Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

[vwbugman69]

These bubbles have been bothering me ever since I bought the boat 1-1/2 years ago.

When I purchased the boat, I did not see any of these. Only after I went on vacation and the boat sat in the water for a week did I notice them, and they are all along the chines (correct word?) and strakes on both sides of the boat. As can be seen in one of the pictures, on the port side some have actually popped.







So what am I looking at here? Is this difficult to fix? Is is worth fixing at all? Thank you for all your input!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

Google fiberglass hull blisters

 

[gm280]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

Looks like the elements have penatrated the finish. IS that a problem? I serious don't know, but the only way I see to get rid of them is to sand the haul down properly and refinish it correctly...JMHO!

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

Google fiberglass hull blisters

Seriously ?? Thats it ?

Wow .. no wonder Iboats resto forum is going to the tanks !

It could be paint .. but that kind of popping might be related to a 'form' problem ?

Its Too patterned to be a mistake. I suggest it is paint and problems with the adhesion ..its popping off.

YD.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

There is a reason for that pattern, I can't explain from the Phone.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

YD: It was a reply

It was late, it could be hull blisters, it's hard to tell via a few pix conclusively w/out more input/details.

No argument it could be paint, but I though most would recognize paint blisters, few 'know' what a hull blister in (under?) the gelcoat is.............

If the OP disagrees w/ it being hull blisters, they may ignore the post. As you are certainly free to do as well.

Interesting comment on the forum though..... BTW: Not as in interesting = good

VW: YD & Ondarvr should be able to assist you get it handled either way.............

Ondarvr: looking forward to a more detailed post.

Hope you are able to get the bubbles resolved & looking great on & off the water soon.

Have a great weekend all, its nice outside over this way............

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

Strakes are frequently done a little differently than the rest of the hull. Since they take more time to roll the air out due to their shape than the flat surface on the rest of the hull sometimes they chop a layer in them and then use putty and/or some type of shaped form to fill the valley and make it level with the surrounding surface. This makes the next set of layups easier to lay down and roll out. It?s done to help eliminate problems and can work well, but like any other procedure it needs to be correctly, even if they don?t use this method almost the same thing can happen though.

Possible reasons.

The Bond between gel coat and putty is not as good as it is between gel coat and resin, so if putty is used directly on the gel coat it can fail at the bond line. Look for a very thick color layer before you get to glass, there may be two different colors, the putty will be behind the gel coat. In some pics it looks like the gel coat (color layer) is very thick.

Gel coat to gel coat bonds can be poor too. If there are thin areas after gel coating, and there often is, they will mix up some gel coat and paint the thin spots. This is fine most of the time, but to speed things up poorly trained workers may over catalyze the gel coat so they can start production sooner, the over catalyzed layer becomes the weak link.

Stray ends of roving or even chop. If they did a poor job of rolling out the edges there can be strands that stick up, when this happens, and it does frequently, they sand them down a little so the air can be rolled out when the next layer is applied. If the roving is stiff sometimes the ends can be a bugger. Or, air can be trapped under the stray strands at the edges and not noticed. This would explain why some are almost in a perfect line. When you dig out a bubble you may see a roving end causing the bubble, this would likely be in the ones in a line.

Sloppy rolling. The guy doing this part of the rolling may have just done a poor job of getting the air out. The bubbles would be random in size and shape with no apparent cause.

I left out normal hull blisters because these appear to be confined to just these locations.

From 2,800 miles away it can be tough to tell the exact reason, but you may be able to pick at it a little more and see what you find.

 

[Robert D]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

Yes, a tough one to diagnose without seeing it in person. Depending on the boat......meaning if it isn't a $50,000 machine......personally, I would sand the area's down and see what you have going on. Could be just surface defects, or actual issues in the glass. In either case, I would simply sand it down, fill with a thickened epoxy mixture, sand again, and do an epoxy bottom paint. Should be good for years and years at that point. In the event you discover serious delamination under there, then I would sand/grind down all delaminated area's, re-glass it using epoxy and, and do the epoxy bottom paint. In addition, I would access it inside the hull and glass the inside as well, if you are dealing with large area's of removed delaminated glass.

I generally try to avoid bottom paint on a boat that isn't moored for the season, and lean towards repairing gouges and such with glass and then gel coat......but for such a large area, it may be less work and more affordable to do a repair and coat the bottom with a paint. I recently did the bottom of a '72 Chris Craft that the prior owner left some deep scratches and gouges in the keel. Several were 3 feet long. I tried a 'new-to-me' product from a company named 'Top Secret Coatings'....just Google them....and have been quite impressed with the paint I used. Looks absolutely gorgeous by just rolling and tipping it on. Rated for use below the waterline, not a bottom paint to prevent marine growth......came out looking like factory new gel coat. (The boat is a trailer queen, not moored for any length of time, I was more interested in it looking good.....and I got more than I asked for.)

If it's a $50,000 boat that you want to keep factory 'correct'......the proper repair will be a lot of work, depending what you find when you sand down......but if this is your average family weekend play/fishing machine......go for the epoxy, do the inside if it's a large area being removed, and bottom paint it.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

I think this was an add-on mod..

Its NOT simple blistering .. and its not Rivets ( aside from possible mold adds ).

You would be better off sanding/grinding/filling .. spray gel and finish the repairs.

I dont know for sure why you have this .. but I can suggest that you gel the repair areas.

YD.

 

[Robert D]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

This almost looks like it's the whole length of the boat? Sounds like a lot of work with gel coating....working at an awkward angle for a couple hours. I can't tell from the pics if that is gel coat or paint. Sure looks more like a paint issue, though????

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Are these Bubbles on my Hull a Problem?

Looks like gel to me mate ..

YD.