I OWN A 2007 GRADY WHITE WHICH IS USED IN FRESH WATER,WHEN THE BOAT WAS REMOVED FROM THE WATER THE BOTTOM AND SIDES BELOW THE WATER LINE WERE BLISTERED,DOES GRADY WHITE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THEIR GELCOAT.
GELCOAT BLISTERING
- Thread starter skycop
- Start date
Does your grady have a barrier coat?
If its only blistered on the bottom and sides below the waterline, then its not a "gelcoat problem", its water intrusion from osmosis and not the fault of the gelcoat. Gelcoat is porous and not impermeable to water.
Any boat left in the water for a period of time should have a barrier coat, which is impermeable.
My 1988 grady had blisters I discovered after soda blast a few years back. A 2007 seems awful new to be all blistered, but then if its been in the water for 3+ years w/o a barrier coat, that's what you get.
If its only blistered on the bottom and sides below the waterline, then its not a "gelcoat problem", its water intrusion from osmosis and not the fault of the gelcoat. Gelcoat is porous and not impermeable to water.
Any boat left in the water for a period of time should have a barrier coat, which is impermeable.
My 1988 grady had blisters I discovered after soda blast a few years back. A 2007 seems awful new to be all blistered, but then if its been in the water for 3+ years w/o a barrier coat, that's what you get.
It's not really a gel coat issue, that's just what it looks like because the swelling in the underlying fiberglass makes the gelcoat appear to blister outwards. You shouldn't have to barrier coat a modern fiberglass boat to avoid blistering. Boats that are 20 to 30 years old frequently have blister problems because manufacturers didn't understand what caused them. But most boat builders have long since switched over to vinlyester resins that resist osmotic blistering much better than older polyester resin fiberglass hulls did. I don't know what modern Grady hulls are made of (mine's a '78 model), but certainly by 2007, Grady should have been using vinylester resin. I would contact the Grady White manufacturer and ask them if your boat is covered by a hull warranty. If it's not and you have to deal with this yourself, you need to grind out the blisters, refill them, and then apply a barrier coat below the water line, and you need to do it sooner rather than later because the existing blisters will only get worse.
I never read a post on gelcoat blistering on a Grady here at GG.
If I'm wrong, then it reflects my memory.
On my Gradys, never seen one, and I'm at 18 yrs now in the Sailfish.
Nearly the end of season 10 as owner.
And it's not for sale! Wouldn't even sell it to Joey Weller!
If I'm wrong, then it reflects my memory.
On my Gradys, never seen one, and I'm at 18 yrs now in the Sailfish.
Nearly the end of season 10 as owner.
And it's not for sale! Wouldn't even sell it to Joey Weller!
All the replies are valid. Most individuals think that gelcoat is a non porous barrier. It is not. I have worked with fiberglass since my tour in the USCG in the early sixties. I will offer you this: Check for any thru hull fittings that may be leaking. Or maybe from the deck area through rod holders under the gunnels on the side of the boat. Blisters can come from moisture on the inside. However, I think that problem is that the boat sat in the water too long with out a barrier from the outside.
jtsailjt said:
Well said, for the prices that GW charges they absolutely should be using vinylester resin in the outside coat of their hulls and also warranty them against blisters. To get them on such a new boat is just unforgiveable. I don't believe GW warranties their boats against blisters, but I do know that Pursuit has enough confidence in their materials and workmanship that they do.
Blisters are a very serious problem and your boat's resale value has just been very seriously diminished. It is a rather involved and lengthy process to fix them because the entire outside layer of fiberglass has to literally be "skinned" off using a special shaver type tool. Then the hull has to be allowed to air dry for a long time ( month + ) before you glass it again.
This is an excellent test of GW's customer service because it's an expensive problem that they don't explicitly cover. If they take a hard line and say "sorry not covered" then shame on them. I hope for your sake they somehow step up and help you, believe me they've made enough money over the years that they've got it.
Please keep us informed on how this goes and best of luck to you.
Yeah..................., put a Pursuit or any other boat for that matter in the water for 2-3 weeks without epoxy barrier and/or bottom paint and tell me if you got blisters or not. Vinylester is NOT waterproof either, epoxy IS.
According to their website, its polyester resin gelcoat....VE would be a better choice....but even so, a 2007 shouln't do that...thats normally a long term osmosis issue......3 weeks is pretty fast.....that being said, why did it happen just now after 3 years??? Did you just buy the boat or did you own it for 3 years and this just started....?
Richie, i think the OP here is stirring the pot.........................., maybe not, pictures would be nice :mrgreen:
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS said:
I don't have an axe to grind about Pursuits or Grady's or Whalers or any other brand. I do own an old Grady though and like it a lot. I've also owned 2 fiberglass cruising sailboats and the second one that I owned, sailed, and lived on (Maine, Bahamas, Annapolis, Port Canaveral) for much of the 11 years I owned it, had some blistering issues that I had to deal with so I had cause to look into what causes it and how it's treated and/or prevented.
Epoxy is even better than Vinylester resin but nobody that I'm aware of builds hulls out of epoxy, and even if they did, it's pretty clear that Grady didn't build the OP's boat out of it or we wouldn't be having this discussion. Vinylester isn't necessarily the end all material for boat construction either, but it's a lot better at resisting blistering than polyester resin is. I can't swear it's never happened or couldn't happen, but I've never heard of a vinylester hulled boat with blistering problems.
