Blister repair/ drying hull time

[appick]

So we are looking to purchase a larger boat. We've found one but it needs a blister job done to it. It has many small pinhead size blisters over large areas. Then there are a few hundred small dime sized blisters interspersed around the hull. The boat needs some other repairs as well, bulkhead is rotted due to leaking deck fitting. So bulkhead replaced and rebed of all the deck hardware.

My question is, with the hull having been out of the water for just about 5 years now would it be dry enough for a blister repair job? It hasn't had the gelcoat stripped or the VC17 taken off. The bilges are dry now but at one point someone left a salon hatch open and it had a foot of water in the bilge. That was 2 years ago and it was pumped out as soon as it was noticed.

There are 6 cowl vents so the inside appears to be well ventilated. The boat has a solid non cored hull built in 1971. The manufacturer is supposed to be known as a good quality builder, and was designed by a good naval architect. I'd rather not say the make and model as we don't own it yet.

I'm considering buying a moisture meter but I know the measurements they read out can be highly subjective.

[CS Cruiser]

Been there done that, best thing you could do is remove the VC17 and any layers of epoxy bottom coat, and gel coat to get down to the surface mat, gouge out the blisters down to clean material, much info on how to do this here and on the net, let it dry out over the winter, the dry cold winter air will help tremendously once the above has been done, if above coatings not removed, not sure how effective the drying out process would be even if it's been on the hard for as many years as you stated.
I'm assuming your in the northern climate from your avatar info.
A lot of work but can be done and is very rewarding in the end.

[Seymore]

Originally Posted by appick

So we are looking to purchase a larger boat. We've found one but it needs a blister job done to it. It has many small pinhead size blisters over large areas. Then there are a few hundred small dime sized blisters interspersed around the hull.
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The boat has a solid non cored hull built in 1971. The manufacturer is supposed to be known as a good quality builder, and was designed by a good naval architect.
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I'm considering buying a moisture meter but I know the measurements they read out can be highly subjective.

You've described pox, which is harmless.

There's pox and there's osmosis. Pox is dime sized blisters on top of the gelcoat, in or under the bottom paint.

Osmosis is the serious stuff, blisters inches across and larger, under the gelcoat, in the layup.

With a coin, scrape a few of the blisters away. If the gelcoat is sound underneath, it's pox and it's a nothing. Just routinely sand the tops of the blisters off (don't disturb the gelcoat) and apply new paint.

To check for osmosis, tap the hull with a small wooden mallet. Pox and osmosis sound like a paperback book. Sound hull goes tok, tok, tok.

Another thing that tells you it's just pox is the boat was built in 1971. Osmosis got serious in the late 70s.

It's my bitter experience that tradesmen, yard operators and paint manufacturers will tell you that you have to peel the hull for pox. It's not true.