Edmund,
I do not know whether the Fountaine Pajots have osmosis problems. Fibreglass polyester (or vinylesters) can absorb humidity, how severe this is depends on materials and process but also on water temperature, and also on exposure: how long does your ship go out of the water eg in winter.
Preventing of a potential problem can of course be done by applying a number of anti-osmosis epoxy layers. Maybe you could negotiate with Fountaine Pajot that your ship is initially delivered to you out of the water; then you apply a number of layers of epoxy and anti-fouling yourself; then Fountaine Pajot launches the ship and mounts the rigging and sails and does the regular in-water checks. You would have to live a number of days in La Rochelle, in a hotel or camper or in your ship.
I applied epoxy and coppercoat antifouling after removing the standard soft antifouling from Fountaine Pajot. Removal was a terrible job.
The above is what I would try to do.
Edmund,
I do not know whether the Fountaine Pajots have osmosis problems. Fibreglass polyester (or vinylesters) can absorb humidity, how severe this is depends on materials and process but also on water temperature, and also on exposure: how long does your ship go out of the water eg in winter.
Preventing of a potential problem can of course be done by applying a number of anti-osmosis epoxy layers. Maybe you could negotiate with Fountaine Pajot that your ship is initially delivered to you out of the water; then you apply a number of layers of epoxy and anti-fouling yourself; then Fountaine Pajot launches the ship and mounts the rigging and sails and does the regular in-water checks. You would have to live a number of days in La Rochelle, in a hotel or camper or in your ship.
I applied epoxy and coppercoat antifouling after removing the standard soft antifouling from Fountaine Pajot. Removal was a terrible job.
The above is what I would try to do.
Thanks again for your input, Jef.
In my offer, FP states that my boat is to be delivered with "Antifouling w/Epoxy primer". Are you saying they supply a bad epoxy primer, or have FP now changed from normal primer to epoxyprimer?
I have never heard of actual osmosis on a 4 year old boat, neither on a 10 year old. Developing osmosis in a GRP hull is a slow process that normally takes decades, the speed of development however is influenced by several factors.
In Norway the general idea is that osmosis may be found in +20 year old boats, and the major factor is bad workmanship in building the hull. You would rarely find osmosis on our Scandinavian built boats who are built by professionals, even 30-40 years old. At least thats what we like to think.
But I have no idea how this is in your warm waters.
I can't imagine that the blisters found on some Mahe's really is osmosis. I'd rather think it has something to do with the way of production - that they are "produced" with blisters?
It's normally easy to determine: Real osmosis blisters contain an acid-like, smelly fluid. If they are dry or contain pure water, it's not osmosis, but some other kind of fault or damage.
Some Lavezzi models had osmosis which appeared after 2 years - 3 boats in my area have had the problem which was subsequently fixed by FP under warranty. Osmosis is particularly a problem in warm tropical waters where the boats are in the water year round and there is also high ambient humidity. Pop one of the blisters and if the fluid smells like vinegar then it's an osmotic blister.
The 'epoxy primer' which manufacturers use is simply Interprotect (or something similar) which is a sprayed on epoxy primer used prior to antifouling. Barrier coats (by West and International) are epoxy coats applied before the epoxy primer and have some usefulness. The real solution would be to build with vinylester which doesn't react with water to produce osmotic blisters.
I still find it hard to believe that this was the ordinarie osmosis, which will occur on any GRP boat sooner or later. There must have been som kind of error done during production at FP to give osmosis so quickly?
If not, this should happen pretty quick to any new boat lying in warmer waters, and I guess that is not the fact.
The surveyor and the FP agreed it was osmosis and FP paid to have it fixed under warranty. So it is osmosis. And it happens to more boats than you'd imagine in tropical waters.
Osmosis is simply a chemical reaction between uncured resin and water. I suspect every single boat built with polyester has pockets of uncured resin to some degree. So, if you sit them in tropical water year round there is a strong likelihood that ultimately there will be some degree of osmotic reaction. In my last boat, there was no evidence until the hull was 10 years old and even then it was just very small 'pimples'. My Lavezzi had about a dozen very shallow blisters which were easily repaired.
