Osmosis on a 1994 Beneteau 400??!!

[YOLO110]

Hi all,

Looking at buying a 1994 Bene 400. Lovely boat but surprisingly it had a dose of the 'pox'. (I thought the BWS system Bene introduced in the early 90's would have negated that...?)

Anyway, the boat has had a complete Gel coat Plane and after drying and washing out, has been re-laminated with a vinyl ester resin. Then fairing with resins before a new antifoul and re-launch.

I have some concerns with this... have read that the gel plane can cause weakness in the original lay-up?? and also vinyl ester resins often are difficult to achieve a longevity bond with the underlying substrate. The repair job only has a 12 month guarantee as well.

It is a good buy at the price but I am wondering if I am buying potential trouble in the future...

Thoughts from those more learned than me would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Peter.

[robert sailor]

Not an expert and there are certainly some here on this forum but in my experience the planers can be set to take just the gel coat off, assuming that was all that was needed. Vinylester used to be considered a good replacement as its comparable with Polyester and is a good barrier to water although not quite as good as epoxy. Your repair would have been considered as a decent one when I was more into this stuff but my info is dated so I'll sit back and maybe learn something.

[YOLO110]

Thanks Robert! Looking forward to learning more too!

[minaret]

Originally Posted by petersuren

Hi all,

Looking at buying a 1994 Bene 400. Lovely boat but surprisingly it had a dose of the 'pox'. (I thought the BWS system Bene introduced in the early 90's would have negated that...?)

Anyway, the boat has had a complete Gel coat Plane and after drying and washing out, has been re-laminated with a vinyl ester resin. Then fairing with resins before a new antifoul and re-launch.

I have some concerns with this... have read that the gel plane can cause weakness in the original lay-up?? and also vinyl ester resins often are difficult to achieve a longevity bond with the underlying substrate. The repair job only has a 12 month guarantee as well.

It is a good buy at the price but I am wondering if I am buying potential trouble in the future...

Thoughts from those more learned than me would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Peter.

Nothing wrong with re-laminating with vinylester. Gel-Plane is fine too. When you say "fairing with resins" do you mean epoxy? Was it barrier coated as well? 12 months is a really short warranty. 2 years is the minimum standard, five years is fairly common. We warranty our bottom jobs for ten years.

[Dulcesuenos]

Make a slightly.longer warranty part of the deal if its negotiable? Otherwise maybe the low price is a "just incase you have to do it again" deal.

[Phil Turner]

Got an old Endeavour with a wet PVC core done 13 years ago. Still pegs moisture meter but looks great and still stiff. Phil Turner