Blister in hull

[Jedi]

 

So when I purchased this boat 2 years ago. It had some blister on the lower half of the hull and transom. 94 penn yan contender. When googled it at first it said penn yan had some type of defect/issue when they gel coated there boat that year 🤣[emoji23]🤣 So purchaser the boat and was told to keep an eye on it. To me the bubble seem to be getting worse. So .... now I’m looking for recommendations on someone to look at it for repair if possibly.

I live In Saratoga springs. But willing to go where ever someone who has experience !

And I know can’t tell till look at the hull & extent of damage. But kind of ball park estimate. 🤣

 

[MCF]

Is the boat kept in the water or on the trailer?  Reason for the question is that in the 1980's especially a lot of boats kept in the water with no bottom paint developed gelcoat blisters.  Correction to that at the time was repair/fill/sand the areas that were really bad and barrier coat/paint the bottom of the boat. 

[Bozeman Bob]

More of a cosmetic thing . You have solid glass under the gel coat so water intrusion into a core is not a issue. Pretty much have to do what MCF mentioned . Those little blisters may grow in numbers over time. Depends on how much time ,effort and money you want to put into a 26 soon to be 27 year old hull. Either open up the big one and have a auto paint shop blend it in and they probably could repair it at a reasonable cost or live with it , can't see it from inside the boat !  The small ones would be a bigger PITA than I would want to deal with.

[Jedi]

Thank you ..... I can live with it. Don’t really want to put a lot of money into something I know I’m not going to get back. Was talking with a friend and said the same thing. Paint the bottom and call it a day.


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[Gill-T]

Remove the blister and fill with Marine-Tex putty before you bottom coat with paint.  

[lrg355]

Blisters are caused by osmosis which is the water seeping through the gelcoat. Had a few boats that did that because the gelcoat is not completely non porous. Happens mostly if boat is at a slip all season. Newer boats went to forms of vinylester topcoat which is much better but its drawback is that it is very brittle and cracks easily. I had seen a marina up near Chaumont Bay that bottom coats boats with a very heavy coat of black material that looked similar to truck bed liner but with a glossy finish. Seemed to be about 1/8 thick. If I were looking for a bottom coat that would be the one. Cant remember the name of the marina, but Martin's sort of rings a bell.

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[AnglingAddict]

Bottom paint isn't going to keep blisters from coming back - need to barrier coat it with an epoxy barrier coat and then bottom paint in my opinion....

[tailgunner]

Angling Addict is spot on . Bottom paint is there to prevent aquatic growth on the hull. A barrier coat of epoxy is what you need. 

   I had exactly the same problem on a Seaswirl WAC that I kept in a slip. I went to a fiberglas guy in the marina that came highly recommended. He sanded the blisters and used an epoxy barrier coat, which is like forever. Then if you desire , you can bottom paint to retard growth. Not cheap, but a permanent solution.