If your boat is in Norway I imagine that the cold water and the fact that you sit her on the hard in winter will dry the hull sufficiently that you're unlikely to experience any problems for a long time.
However in tropical waters it seems to affect most boats eventually. The good news is that it isn't structural nor is it the end of the world! I take the view that it's just a fact of life which makes slightly more work to keep the hull in good condition. It's still better than chasing rust on a steel hull or rot on a wood hull!
We Bottom Painted the Sugar Scoops because we were tired of cleaning the algae off the lip. Probably not a problem on the Mahe's with 20 HP engines alone, but with the 30 HP or a Generator in the engine room
And no water in the forward water tanks our Mahe rides stern low. If we fill both water tanks she levels out. We tend to ride with low water tanks so the stern rides low and algae gets on the Sugar Scoop lip.
With the bottom paint this should not be a problem any more.
Location: Sydney, Australia, Cruising Greece in the summer.
Boat: FP Lucia 40, Hull #22
Posts: 467
Painting the scoops
Good idea Mark and so obvious!
I will do the same I think although it may scuff off on the edge.
I have the standard 20Hp motors but by the time you have a tender plus outboard plus liferaft plus ... all in the stern my starboard hull also sits a bit low.
Here is what your keels would look like if you had them removed.
Mark Cole sent us these great pictures from when he was in a boatyard in Martinique recently and came across a FP cat with the keels removed.
He thinks it was an Athena 38, but it might have been a Venezia 42.
Of course these keels are just bedded in with a strong silicon and are made to break away with a strong collision with a container or log, but not cause a leak in the hull.
The keel to hull attachment is a key element of catamaransafety and has been patented by Fountaine Pajot. No other catamaran manufacturer can offer this protection. For safety reasons, the fins are completely separate from the hulls, a feature which preserves and protects the water tightness of the vessel in the event of a violent impact. Unlike other builders who laminate and bolt their keels – which in case of a collision could rip out the bottom of the hulls, Fountaine Pajot connects them in a watertight cavity that is integrally moulded to the hulls. In addition to this safety system, if a keel is damaged, it makes them easier to repair or replace and normally takes less than several hours.
I had a few small areas of the deck that had FP non-skid deck bumps chipped off.
I fixed them with the FP factory epoxy and hardener that was given to us with the boat.
Takes about 45 minutes to fix them.
Items you would need
1) Acetone to clean areas and a clean white rag to apply it with
2) FP Exterior Gel Coat and Hardener
3) PVA Mold Release or Barrier film and an eye dropper or spray bottle to apply it with
4) Small syringe to apple a small uniform bead of Gel Coat
5) Wooden popsicle sticks for mixing gel coat and hardener
6) One foot square piece of cardboard to mix the gel coat and hardener on.
7) Surgical gloves to protect your hands
Process to fill the non-skid deck bumps
1) Put on your surgical gloves
2) Clean area you want to do with Acetone on a clean white rag
3) Mix ½ teaspoon and 1 drop of hardener thoroughly on the cardboard with a popsicle stick
4) Put catalyze (mixed gel coat and hardener) into Small syringe
5) With the syringe. Start filling the missing non-skid deck bumps
6) With an eye dropper or spray bottle. Put a bit of PVA mold release over all areas of gel coat you put on. Do this as you go so you do not miss any and so you can see where you have been.
Note: Gel coat is designed to be a laminate which will remain tacky unless air is inhibited from coming in contact with curing gel coat. This is why we put on PVA mold release.
Mark, Thanks. We have about 20 anti-skids missing. We were planning to fix this, but didn't know about the air inhibitor.
At delivery these missing ribs were fixed by FP, but this did not last, probably insufficient cleaner. Also it would be good to roughen the surface using a small glass-fibre brush, to prevent them breaking out again.
Jef