Bought a Never splashed Colvic Countess 33 on eBay, Looking for infos

[Steve_N]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

I'd be a concerned about those blisters. Osmosis is caused by water getting through the gelcoat and getting trapped between it and the layup. If these are caused by the hull having water inside it, that would mean it must have gone through the layup, which seems odd and if correct a very serious issue.

The mouldings of my similar vintage (1983) Colvic hull fell well below the standard that I think most people expect of that brand. Those blisters on Oddity's topsides might have been caused by what I found on mine - several areas of completely dry and unwetted-out mat beneath the gelcoat. The picture shows one such fault in the topsides. I'd really scare the boys if I showed pictures of one area in particular below the waterline.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

I have my own opinion on the matter and I've been strongly resisting the temptation to sand or drill a core of one, as I would like the surveyor to first give me what HE thinks it is. I have been proven wrong on occasion (that was ONE time and I was partially right ..really) I really do not want to "fix" my opinion on the matter without an independent look. If it’s from the inside, then there are areas most likely delaminated and requires a cut and mould in place job I would not even attempt a repair. I'm still very tempted to do just that. Good outside = good mould faster and less problematic then fiddling with bits here and there that are never going to be as good. And I just happen to have enough cast in place prepreg fibre resin to take a mould for that area.

Don't drill cores !! Just scrape or sand the blister off. If the layup behind is solid you just need a basic repair to the few blisters. Basically, sand and allow to dry (could be drying now, while you do other stuff) then fill and fair, finally coating the whole under water profile with epoxy. Absolutely no need to take all of the gelcoat off for a few blisters.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

The mouldings of my similar vintage (1983) Colvic hull fell well below the standard that I think most people expect of that brand. Those blisters on Oddity's topsides might have been caused by what I found on mine - several areas of completely dry and unwetted-out mat beneath the gelcoat. The picture shows one such fault in the topsides. I'd really scare the boys if I showed pictures of one area in particular below the waterline.

That's not good !!

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

No. In the video it was stated that the blisters were caused by the water in the hull. If that were to be the case, the hull is scrap. I doubt that's correct though.

Yes, Phil did say that but it was just something he said, we don't know since we haven't checked. No one has. I don't really think that can be the reason. If it were so they would be more consistent around the whole hull and that is obviously not the case. There are bits of wood inside still on the stern cabin and newspaper that have not been in water or show any signs of it. My dad makes music instruments, I grew up looking for wet wood or signs of water damage. There’s also a couple of other items laying around that show no sign of anything other than the typical marks of condensation on the surface. So, my guess is the water never got as high as where the blisters occur on the outside.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

The mouldings of my similar vintage (1983) Colvic hull fell well below the standard that I think most people expect of that brand. Those blisters on Oddity's topsides might have been caused by what I found on mine - several areas of completely dry and unwetted-out mat beneath the gelcoat. The picture shows one such fault in the topsides. I'd really scare the boys if I showed pictures of one area in particular below the waterline.

I'm assuming that is exactly the case. It's very localised to be osmosis by water level inside. and the blisters would be more consistent. I found a few places on the top side just 2 or 3 that I think fall into that category as well. Born to be Grinding is the music I’m going to be composing.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

Don't drill cores !! Just scrape or sand the blister off. If the layup behind is solid you just need a basic repair to the few blisters. Basically, sand and allow to dry (could be drying now, while you do other stuff) then fill and fair, finally coating the whole under water profile with epoxy. Absolutely no need to take all of the gelcoat off for a few blisters.

Why do you think I have been resisting like crazy to even touch one, it's almost like looking at someone with a huge red and angry looking zit on the tip of the nose. You can try to ignore it but..

 

[Steve_N]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

Why do you think I have been resisting like crazy to even touch one, it's almost like looking at someone with a huge red and angry looking zit on the tip of the nose. You can try to ignore it but..

Tap them hard with a hammer - if the cause is the same as on my Colvic hull (as above) then they'll just pop.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

Tap them hard with a hammer - if the cause is the same as on my Colvic hull (as above) then they'll just pop.

Temping oh so tempting! I have a few patches on the cabin roof gelcoat that had little blisters, there can be only 3 explanations for it. Obvious would be water pooling around that area, but unless Thornam Marina is in a inversed gravitational zone, water will not run upwards on a sloping surface, I did pop one and found a void. No fluids of any kind, dry patch of glass fibre to be seen. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that one.

Latest on Oddity- 005 "the Lady" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpzRsNoAgR0

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

The mouldings of my similar vintage (1983) Colvic hull fell well below the standard that I think most people expect of that brand. Those blisters on Oddity's topsides might have been caused by what I found on mine - several areas of completely dry and unwetted-out mat beneath the gelcoat. The picture shows one such fault in the topsides. I'd really scare the boys if I showed pictures of one area in particular below the waterline.

Tap them hard with a hammer - if the cause is the same as on my Colvic hull (as above) then they'll just pop.

Been thinking about that. I think I'm going to pop one tomorrow to get to the bottom of it. Fingers crossed. The ones on the topside are just that, little voids under the gel coat.

