1992 Astro Restoration

[Cadwelder]

I've read several articles on the net about this, but can't decide if it a "just leave it alone" or "need to repair it". I did pop one the the bubbles and there was nothing inside of it. Most the articles I read said there would be liquid in there, but it's dry. What do the iboat experts think? http://forums.iboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=75120&d=1292598480

 

[1fishbone]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Some have water/liquid some don't!
The water may have evaporated...either from the back side or the bubble cracked and let the water out.

Look REAL close, is it a bubble or a 'fish eye'?
Fish eyes are contaminates and can happen when painting and expand over time.
A fish eye looks like a circle within a circle.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Definitely not fish eye, I've seen that plenty of times. I'm sure the boat was docked on the water for several years of it's life. The guy I bought it from didn't know. It's been in his garage for over a year. It's got a 150 Merc also a '92, I took it to the lake before buying and she ran fantastic so I'm sure I'm not hurt with the $800.00 I paid for it. Just not sure what to do with the blistering. The deck is rotten but I knew that when I bought it. I can handle that part fine, done several, I'm just starting from the bottom up.

 

[1fishbone]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

That sounds like a good deal!

I've seen rotten wood or water soaked foam allow moisture to 'seep or wick' into the fiberglass and cause blisters in the paint.

I've also seen bubbles appear around rub rails, windshield frames, hand rails etc, where someone painted a boat but didn't remove everything...they just taped around it.

Hard to guess...just plan on sanding and painting it!

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Now that could be it, since the foam under the deck is SOAKED to the point of dripping when removed, but I'd like to get the hull done first so I can build the cradles and flip back over for the stringer/ deck replacement, that way I don't have to flip it twice. (I have to round up 6 guys and a case of beer each time I flip it over, LOL)

But still have the first question of should fix them or just leave them alone?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

You really should fix any blistering ...

I cant look at your link for pics..do you have any more ? ( Says Invalid pic thingy..).

Could be in the gel..or could be in Paint. ( paint is more prone to blistering..but not uncommon for gel to blister if there is unmixed resin in the layups of glass. Poly blisters will happen when uncured resin mixes with water .

Have some postable pics .

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I posted the picture once, but somehow didn't show up the next day. Lets see how this works.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Is this Xray or something on the pics ? ..

Cant tell a darn thing with that pic..got an overall pic of the area(s).

Looks like it could be gel spattering..or some blistering..

If its blistering..you would have to grind/fill/fair and coat the areas(s).

I cant really tell from the Sepia ? pics ? overall pics again would be helpfull..

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Hopefully these pictures are better. It's not Sepia, it's just a grey gelcoat. This is the bottom of the hull. I popped a couple of the blister so you could see underneath.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

That sure does look like paint and not Gel ..

1. Does not look thick enough
2. Too much texture in the finish ( like paint orange peel )

How far in quality/$ do you want to go with this ? Do you just want to kinda fix it up and seal it ?

The blisters have to go..if its paint then you can probably sand the pant off/prime and paint.

If its gel then you might just dremel out every blister/fill/Re-Gel or Prime and Paint.

You have some options on your final coating if its gel...if its paint then your stuck with paint.

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Thanks, YD, it's defiintely gelcoat and not paint. The chips that have come up expose the substrate laminate. I do want to fix it properly, not big into "just patch it up" I only have $800 in the whole rig so spending some bucks isn't a problem.

Now as far as grinding out each blister, there are hundreds of them, would I be better off to DA through them all and fill back with epoxy and then prime and paint? Or fill back with gelcoat, then prime and paint.

Looks like a total repair and paint is the only option left here, right?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

If you want to DA basically All the Gel off to the glass ( to get all the blisters out ) then you would want to Epoxy coat the raw glass/prep/prime and paint.

Or you could grind out hundreds of little blisters .. fill them with a resin/cabosil mix..fair/prep/prime and paint.

OR..you could fix the blisters and blow some gelcoat on it. ( My personal favorite ).

Options options...

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Well, if your favorite is the gelcoat then gelcoat it is. Fill the chips with epoxy resin mix, sand smooth. Spray the gelcoat, wet sand and buff, buff, buff. I've worked with gelcoat a few times. Even actually sprayed it in a mold once, years ago (but the gun and pressures were already adjusted for me by the real gelcoat guy).

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

If anyone is intrested, here's picture of the bracing I built for the deck / stringer replacments...

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Nice...

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Well, if your favorite is the gelcoat then gelcoat it is. Fill the chips with epoxy resin mix, sand smooth. Spray the gelcoat, wet sand and buff, buff, buff. I've worked with gelcoat a few times. Even actually sprayed it in a mold once, years ago (but the gun and pressures were already adjusted for me by the real gelcoat guy).

Sorry..missed this one.. NO dont fill the chips with epoxy resin mix .. just use plane ol poly..

Nice rig for the cradle ..

YD.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

You have several options and none are guaranteed to be permanent, well one has a much better chance of holding up.

Sounds like you've looked into the problem and have an idea of what caused it, the problem is if there?s any water still in the laminate when you re-coat it its possible for them to return.

Just sanding off the gel coat and filling the pits then re-gel coating may hold up for a little while, but the blisters can return fairly easily because gel coat isn't a great moisture barrier and this is how water got to the laminate in the first place. Using epoxy to re-coat it works better, but can still fail.

The most reliable way to fix it and prevent the return is to grind off all of the gel coat and any blistered laminate, then dry the hull as much as possible, this can take months. Then you rebuild the surface with a layer of glass and epoxy, then fair the hull with epoxy and paint it. This creates a good waterproof (well, resistant) barrier to protect the laminate.

How you fix it is up to you and how you plan to use the boat.

You can do nothing and use it like it is, it may or may not get worse (could even look better during long periods of non use) and when its in the water only you and the fish know the blisters are there.

You can sand them off (and all of the gel coat) and re-gel coat it. This will be a good deal of work and may last, you just don?t know for how long though.

Sand them off and use several layers of epoxy to seal the hull then paint it. This will take about the same amount of time and money as using gel coat, but has a much better chance of holding up.

Grind them all off, dry the hull as much as possible and then re-glass with epoxy, this has best chance of success.

If it were me I would either leave it as is, saving the time and money for doing something else like boating or fishing. Or sand them off, dry the hull, then seal it with epoxy, then fair and paint it. I wouldn?t bother with gel coat, or the re-glass with epoxy, just gel coat doesn?t have a good enough chance of success for the effort and money, and re-glassing with epoxy is over kill for a low cost trailer boat.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

These two inside stringers are made of 1/2' plywood, the rest are 3/4". Would you go back with 3/4" or leave them as 1/2". I have plenty of each size wood I can use.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Imo.. 3/4"

yd.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Cool 3/4" it will be. Now another question, the factory I worked it built the entire stringer system in a jig and then placed it in the hull and glassed it in. (stapled together with an air gun). They did not use any type of bedding material between the stringers and the hull, it was just set into place, measured a bit and glassed in. I was able to get good patterns off the old stringers from this boat so the shape should be good. Do I need to use the PL (or somthing simliar) to prevent hull contact? I haven't in the past, but not being a pro I went by the way I have seen it done.

After reading some of the posts about "hard spots" in got me thinking.