cost of an epoxy job?

[msjston]

What kind of figure should I be looking for from a boatyard to get a full gel peel and 4 or 5 layers of preventative epoxy coats on a 34' hull with a fin keel? Thanks for any advice...

 

[narcer]

What kind of figure should I be looking for from a boatyard to get a full gel peel and 4 or 5 layers of preventative epoxy coats on a 34' hull with a fin keel? Thanks for any advice...

I would not recommend peeling your gelcoat - itś been proven too many times to be a useless process no matter what is wrong with your boat. IF you have osmosis (?) and the gelcoat needs removing then only sand blasting will work. It needs to be an experienced sand blaster and they charge per m2. Normally for 34 ft the price will be around 2K.

If your boat has not got osmosis and you just want to protect it, then just sand it back to the original gelcoat and when itś as dry as you can get it then epoxy prime it with West Sytem or similar (with aluminium additive in the resin).

 

[Searush]

2k is for the blasting I guess, it then has to be dried out (storage & possibly heating & cocoon costs) ant then epoxied & finally (the high manpower element) faired off & finished.

Based on my experience 4 years ago on a 31', I doubt you will get much change from 6k doing your boat today.

But that is a guestimate on several counts. Why not just get a couple of estimates? It will cost you nowt, be completely accurate & will be firm for at least 6 months.

You are not going to get accurate answers on a forum, too many variables & a million opinions involved. You'll get two different quotes from any 2 yards anyway!

 

[Baggy]

hi there

Ive just completed this project during the last 2 summers
done all the work myself.... so I probably saved aprrox £3000 in labour costs


I had osmosis blisters all over the hull, about the size of you finger nail

so in brief;-

My 36 ft hull was sand blasted 2 seasons ago by my boat yard
cost less than £800

I let her dry out over 2 seasons, but this may not be the case for you,
applied 2 coats of epoxy filler( 4 x 5 litre tins) and 5 coats of epoxy paint (12 x 5 litre tins)
cost approx £1500

hope this helps

 

[Boo2]

I would not recommend peeling your gelcoat - itś been proven too many times to be a useless process no matter what is wrong with your boat. IF you have osmosis (?) and the gelcoat needs removing then only sand blasting will work.

Are you saying that peeling will not remove the gelcoat ? Or are you saying that peeling is in some other way unsuited to being a preparation for an osmosis treatment ? </genuine question>

Boo2

 

[narcer]

Peeling

Hi,

For sure peeling will remove the gelcoat back to the lamination. However the nature by which the machine peels off the gelcoat is not suited to osmosis treatment - more importantly the drying of the lamination. As you peel off you effectively re-seal something like 50 % of the lamination again, trapping residuals and moisture which overall will take much longer to dry. Also, another important factor is surface area. You create much more surface area by sand blasting which firstly makes drying and cleaning out the lamination more effective (getting into softer areas is easy) and secondly it creates the correct surface for accepting the new filler/ bonding of the epoxy lamination / or filler depending how bad the blisters are. Peeling however is bad in both respects here.

Over the years Ive seen different jobs come back with blisters re-appearing and in all cases these hulls were peeled (not by me). However sand blasting always works if the job is done properly.

Normally a mobile blaster with diesel genny and tenting material and all the breathing kit etc charges more than if you get it done "in house" of course which is better.

 

[msjston]

hi there

Ive just completed this project during the last 2 summers
done all the work myself.... so I probably saved aprrox £3000 in labour costs


I had osmosis blisters all over the hull, about the size of you finger nail

so in brief;-

My 36 ft hull was sand blasted 2 seasons ago by my boat yard
cost less than £800

I let her dry out over 2 seasons, but this may not be the case for you,
applied 2 coats of epoxy filler( 4 x 5 litre tins) and 5 coats of epoxy paint (12 x 5 litre tins)
cost approx £1500

hope this helps

Is it easy to get a good finish on DIY application of epoxy filler and paint? I'd rather do this myself too if its not necessarily a specialist job.