 

[Steve_N]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

This similar area of dry fibres beneath the gelcoat was below the waterline and not bulging or blistered at all - detected ony because it didn't sound right. Just see how it grew!
I found one other similar area elsewhere. If your Colvic is similar vintage then I'd recommend going over the mouldings very thoroughly sounding for possible faults with a hammer.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

This similar area of dry fibres beneath the gelcoat was below the waterline and not bulging or blistered at all - detected ony because it didn't sound right. Just see how it grew!
I found one other similar area elsewhere. If your Colvic is similar vintage then I'd recommend going over the mouldings very thoroughly sounding for possible faults with a hammer.

Yeah that looks like a rather interesting case of not wetted resin. I've been sounding it with a hammer but until now was not really possible to find anything out of the ordinary for a couple of reasons, first it had wet mushy ply against the hull in places. Second there was too much stuff everywhere laying against the hull. I'm going to give it a new good sounding to see what it says and popping one today to see what’s up. Ill post a pic later today.

 

[lpdsn]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

Yeah that looks like a rather interesting case of not wetted resin. I've been sounding it with a hammer but until now was not really possible to find anything out of the ordinary for a couple of reasons, first it had wet mushy ply against the hull in places. Second there was too much stuff everywhere laying against the hull. I'm going to give it a new good sounding to see what it says and popping one today to see what’s up. Ill post a pic later today.

I find using a large socket is easier than using a hammer and it is possible to tap quite consistently as you move along the hull.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

I find using a large socket is easier than using a hammer and it is possible to tap quite consistently as you move along the hull.

I've been using a plastic one but you may have a point. If you watch in max quality on YouTube, you can see better the bubbles we got. They really high up, not where I would expect them if that was a water inside the hull prob.
We really tried getting them on video on our last video, but it's hard, you need the right light to be able to give depth perception.

 

[lpdsn]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

I've been using a plastic one but you may have a point. If you watch in max quality on YouTube, you can see better the bubbles we got. They really high up, not where I would expect them if that was a water inside the hull prob.
We really tried getting them on video on our last video, but it's hard, you need the right light to be able to give depth perception.

The concern would be that there are more voids that haven't yet filled with water. Assuming of course that that is what happened here and it isn't something else when you pop them. As you say the bubbles are high up so hard to understand how they got osmosis but damp material under a prop is a likely guess, hence the thinking that those are not the only ones.

 

[solent clown]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

they are probaly showing high up where the sun has caught the hull more, so more heating and cooling of the void leading to the blister in the gel as the air inside expands

 

[Concerto]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

If these bubbles are voids, I wonder if those bubbles inside the hull might be fixed by drilling a small hole at the top of the bubbles and inject epoxy in to fill it. It would stabalise the void and be much easier than grinding and laminating.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

And.. I drilled the Blubbly thingies some Burst like a pimple , some were bone dry.


About HALF, were bursting with fluid, the other dry as the desert. at random.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

And.. I drilled the Blubbly thingies some Burst like a pimple , some were bone dry.
View attachment 70755View attachment 70756View attachment 70757View attachment 70758View attachment 70759

About HALF, were bursting with fluid, the other dry as the desert. at random.

Pic 3 looks like unwetted layup. Not sure about the others, you'll need to grind back some more and try to see if it's a result of more unwetted layup, or osmosis caused by something external. If it's unwetted layup, the water could be from the inside, even if the water didn't get that high, condensation or rain may have got in over the years.

The bad layup will mean you will have to very carefully check the whole hull. Repairing will be pretty much the same technique for repairing minor damage, or getting rid of a redundant through hull.

 

[GregOddity]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

Pic 3 looks like unwetted layup. Not sure about the others, you'll need to grind back some more and try to see if it's a result of more unwetted layup, or osmosis caused by something external. If it's unwetted layup, the water could be from the inside, even if the water didn't get that high, condensation or rain may have got in over the years.

The bad layup will mean you will have to very carefully check the whole hull. Repairing will be pretty much the same technique for repairing minor damage, or getting rid of a redundant through hull.

At first glance and without making a test window, I'm inclined to agree with you, Pic 3 was a Poc and there was that little crater with what seems like unwetted strand. Pic 2 did not want to break so I went for the drill and PLooooof it almost exploded and its very wet, then on pic 4 you can see to the left a hole dry as a bone, need a window to check the laminate.

 

[Keith 66]

Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.

I wasnt going to comment but will as this was my trade. It looks very much to me like a poor quality lay up with numerous voids caused by patches of dry mat. Some of these are waterlogged. First question, Have you run a good moisture meter over the hull to ascertain the moisture content??? If not you need to asap. Do it inside & out all over. This will give you an idea of how bad it is.
The hull was flooded probably for years, how high is a moot point as the water will have soaked into the plywood & gone much higher all over the place, this will cause localised patches of extreme wetness wherever there was a lump of wood.. Also a hull with a lot of water in it in a hot summer will send humidity levels off the clock making the inside akin to a turkish bath.
Sencond question, someone else may be able to tell us, Was the hull laid up with a chopper gun? (GRP spray gun) Big production moulders sometimes did this for speed of production, im not sure if Colvic did but would not be surprised. One clue would be the prescence of red tracer strands in the lay up. Chopper gun layups are often of poorer quality than hand laid.
You need someone that really knows GRP tp have a look at it.
My gut feeling is that even with the specialist vacumn equipment that you reckon you have that that hull is going to take many months to dry out & may well be scrap.