti-fouling I recommend one coat of barrier as a primer to improve anti-fouling paint adhesion.

In any event, unless one is in clear water and can easily dive the boat for regular maintenance inspection, I recommend an annual haul out.

If this does not fit within ones maintenance budget, that doesn’t make avoiding at least annual inspection the right thing to do.

An exception could be for a boat that is old and poorly maintained and has little fair market value. Then who cares, it is on its way to landfill anyway, if nothing changes.

[Rorzech]

Second Law of Thermodynamics, All things in the universe are in a state of decay.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Rorzech

Second Law of Thermodynamics, All things in the universe are in a state of decay.

yep
The moment that your born is when you start to die.

[noelex 77]

Polyester fibreglass laminate does experience a significant loss of strength with long term immersion in water, even if there is no blistering.

Around a 50% reduction in shear strength can be expected. The time scale is very dependent on temperature.

This does not seem to have effected old boats a great deal, but in the early days they were very overbuilt. If you can possibly take the hull out of the water periodically I think it is something that is worth doing especially in areas with warm water temperatures.