My topsides are blistering as I am looking at them - help

[seabright]

Hi,

Any help would be very much appreciated - I feel a raising panic.

I have just crossed over to Antigua in my 35 ft long keeler. Alot of work to get her ready and she was great. Having got here and just started to relax I have noticed that my topsides have blisters up to about half way up. They were painted by a previous owner about 10 years ago. The good news, I think, is that the gel coat underneath shows no blisters (survey 18 month ago detectd no problems). I am wondering if its UV of that areas of the topsides were under the water all the time in our crossing (26 days) and this caused a paint failure.

Any ideas would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Seabright and welcome aboard the YBW forums.

This sounds like water under the paint and exposure to sun and heat. Salt Water can enter via very small pin holes and because of the salt content will continue to attract moisture, heating will cause the water to expand at a rate greater than it can escape through the tiny pin hole so you see a blister.

You can panic and strip the deck for repainting, or just wait and see if it will dry out and settle down, washing with fresh water on a regular basis may help by removing the salt, or some of it at least.

Do nothing for now, relax and enjoy the boat, even the best of paints will need replacing after 10 years or so.

Just make sure the deck is cleaned back to gel-coat and primed before you apply your next coat, perhaps 5 years from now.

Avagoodchrissie......

 

[Pasarell]

I agree with Oldsalt. Highly unlikely to be anything to do with osmosis.
If the paint is 10 years old its done well to survive this long. No gloss paints are designed for permanent immersion and 26 days is a long time. Do you know if it is a 1 or 2 pack paint? When newish 2 pack would probably be OK but there would be a good chance of a 1 pack letting water through and blistering. 10 years old and I'm not surprised either sort blister.
Blisters should only be in the paint. They may shrink back now they're out of the water but those areas will always be weak. Eventually you need to rub down, remove all the poorly attached blistered areas and recoat. Best would be to remove the old paint altogether as there will be weak areas you cannot see.
Annoying but certainly not a disaster

 

[graham]

[ QUOTE ]
You can panic and strip the deck for repainting,

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you are correct in your suggestion of what has caused the blisters but they are on the topsides (sides of the hull between waterline and gunwhale) not on the decks.

 

[seabright]

Thanks alot for your replies. I have now calmed down - just happened right at the wrong time as we were tired after a long crossing. This is a really helpful forum and I hope that I can offer this sort of good advice to others.

It is raining here in Antigua - any sympathy?

Thanks.