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Old 16-05-2012, 16:50   #1
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Alcohol

I,am having the bottom paint removed.No Blisters are present althought the boat is 30 years old,I,wil want to apply a barrier coat after removing the bottom paint,I,stated to the Service Provider that the bottom will have to dry before a barrier coat can be applied,he stated about a week was good,and that could be hurried by spraying Alcohol to the GELCOAT to evaporate the moister faster.Am I,being smoked.I,have always been under the premise that a boat will to sit out at least a month or more befor a barrier coat can be used.He plans on using Interprotect.
Help me understand,Thanks
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:06   #2
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Any moisture in the hull will be sealed in by the barrier coat. The best case is to let the boat sit for months to dry out. A way to test is with a moisture meter. Make sure the reading is the same above and below the water line, this will indicate a dry hull. I have not heard about using alcohol.

Does the boat stay in all year?
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:07   #3
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Also, how are you removing the bottom paint?
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:21   #4
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Re: Alcohol

Quote:
Originally Posted by casual View Post
I,am having the bottom paint removed.No Blisters are present althought the boat is 30 years old,I,wil want to apply a barrier coat after removing the bottom paint,I,stated to the Service Provider that the bottom will have to dry before a barrier coat can be applied,he stated about a week was good,and that could be hurried by spraying Alcohol to the GELCOAT to evaporate the moister faster.Am I,being smoked.I,have always been under the premise that a boat will to sit out at least a month or more befor a barrier coat can be used.He plans on using Interprotect.
Help me understand,Thanks
I have never heard of alcohol being used to aid the drying of gelcoat, for the preparation of a barrier coat. In fact, I think the service manager at the boat yard needs to learn more about gelcoat. Gelcoat is a moisture barrier in itself. It plays a huge role in keeping moisture out of the resin. While it is porous, allowing it to dry in the sun over a week or so is enough. I have seen barrier coats applied within days haul out during dry, hot periods.

Just curious... Why are you having all of the paint removed. Usually, sanding of the first few layers of bottom paint is sufficient. Ablative paint will work well in this case, as it won't build a thick shell as new coats are applied.
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:35   #5
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Re: Alcohol

Gel coat is most certainly not any kind of moisture barrier. Porous gel coat combined with CSM (skin coat -first layer inside gel coat) are the reasons boats blister. Neither is most bottom paint any sort of barrier. As contrary as it sounds, the fastest way to dry your hull is to wash it with fresh water every other day for the first week. Think of it this way - when your shirt goes over the side and you try to dry it out, will it dry before you get the salt out of it? Of course not. You have to fresh water rinse it or it will never truly dry. The cotton fibers in your shirt and the glass fibers in your hull are not that different. Also, the glycols (the chemical result of polyester breaking down) will blush to the surface with the salt and the moisture. Nothing will stick to glycol. As it blushes out, fresh water will remove it initially. If it sits on the surface for any length of time it becomes tacky and hard to remove.
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:38   #6
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Re: Alcohol

Shamrock,either chemical or sanding.Up in the air
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:40   #7
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Re: Alcohol

BTW - many years ago we tried spraying hulls with alcohol loaded into a bug sprayer/atomizer. Did it work? well........denatured alcohol was only about 6 bucks a gallon back then. Today it's about 14 bucks a gallon. Give it a try, watch how long it stays on the surface and then you tell me......
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Old 16-05-2012, 17:49   #8
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Re: Alcohol

Fiberglass1 INC,Thanks for the input.I,am being OVER THE TOP,regaring this procedure.22 years ago I,went thru the whole 9 yards peeled sat out for 8 months washed too many times to remember Moister meter showed DRY.West System Copper powder et ect ect,Kept the boat for 22 years about every 4 to 6 years had a blister return most were in the epoxy not the hull.I,have learned that there are no 100 percent cures,heck I,may just sand off the loose paint and paint the more I,venture into it.I,know as you GelCoat offer no protection I,don't want to seal water in,What to DO is the question.Thanks
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Old 16-05-2012, 18:34   #9
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Re: Alcohol

The formulation of the gelcoat, the application, conditions under which it was applied, and the surface it is applied to are all factors that affect whether blisters will form. Blisters do not form spontaneously. The correct conditions need to exist.