 

[msjston]

Hi,

For sure peeling will remove the gelcoat back to the lamination. However the nature by which the machine peels off the gelcoat is not suited to osmosis treatment - more importantly the drying of the lamination. As you peel off you effectively re-seal something like 50 % of the lamination again, trapping residuals and moisture which overall will take much longer to dry. Also, another important factor is surface area. You create much more surface area by sand blasting which firstly makes drying and cleaning out the lamination more effective (getting into softer areas is easy) and secondly it creates the correct surface for accepting the new filler/ bonding of the epoxy lamination / or filler depending how bad the blisters are. Peeling however is bad in both respects here.

Over the years Ive seen different jobs come back with blisters re-appearing and in all cases these hulls were peeled (not by me). However sand blasting always works if the job is done properly.

Normally a mobile blaster with diesel genny and tenting material and all the breathing kit etc charges more than if you get it done "in house" of course which is better.

This really useful info - thanks for that. Just out of interest - do you know if there is any advantage of using soda blast instead of sand?

 

[Tranona]

If you search PBO back numbers you will find a series on doing this job.

It is time comsuming, hard work and not easy to get right.

Maybe wise to get opinions from two independent surveyors on what needs doing and then 2 or 3 quotes before deciding.

 

[Spyro]

hi there

Ive just completed this project during the last 2 summers
done all the work myself.... so I probably saved aprrox £3000 in labour costs


I had osmosis blisters all over the hull, about the size of you finger nail

so in brief;-

My 36 ft hull was sand blasted 2 seasons ago by my boat yard
cost less than £800

I let her dry out over 2 seasons, but this may not be the case for you,
applied 2 coats of epoxy filler( 4 x 5 litre tins) and 5 coats of epoxy paint (12 x 5 litre tins)
cost approx £1500

hope this helps

And 2 years of not using the boat? Life is too short for that

 

[Baggy]

There,s a wealth of info on this subject using the search facility on these forums

This job is not beyond the means of anybody with a practical (sadistic) nature

It is a bloody hard and orrible job
not to mention the dangerous dust


If your good a plastering you will get the hang of applying the filler quicker, the smoother it goes on
the less fairing required.... this is the hard bit
I put on about 400 squids of filler and rubbed off about 200 squids worth.... Doh...

putting on the epoxy paint by roller.... a piece of cake


obviously theres is lot of elements to consider, weather conditions, temperature,
avalible help, tools, safety equipment etc..

No 1 rule is.. make sure the hull is spotlessly Clean and DRY before you start

If you want more info send me a PM
Im in suffolk

 

[keesvugts]

Sadler osmosis treatment

I have good practical experience with Sadler 34 hull repairs and osmosis treatment However it is far too time consuming to discuss such a complex topic via email / forum exchanges. However I'm happy to discuss what I have learned with who ever needs it.
Private message with contact details sent.

Kees

 

[Elessar]

I would not recommend peeling your gelcoat - itś been proven too many times to be a useless process no matter what is wrong with your boat. IF you have osmosis (?) and the gelcoat needs removing then only sand blasting will work. It needs to be an experienced sand blaster and they charge per m2. Normally for 34 ft the price will be around 2K.

If your boat has not got osmosis and you just want to protect it, then just sand it back to the original gelcoat and when itś as dry as you can get it then epoxy prime it with West Sytem or similar (with aluminium additive in the resin).

This is not quite right.

To treat osmosis you peel the gelcoat first then sandblast. As long as you don't use sand......

For preventative epoxy you remove the antifoul only as you say - which can be by WET sanding or an abrasive blast.

