Old fibreglass hulls

[ghilliedhu]

I am considering buying a Nicholson yacht built in 1964 and am concerned about the quality of the fibreglass used in the early days of its use in yacht building. I believe that the yachts were heavily built but have they lasted well. Is there history of them delaminating?If epoxy treated how long would one expect the epoxy to last.Any feed back on the above and on the efectiveness of the Aulgrip epoxy treatment would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.
David

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[jsl]

If that is a Nic32, you will find an active owners' association, websites and all sorts of advice. Try 'campernicholson' in your search engine.

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[WayneS]

I would have thought that, as they were built before the engineer-heads realised the strength of GRP, they would have been over engineered.

I have a Westerly of the same vintage and it had so much GRP that it could have dented a warship. Never heard of osmosis or delam on any of the old Westerly's. Would assume the same for the Nic's of that vintage.

Check it out with the Owners assoc though.

Cheers

Wayne


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[MIKE_MCKIE]

I have a Bowman 26 1970 vintage & it is built like the proverbial brick outhouse. When I went to drill a hole for the new log, even with a new holesaw it took forever & the local shipwright said that the hull was in better nick than boats even a quarter of her age!
However, every single hull is different. Get a decent survey, especially noting the moisture content; and definitely get onto the class association. More knowledge is better!
Hope you get an "oldie but goodie".
brgds
mike

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[johnsomerhausen]

I have a 1978 Columbia and agree with the other opinions. If your Nic has been on the hard for one or two seasons, there's a good chance that most of the water that infiltrated the GRP has evaporated and this would be a good time to coat the underbody with expoxy/mica slivers (e.g. Interprotect) to give the hull better resisdtance to water infiltration. If I remember well, the osmosis problem arose with boats built later than the one you are considering.

john

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[oldsaltoz]

G'day David,

Talking to an osmosis professional some years ago, he stated that a lot of osmosis type failures could be traced to periods of oil shortages, during such times the manufacturers of resin would squeeze every last bit of product out, this resulted in a lesser quality resin.

If this correct then boats in the mid 70s and 80s would be prime suspects for problems; he went to say that as many cases were due to poor layup practices. the later has been reduced, but we still have oil shortages, only time will tell what effect this will have in the future.

Another interesting statement was that there are only 4 manufacturers of resin in the world; The resins then have various additives put in by others and sold under several different names / brands.

The bottom line.
Have a proper survey done, your going to need one for insurance anyway, moisture meters are only as good as the operator, so the readings, and, or the interpretation can vary.

The gelcoat on this vessel must be passed it's use by date, I think I would have her peeled or blasted, faired and epoxy coated, then some layers of International Interprotect (designed specifically to reduce moisture ingress), followed by a good antifoul. Peace of mind is expensive. . . . . . .

I hope this helps.



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[yoda]

My boat is of the same era and in all probability it will still be fine. The gelcoat will be significantly thicker than on more modern boats and stripping it off without good reason will remove your best protection against osmosis. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Have a good survey and find out the real state of the hull but you are probably onto a very sound boat with loads of life in it yet.

Yoda

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[Evadne]

My boat was built in 1963 by Webster's and although she did suffer quite bad delamination in 1989, there was so much fibreglass in the construction that she was epoxied and is still going well today. The first time I went to the London boat show and saw how much thinner modern boats' hulls are, I was stunned. I'd always buy an older boat again.
I read somewhere that a lot of so-called "osmosis" is actually problems caused by poor lay-up, and this was our case. They were still learning how to use the materials in those days and curing times and temperatures were often less than perfect. Taking her out of the water to dry out each winter does help prolong her life: my problems only showed up after 2 successive winters in the water, she had lasted 36 years without so much as a blister up 'til then.

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[seaesta]

My Westerley 25 was built in 1966. She is very strong when compared with newer boats. I also had osmosis after leaving her in the water over 2 winters and strongly suggest haul out each year. In my case the normal treatment using grit-blast, washing and epoxy hs been OK for 3 years.

One thing to look out for is "stress raisers". Sympathetic modern design spreads the load of bulk-heads etc where they join the deck molding whilst some early designs merely glass them in - leading to stress cracking. On an old boat these should either have shown up by now or not be a problem.

I prefer a cheaper old boat that I can have fun in and not be uptight about the odd scratch or scuff.

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[jbate]

David,
Early FRP construction generally used heavier plies of glass in the laminate and also had more laminate, so they were relatively stiff, strong and heavy. Stress concentrations were less considered as the whole design process was more crude. Modern yachts do have thinner/lighter layups but generally have more considered detail design. The result is that an early FRP hull is more able to resist poor design and stress concentrations, but is also more likely to have such problems...
With regard to Osmosis, I think that this is substantially misunderstood (generally, not suggesting anyone online). If you plan to buy this boat then you will need a condition survey and you should expect the surveyor to check the hull for Osmosis. If there is a 'real' Osmosis problem then I suggest that you find a different boat, otherwise, leave well alone and let the current gelcoat protect the hull. The surveyor should advise you what a 'real' problem constitutes in terms of blister size and depth.
Br JB


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