I'm not denying gelcoat has pores and is subject to osmosis. That notion is already assumed. However, one of its goals is to inhibit osmosis; as resin is a poor moisture barrier.
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Old 16-05-2012, 18:57   #10
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Re: Alcohol

Well Casual, you've peaked my interest. We started using Interprotect for blister repair in 1980. It worked. but, we were also fans of WEST System epoxies so we did 2 with the system you described. One of those is still going strong, the other one came back with a few very small blisters which was not acceptable. We fixed them under warranty and took a good hard look at what happened. The small blisters were, as you said, in the epoxy, not the laminate. Long story short, the perfect one was done in the winter, the other was done in the summer heat (Florida). What happened was outgassing. As the layers of epoxy went on, each layer had some minor outgassing, forming pinholes. The pinholes "connected" and water ingress occurred resulting in the tiny blisters. So i'm curious- was yours also done in the summer? We went back to Interprotect and never had another problem. Most people probably won't believe this but those 25 year old blister jobs (the ones that we have been fortunate enough to keep track of) are still looking good. So it can be done but it has to be done BY THE BOOK. No exceptions.
Funny thing is, in the late seventies and early eighties everybody and their brother got into the blister business. They had no experience so they didn't know how much to charge. They all gave ten year warranties, lost money and went out of business! So much for blister warranties!
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Old 16-05-2012, 19:13   #11
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Re: Alcohol

I recall letting the boat sit on the hard to dry her out on her own in San Carlos, MX for about 3 weeks in a very dry climate worked well. As far as alcohol goes, I passed the 3 weeks in a little bar just up from the yard and treated myself to Patron and 1800 which made the 3 weeks pass like a flash. So I'm of the mind that alcohol, if it doesn't help the drying process, enhances the waiting time. Capt Phil
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Old 16-05-2012, 19:16   #12
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Re: Alcohol

That's a very good point Phil. In fact, over the years I've noticed that your method has been one of the most effective uses for alcohol where blisters are concerned!
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Old 16-05-2012, 19:38   #13
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Re: Alcohol

I wouldn't recommend smoking while using an alcohol sprayer. I might make a pretty impressive blow torch.
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Old 16-05-2012, 19:48   #14
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Re: Alcohol

Ive found over the years that Alcohol works with steel, and wood boats also !!! Good jamaican Dark Rum will fix most anything around a boat !! Just my 2 cents
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Old 16-05-2012, 21:45   #15
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Re: Alcohol

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiberglass1Inc View Post
Well Casual, you've peaked my interest. We started using Interprotect for blister repair in 1980. It worked. but, we were also fans of WEST System epoxies so we did 2 with the system you described. One of those is still going strong, the other one came back with a few very small blisters which was not acceptable. We fixed them under warranty and took a good hard look at what happened. The small blisters were, as you said, in the epoxy, not the laminate. Long story short, the perfect one was done in the winter, the other was done in the summer heat (Florida). What happened was outgassing. As the layers of epoxy went on, each layer had some minor outgassing, forming pinholes. The pinholes "connected" and water ingress occurred resulting in the tiny blisters. So i'm curious- was yours also done in the summer? We went back to Interprotect and never had another problem. Most people probably won't believe this but those 25 year old blister jobs (the ones that we have been fortunate enough to keep track of) are still looking good. So it can be done but it has to be done BY THE BOOK. No exceptions.
Funny thing is, in the late seventies and early eighties everybody and their brother got into the blister business. They had no experience so they didn't know how much to charge. They all gave ten year warranties, lost money and went out of business! So much for blister warranties!

We still give a ten year warranty. Have been doing it for over twenty years now. Nobody else does it anymore. We use a Hotvac and 2000E. Back in the day we did probably a couple of hundred WEST barrier coat jobs, before 2000 was available. We used all of the additives out there at one time or another. Conventional epoxy barrier coat just doesn't work anywhere near as well as 2000. To the OP, you need a moisture meter reading on your bottom paint free hull before you have any idea how long it will take to dry the hull. I have seen severe cases barely go down on the meter in six months with older methods like infrared radiant or god forbid just air drying with washdowns as mentioned here. But if you don't have a saturation problem it could be your yard guy is right. If you do have a problem the hotvac is the only really proffesional answer. Do a search on this site, this has been discussed here ad infinitum.
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