 

[Elessar]

Hi,

For sure peeling will remove the gelcoat back to the lamination. However the nature by which the machine peels off the gelcoat is not suited to osmosis treatment - more importantly the drying of the lamination. As you peel off you effectively re-seal something like 50 % of the lamination again, trapping residuals and moisture which overall will take much longer to dry. Also, another important factor is surface area. You create much more surface area by sand blasting which firstly makes drying and cleaning out the lamination more effective (getting into softer areas is easy) and secondly it creates the correct surface for accepting the new filler/ bonding of the epoxy lamination / or filler depending how bad the blisters are. Peeling however is bad in both respects here.

.

correct, except for the last sentence - this is why you peel then (light) blast. It leaves a surface which is far more fair and this cheaper and easier to rebuild.

 

[pappaecho]

Had exactly the same dilemma in August on a Princess 34, with "osmosis". Had two quotes for £7k and £7.5k for complete strip and epoxy complete with drying out etc.

Instead we had the antifoul removed back to bare gelcoat, costing £400,by Symblast. Further sanded back the odd patch, and keyed the whole hull with 240 grit wet and dry orbital sander. The osmosis as defined by two different surveys over a 5 year period, was in fact bad layup, and pitting due to air bubbles and failure to properly bed down the layup glass onto the gelcoat, the voids of which over the year had caused the gelcoat to chip away, resulting in pits, of which there were several hundred. Note there were no blisters, and no smell of acetic acid. Each pit was carefully painted with a solvent free epoxy, followed by an epoxy filler. When cured sanded back with 240 grit sandpaper, and then 5 coats of solvent based epoxy ( Gelshield 200). My wife and I were able to do a coat a day and it two of us with small rollers about 2 hours to apply. Because it was October and still quite warm we mixed about 1 litre at a time. The gelshield comes as a 4.5 litre pack and we used about 4 litres per coat. You can leave months between coats, but in fact we did the whole lot in 5 days.
The costs were £400 for the antifoul removal, £420 for Gelshield 200, and about £80 for solvents sanding pads etc. I would say it took me 8 days of sanding, filling etc, and 5 days of two of us applying the epoxy. Frankly we were lucky with the weather.
As compared to the £7000 odd professional quote, I think we did quite well, though I will admit that the gelcoat was not stripped. However most companies only " guarantee" their work for couple of years, whereas I have to live with it regardless.

 

[narcer]

correct, except for the last sentence - this is why you peel then (light) blast. It leaves a surface which is far more fair and this cheaper and easier to rebuild.

I can only speak from direct experience at doing this over the years and seeing the results as the "ideas" have changed.

This is of course is a text-book example of what would be generally recommended. However, each indivisual osmosis case is different and that´s the problem - you can´t make a general statement for all cases. It all depends how advanced the osmosis is and like a previous poster has said it can get complicated. BUT, it doesn´t have to. It´s all just marketing hype.

I have seen numerous boats (Sunseeker being one) that were peeled and then wet blasted fairly moderately. The osmosis was not far advanced and you would have thought it would be enough. Anyway 5 yrs later the blisters were back and it just did not work. Also peeling then blasting almost doubles the cost of the prep phase. How many extra hours to peel a Magnum 80 for eg ? Then light blast it ? = more than double.

Basically an experienced sand-blaster should know exactly how to prep the surface without any peeling. A light blasting might produce a more pretty surface to look at but it doesn´t penetrate far enough to work UNLESS the osmosis is in first stages and blisters are a couple mm only. In which case I wouldn´t bother blasting anyway at that stage.

Out here in Palma peeling is an antiquated thing of the past which is costly and doesn´t work. With the right man on the job, just blast it from the start. But remember that´s only the beginning of a long job.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Is it easy to get a good finish on DIY application of epoxy filler and paint? I'd rather do this myself too if its not necessarily a specialist job.

Not if you are single handed since you will then have to roller it on and will end up with a dimpled sort of finish. Bit like Hammerite. But then it will be underwater and it wont affect the performance so why worry.

If you want it smooth then it has to be laid off by a second person following on behind the roller.

But all in all pretty easy to do outside in good weather.