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RaySea Lady · 23-02-2012, 18:57

Hi,

Would anyone know the hull construction type of a Bluewater.

The factory is closed so getting specs is impossible.

My boat is currently in a heated warehouse and my marina guy tells me that he put a guage on the hull and it indicates that I have moisture in my hull, primarilly under the waterline.

He says it's not dangerous but he really is not sure since he does not know how the hull is constructed for this boat.

Anyone out there who can help with this?

Nicholson58 · 23-02-2012, 19:16

Meters are a good indicator to look harder. I suggest you also check the same wet areas from inside. I have found deck areas on our boat that read wet outside and dry inside - a function of the finishing compounds in the non-skid. Does you boat have a barrier coat? Interprotect 2000E is often used to keep water out of permiable hull laminates.

Cheechako · 23-02-2012, 19:20

Meters are a great way of drumming up business! How long has it been stored?

RaySea Lady · 24-02-2012, 03:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Meters are a great way of drumming up business! How long has it been stored?

You are absolutely correct with the drumming up business comment,. That is why I am asking for help here because I don't know enough about it.

What are the dangers if I don't do anything about this??

He did check it with a meter, it was reading halfway up the scale in most areas. He was reading just on the hull below the water line on top of the bottom coat. never checked on the inside of the hull.

My boat is a 2001, it spent the first 6 years in charleston area where it was in the water all year. I got in in 2007 and brought it up to the Great lakes where it is basically 6 months in the water and 6 months in a heated warehouse every year since then.

Blue Stocking · 24-02-2012, 04:24

Not a heavily built boat, but great for cruising protected areas. Worked on a few of them and have seen hurricane damage repairs. IIRC, about 1/2 bottoms, 1/4 to 3/8 topsides.
Solid glass, no core I can recall.

RaySea Lady · 24-02-2012, 04:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

Not a heavily built boat, but great for cruising protected areas. Worked on a few of them and have seen hurricane damage repairs. IIRC, about 1/2 bottoms, 1/4 to 3/8 topsides.
Solid glass, no core I can recall.

Hi, if it is solid glass, can that absorb moisture? I thought there had to be some type of a wood/balsa/other core to absorb moisture???

psneeld · 24-02-2012, 05:05

Nope...all resin absorbs water... just ground at least one layer of mat and all of the paint and gel coat on my 1988 trawler.

My boat lived in Florida waters all year round since 1988 and the resin hydrolized (sp?) so bad, the bottom was saturated all over the place. In many places I can rip off large strips of mat and even roving by hand. Blisters msay or may NOT be present to have severe hydrolysis.

Granted I think there may have been issues with this boat all along, since 1988 ......owners, yards and surveyors had their butts up their heads letting it get this bad.

So no matter what anyone tells you...unless you grind off sections of gel coat and into the laminates...you never really know what is going on....yes meters tell of moisture and hammers tell of delamination...but there is no easy way of telling hydrolysis untill you look for it.

Don't believe me??? Do some research on hydrolysis...especially in the composite tank and piping business...not the marine industry because it seems to be 20 years behind the world in most cases anyway.

Either way good luck...it's your boat so like doctors, lawyers and tax guys...get WAY more than one opinion these days.

Duke 48 · 24-02-2012, 06:03

Before I repair the blisters that show up on my boat, I seal the opened blister area with plastic; usually this is a piece of zip lock bag taped in place. I check the area after a few days to see if there is any sign of moisture on the hull side of the plastic. Maybe you can use something similar to see for yourself if there is any moisture in the laminate.

psneeld · 24-02-2012, 07:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke 48

Before I repair the blisters that show up on my boat, I seal the opened blister area with plastic; usually this is a piece of zip lock bag taped in place. I check the area after a few days to see if there is any sign of moisture on the hull side of the plastic. Maybe you can use something similar to see for yourself if there is any moisture in the laminate.

not sure thats very accurate unless you strip the gel or leave the plastic on for weeks, maybe months. I had water in blisters just 1/4 inch away from ground areas and only a layer of mat over them and it appeared dry...while gel allows water to pass through slowly...not taking the gel off or grinding into wet areas can slow the drying process down from a few weeks to years without vacuum and heat.

RaySea Lady · 24-02-2012, 07:44

There were no blisters on the outside or bottom of the hull that we could see...

psneeld · 24-02-2012, 08:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaySea Lady

There were no blisters on the outside or bottom of the hull that we could see...

doesn't matter...read up...blisters may or ay NOT be present even though hydrolysis is occurring.

Based on your boat age...and no blisters..I doubt anything serious is going on.

But before I left it in the water all year...year after year... I would pull her, peel the gel coat (useless anyhow and impedes drying), let her dry for several months minimum and add back a good barrier coat.

But that's me and plenty of others will say don't worry...they are also the ones that haven't spent one minute on their back grinding...let alone over a months worth. Plus they haven't read their junk mail let alone hundreds of articles on hydrolysis of composites.

Cheechako · 24-02-2012, 09:06

Your boat is pretty new to be getting saturated. How long will it be stored? You could scrape or sand a small area maybe 4" x 4" removing the bottom paint down to bare gel coat. Let it sit a month. Then test with the meter. It certainly is not a bad idea to strip the whole boat bottom of paint and have epoxy resin (not epoxy primer) applied to avoid future concerns, but that is a big expensive job on your boat, and, how much time do you have to let it dry out? If no blisters now, maybe just keep an eye on it each time you haul for blisters? As noted above, most materials absorb some moisture, even raw steel! Testing a boat shortly after haul out with a meter is not a fair test. Wait until the boat dries out well.

RaySea Lady · 24-02-2012, 13:35

The boat has been in a heated warehouse since late october 2011, should be dry by now.

Here is what I just got from my marina for a plan of attack which sounds reasonable to me:

" We should sand off a few spots of the paint and repeat moisture meter readings, if still high then go further, perhaps there is an epoxy barrier coat that is making the meter read high.
If we do this we will know more, if still high we need to go the next step which would be sand in to the gelcoat to the substrate, check readings. The point to this is to determine
if the moisture is in the paint, or the gelcoat.

If it still reads high I would say we might want to call in a surveyor I know to go a little further, he could do a full hull survey, but just the bottom.

Note: No I do not see blisters and they are an obvious sign of moisture, .. it is also possible there were blisters when the boat came out of the water and have dissipated from sitting in heated storage out of the water. "

RaySea Lady · 24-02-2012, 13:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Your boat is pretty new to be getting saturated. How long will it be stored? You could scrape or sand a small area maybe 4" x 4" removing the bottom paint down to bare gel coat. Let it sit a month. Then test with the meter. It certainly is not a bad idea to strip the whole boat bottom of paint and have epoxy resin (not epoxy primer) applied to avoid future concerns, but that is a big expensive job on your boat, and, how much time do you have to let it dry out? If no blisters now, maybe just keep an eye on it each time you haul for blisters? As noted above, most materials absorb some moisture, even raw steel! Testing a boat shortly after haul out with a meter is not a fair test. Wait until the boat dries out well.

Looks like you had the right idea. Thanks.

I will keep you posted as things develop.