PuffTheMagicDragon
Well-Known Member
Re: VIDEO UPDATE. 005 the Lady itself.
If that involves building a fire underneath the hull to boil away the water I'm sure that it would raise some smug smiles of the 'I-Told-You-So' type on the faces of the naysayers! :disgust:
However, on a more serious level, at this stage I would seriously consider the removal of all the gel-coat that is below the waterline and do a full epoxy treatment. Whether you use an angle grinder, peeler or grit blasting is up to you.
Some years ago I was faced with a boat where the original epoxy treatment was showing signs of failure with just a handful of small blisters visible, maybe twenty in all and none of them more than 6mm diameter. My first thought was 'angle grinder followed by epoxy filler as required. Unfortunately I noticed that passing the flap-disk over areas where the epoxy seemed unblemished was causing spurts of water from minute bubbles that were hitherto invisible because they had not yet raised the characteristic dome. I then decided to have the hull's underwater part grit-blasted because it would have taken me more than three weeks to do it 'my way'. The time and effort saved were well worth the expense, IMHO.
I was hosing down the hull with fresh water several times daily, usually while I was having a coffee break. This was over a period of three or four weeks until the readings stabilised. Meanwhile it was not time wasted because there were a thousand and one things to be done inside the hull, on deck and in the workshop at home because the boat had been unused and afloat for some fourteen years! Applying the new epoxy treatment (Veneziani) was left until close to the end of the to-do list, by which time the hull was as bone dry as could reasonably be expected.
The final cost of the boat, the treatment (self-applied), replaced electronics, replacement of all the exterior wood, etc., AND the bill from the yard was still well under the market cost of similar boats. I did not cost my time because I am retired. I kept a running spreadsheet that accounted for everything, down to the last self-tapping screw and the plug cutters with which I cut the plugs (what else?) that cover them.
Your call; I have just described what I did...and would do again. :encouragement:
If that involves building a fire underneath the hull to boil away the water I'm sure that it would raise some smug smiles of the 'I-Told-You-So' type on the faces of the naysayers! :disgust:
However, on a more serious level, at this stage I would seriously consider the removal of all the gel-coat that is below the waterline and do a full epoxy treatment. Whether you use an angle grinder, peeler or grit blasting is up to you.
Some years ago I was faced with a boat where the original epoxy treatment was showing signs of failure with just a handful of small blisters visible, maybe twenty in all and none of them more than 6mm diameter. My first thought was 'angle grinder followed by epoxy filler as required. Unfortunately I noticed that passing the flap-disk over areas where the epoxy seemed unblemished was causing spurts of water from minute bubbles that were hitherto invisible because they had not yet raised the characteristic dome. I then decided to have the hull's underwater part grit-blasted because it would have taken me more than three weeks to do it 'my way'. The time and effort saved were well worth the expense, IMHO.
I was hosing down the hull with fresh water several times daily, usually while I was having a coffee break. This was over a period of three or four weeks until the readings stabilised. Meanwhile it was not time wasted because there were a thousand and one things to be done inside the hull, on deck and in the workshop at home because the boat had been unused and afloat for some fourteen years! Applying the new epoxy treatment (Veneziani) was left until close to the end of the to-do list, by which time the hull was as bone dry as could reasonably be expected.
The final cost of the boat, the treatment (self-applied), replaced electronics, replacement of all the exterior wood, etc., AND the bill from the yard was still well under the market cost of similar boats. I did not cost my time because I am retired. I kept a running spreadsheet that accounted for everything, down to the last self-tapping screw and the plug cutters with which I cut the plugs (what else?) that cover them.
Your call; I have just described what I did...and would do again. :encouragement:
). Customers would have the advantage of being able to come up into the cockpit and leap overboard into the cooling sea. Or at low tide they could have a mud bath instead.
You are one of life optimists and your glass is always overflowing.:encouragement: I have no doubt that you will eventually complete the job but the time schedule is a real unknown and with the best will in the world and all the second hand big items like engine, mast, boom, sails and winches there is no chance of it coming in on anywhere near your budget figure.
It's nice to be the object of so much praise. 
