Pockmarks on hull

[silverbranch]

Hi all,
I just recently bought an old boat (1972 Westerly Cirrus) that's been in the water for an unkown number of years. The last documented haulout in the paperwork was 2003. There were some huge barnacles so that's probably right. It's in the lower Potomac River and the water is fairly salty.

Anyway, after the scraping and powerwashing there are a lot of chips/pockmarks in the gelcoat, mostly at the waterline, although there are some both above and below. It doesn't seem like 'normal' blisters as they don't go through the gelcoat, and also because if they were blisters there are no intact ones. Any ideas on what causes this?





http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1258038363

Thanks

[deniseO30]

Looks like gel coat blisters that popped from freezing. Not a bad thing I'd guess.

[CrazyRu]

Could it be barnacles?
They have "roots', attachment points, which are very hard to remove, even after barnacle scrapped...

[silverbranch]

Thanks for the replies. I had not thought of the freezing idea.... I did wonder if it was the barnacles/growth but didn't know if they had the ability to do damage like that. Ah well.....

[mussejl]

I took a look at your picture and I have the same problem with my Boston Whaler. I'm trying to figure out the best way to repair it. I believe it has to do with barnacle growth rather than freezing as I am in the Gulf Coast region and I don't believe the boat has ever been exposed to freezing temperatures. Keep me updated on what you do. Thanks!

[celenoglu]

This might be due to osmosis. Osmosis is the passing of a fluid to a more dense medium from a less dense one through a membrane. The water did not penetrate to fiberglass which the boaters call osmosis. The real name for this type of damage is hydrolysis.

In your case water only penetrated to the gelcoat. Use epoxy to paint the blisters, fill with epoxy paste and apply your routine protection paint.

[zz4gta]

I'd sand them out.