gel coat blisters

[Sandrak]

We have a 31ft. sports fisher that we purchased 2yrs. ago. We now have the boat in our yard on stands so we can do some repairs. A couple of months ago we decided to remove the bottom paint so we could repaint. We have been using a soy based stripper and then sanding off the excess with 80 grit paper. Much to my surprise was all the previous blisters. There is a repaired blister every couple of feet. I have only seen a couple of new ones. The previous owners didn't mention any of the blisters. Since there are that many repaired blisters, should we be concerned for the boat? How many blisters are TOO many blisters? Also, will the soy stripper weaken the repaired blisters? If I would have known about the blisters, I don't think we would have bought the boat in the first place!

[JRL]

I dont believe that the hot spots will cause your whole boat to delaminate. It will just cost you money, like it already is. Im sure the more experienced guys can fill you in more though.

Sounds like they sprayed your boat with a chopper gun that had a faulty catylist "o" ring. If one drop of MEKP drops onto they layup while its still wet it will cause proplems. Either immediately, or, down the road. Either that or the layup guys did a really crappy job on the first layer of mat.

[jimslade]

You have a simple blister problem due to polyester resin gelcoat. Very common in older boats that have spent their life in the water. Sand down the bottom and fill any active blisters with an epoxy filler. Make sure the blisters and laminate is well dried out. Put on an epoxy primer than a good bottom paint. Time to go boating. Blisters will rarely affect the laminate unless they have gone unrepaired for many years.

[Sandrak]

Thank you JRL and jimslade for the info. I feel better knowing that the blisters can be repaired without troubles. Now we have to go to work repairing so we can go fishing! Thanks!

[the1much]

whats wrong with blisters?,, they keep us repair dudes in work,,,haha, you should also try tapping on the blisters ( kinda easy) with a metal whatever,,something that you can tap with and "hear" any hollow sounds,, just to make sure, whoever repaired it did it right and got the whole blister takin care of, and any new ones make sure you get the whole air pocket dealt with saves the tapping next time she's dry