My 270 Islander is a 2005 and I have an area that has blistered. When I spoke with Grady's Customer Service they stated that I should have had the Dealer apply a barrier coat to seal the hull and this is so stated in the Owners Manual. Dealer never suggested it and if it is in the Owners Manual I did not see it. Needless to say it was a disappointing conversation in that he was very explicit in stating that blistering IS NOT Grady's resopnsibility.
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS said:
Pretty silly point cause Pursuit warranties their boats against blistering and doubt they would if, as you said, blistered in 2-3 weeks !
SoutheastFL said:
If that is the case, then go ahead and leave your brand new Pursuit unpainted in the water for 3 weeks and then start your claim with them.
I have an '01 Advance 247 and it has a base coat and 3 or 4 coat of bottom paint and noticed this spring that there is blistering on the Starboard/Ste :cry: rn area.
GYP-SEA said:
a "base coat" is likely primer. Which is fine for boats on lifts or trailers, but a boat in the water should have a barrier coat.
I bought my boat used w/ multiple layers of hard epoxy bottom paint. After a few years I had it soda blasted which uncovered probably 2 dozen small blisters. Popped them, ground them out, let dry for a few weeks, epoxied, sanded, applied barrier coat (3-4 coats) and ablative paint (2-3 coats) and good to go.
Blisters from a lack of barrier coat should be widespread over the entire bottom up to the waterline. Blisters in one specific area likely mean water intrusion from a piece of hardware or thruhull or something else.
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS said:
NEM...he doesn't even own a Pursuit
My Grady is over 20 years old...had the hull sand blasted 2 years ago to remove old layers of bottom paint.....hull was perfect, never a blister, at a marina all its life.....put 5 coats of Interprotect on the hull.....I guess it will be another 20 years before I buy my Pursuit....
raiseBlistering is not something that automatically happens from lack of a barrier coat. Blistering is something that happens to certain kinds of inferior types of polyester fiberglass when left in the water for an extended period of time (especially in warm, fresh, water), but a barrier coat can make up for this weakness or defect in the material the hull is made of. In the greater boating community, there are many thousands of fiberglass boats that have spent many years in the water with no barrier coat and are not blistered. Their manufacturers do not recommend that everyone who buys a new boat barrier coat it before launching. Many manufacturers of fiberglass yachts have long term anti blister warranties even without any barrier coat.
Blisters begin as tiny voids in the fiberglass that water arrives in via osmosis. The water reacts with the surrounding fiberglass and makes an acidic liquid that continues to react and the tiny void grows to a larger void that is filled with this acidic mixture that smells a little like vinegar when you pop it. Left untreated, blisters will continue to grow until they make a hole all the way through the hull.
All that said, if I had a boat that I intended to keep in the water (especially warm, fresh, water) for an extended period of time, and it currently had no bottom paint on it so the job would be easy, I'd rough up the gelcoat and apply a barrier coat as a preventive measure. If the boat had not been barrier coated but had been bottom painted and been in the water for awhile and had no blisters, I wouldn't worry about it. If my boat had blisters and I intended to keep it in the water for awhile, I'd strip whatever was currently on the bottom, dig out and dry out and fill the blisters, barrier coat and then bottom paint it before relaunching. Once you apply a barrier coat, I'd steer clear of the old type epoxy bottom paints because these build up and eventually have to be ground or blasted off and it's pretty tough to do that without damaging the barrier coat. So, as someone above mentioned, ablative paints work pretty well and will allow your barrier to remain a barrier without poking holes in it every few years when you have your hull ground.
Blisters begin as tiny voids in the fiberglass that water arrives in via osmosis. The water reacts with the surrounding fiberglass and makes an acidic liquid that continues to react and the tiny void grows to a larger void that is filled with this acidic mixture that smells a little like vinegar when you pop it. Left untreated, blisters will continue to grow until they make a hole all the way through the hull.
All that said, if I had a boat that I intended to keep in the water (especially warm, fresh, water) for an extended period of time, and it currently had no bottom paint on it so the job would be easy, I'd rough up the gelcoat and apply a barrier coat as a preventive measure. If the boat had not been barrier coated but had been bottom painted and been in the water for awhile and had no blisters, I wouldn't worry about it. If my boat had blisters and I intended to keep it in the water for awhile, I'd strip whatever was currently on the bottom, dig out and dry out and fill the blisters, barrier coat and then bottom paint it before relaunching. Once you apply a barrier coat, I'd steer clear of the old type epoxy bottom paints because these build up and eventually have to be ground or blasted off and it's pretty tough to do that without damaging the barrier coat. So, as someone above mentioned, ablative paints work pretty well and will allow your barrier to remain a barrier without poking holes in it every few years when you have your hull ground.
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS said:
Where's your proof ??? You do realize how ridiculouos YOU are making yourself look by saying that don't you ?
richie rich said:NOTHING ELSE MATTERS said:
NEM...he doesn't even own a Pursuit
My Grady is over 20 years old...had the hull sand blasted 2 years ago to remove old layers of bottom paint.....hull was perfect, never a blister, at a marina all its life.....put 5 coats of Interprotect on the hull.....I guess it will be another 20 years before I buy my Pursuit....
I own a couple of boats, how do you know what I have ?