Putting an offer on a Sealine, how low to go?

Neil1300r

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So, what happens to these boats now? Spend time ashore to dry out, drill out the blisters and eventually fill with epoxy? Or does it have to be a very expensive gel coat peel? Or, just leave it and get on with enjoying it and hope a new buyer does not insist on a survey. Pity the poor owners what a dilemma.
Two ways to go. Get it done professionally which involves gel coat peel, then hot-vac treatment, which significantly reduces drying time. Repeat more than once. Test for moisture, hopefully low reading, if not go down deeper into the matting and repeat. Then epoxy, one or two coats, smooth to the same level of topsides. Very labour intensive, so very costly.

Or do it yourself, still take gel coat off then let it naturally dry, could be several months. Check with moisture reading. Apply epoxy coats etc.
All of the above according to Google/ my surveyor, I'm not an expert.

There is the cheap and cheerful method of just grind out where the blisters are, dry out and then fill. OK if its an old boat and you want to keep on top of it, but will just reappear elsewhere, so repeat the process.

Or hope someone doesn't have a survey, but at this price point why would you not have a survey

Surveyor scraped back a few blisters and put a moisture meter on them. Some were reading maximum, which unlike a rev counter is not good!

I feel sorry for the owners as I don't think they knew, they were there when the surveyor was looking at the boat and were very surprised
 

nicho

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Two ways to go. Get it done professionally which involves gel coat peel, then hot-vac treatment, which significantly reduces drying time. Repeat more than once. Test for moisture, hopefully low reading, if not go down deeper into the matting and repeat. Then epoxy, one or two coats, smooth to the same level of topsides. Very labour intensive, so very costly.

Or do it yourself, still take gel coat off then let it naturally dry, could be several months. Check with moisture reading. Apply epoxy coats etc.
All of the above according to Google/ my surveyor, I'm not an expert.

There is the cheap and cheerful method of just grind out where the blisters are, dry out and then fill. OK if its an old boat and you want to keep on top of it, but will just reappear elsewhere, so repeat the process.

Or hope someone doesn't have a survey, but at this price point why would you not have a survey

Surveyor scraped back a few blisters and put a moisture meter on them. Some were reading maximum, which unlike a rev counter is not good!

I feel sorry for the owners as I don't think they knew, they were there when the surveyor was looking at the boat and were very surprised
I recently heard of a Fairline that was riddled with blisters. As boats get older, I would bet there’s a lot out there around 20 years old that will be so affected
 

Momac

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It seems some of today's buyers expect a 20 year old boat to be like new in all respects.
But they don't take into account that the 20 year old used boat costing say £80k could cost around £350k for the nearest equivalent new boat.
 

Greg2

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Osmosis is a fact of life on many boats inland and they change hands routinely so it isn’t the death knell for a boat. It can affect re-sale with some wary buyers but many just crack on and accept it for what it is.

With regard to what you can do about it I had this very conversation with the builder of our new boat at work only a couple of weeks ago. He said that stripping the gelcoat and applying heat doesn’t work very well / at all. Having addressed the problem on a mates yacht at his yard he reckoned the only way that works is to strip the gelcoat off and leave the boat outside for many months, with a weekly pressure wash of the hull to get rid of the stuff that is secreted as the hull dries.
.
 

Momac

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Maybe it would be good to have a survey done before advertising for sale so any defects can be corrected prior to sale or factored into the asking price.
Has anyone done this?
 

Seastoke

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When I sold my last boat , the guy new his boats ,he did not need a survey and on sea trial we we were out for an hour and let him have the controls and what he wanted . Cash on the table deal done.
 

nicho

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Osmosis effects resale…little else in the real world
There will be many thousands of older boats suffering from high moisture content, and even blisters, which it seems will only make the boat a bit heavier and slower, but not endanger the boat in any other way. . Many of these affected boats are sold every year, so I can only assume that they are done so with a suitable price reduction - whereupon the new owner simply carries on using it with no repairs?
 

SC35

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There will be many thousands of older boats suffering from high moisture content, and even blisters, which it seems will only make the boat a bit heavier and slower, but not endanger the boat in any other way. . Many of these affected boats are sold every year, so I can only assume that they are done so with a suitable price reduction - whereupon the new owner simply carries on using it with no repairs?

A hull with loads of blisters won't be as fast or fuel efficient as one with none, but many boats with high moisture readings never get to that stage.
A few small blisters is going to make no difference to anything, compared to end of season fouling.

The main problem with elevated moisture readings is when you want to sell: the same surveyors turn up, and the sales process becomes harder.
A boat with lower moisture readings is easier to sell on.
 
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volvopaul

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Maybe it would be good to have a survey done before advertising for sale so any defects can be corrected prior to sale or factored into the asking price.
Has anyone done this?
A certain brokerage on the Thames we’re having stock boats and encouraging sellers to have there surveyor carry out a survey prior to sale so they could sell with a current survey . Absolutely waste of time to any buyer with 1% common sense , and low and behold myself and Nick were tasked with looking at a Princess for a buyer who was also a friend of Nicks a couple of years ago , guess what it has the dreaded blisters and drives full of water amongst other grp issues above the waterline , a total waste of time and money for the buyer all at the brokers fault and in my opinion deceit in the first place , moral of any purchase employ your own surveyor from your own research .
 
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