Surveyor took some pain off

[beggargoutel]

All,

Had a survey done before buying.
Surveyor took some moisture readings in a number of areas. Result is a number of "patches" on the hull.

What is the best way of "patching" them ?
Recoat with paint before antifouling I suppose ? A primer first ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[oldsaltoz]

To obtain a moisture reading he may have penetrated the epoxy or other protective coating.

If you have no history on coatings applied you should assume it has been treated.

This means replacing it, I would give the patches a good wash then sand lightly to remove any gloss then apply at least 3 or 4 coats of epoxy prior to primer and antifoul.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[john_morris_uk]

The surveyor should be able to give you an idea as to whether the hull has been epoxied. I am not sure that he should/would have damaged the epoxy coating (if there is one) and the usual practice as I understand things is just for the antifouling to be removed to allow moisture levels in the laminate/substrate to be measured.

1. You could ask the surveyor what you should do.
2. You could put some antifouling primer on and antifoul over the top.
3. You could do what lots of people do and just antifoul over the patches.

To reiterate, I am not convinced that he would remove epoxy - its quite tough! I am not therefore also convinced that you ought to be applying patches of epoxy to the areas as William suggests. Your surveyor should advise you - he scraped the patches off!

 

[Tisme]

I always use a little araldite to cover those marks. It takes 5 minutes rather than messing around with paint, brushes, thinners etc etc.

 

[bobgoode]

Presumably for "pain" read "paint so ther patches are simply missing antifoul. Slap so fresh on top taking care to ensure comptability with the existing antifoul. If the surveyor has removed an epoxy coat, i.e. damaged the boat, then ask him to pay for the remedial work.

 

[Guest]

Re: Surveyor took some pain off ...... (paint?)

Oh Dear .....

It annoys me when a guy does that .... when I do a hull check and remove patch of A/F - I have a small pot of A/F to patch up with after ... as long as client doesn't object to the colour red ....

If the guy hasn't mentioned any coating - then you should ask ... but it is rare for an epoxy barrier to be cut into - it's tough and resilient ....

Me ... touch up with AF and that's it ...

 

[Tisme]

Re: Surveyor took some pain off ...... (paint?)

If they don't get through the epoxy what's the point of doing it then? Surely they are trying to check moisture in the hull which means they need to get through to the GRP?

Just curious.

 

[Guest]

Tisme .... agreed ...

We have little info to go on here other than the guy has the typical patches left by a surveyor who doesn't touch up after ...

Epoxy coat can lead to false readings as SOME know ... I would assume that the Surveyor has asked about the hull and if coated before doing the job ... I know from own experience that some hulls are extremely difficult to tell if an epoxy coat has been applied ...
I would never break through a coating unless explicit permission / instruction from both seller and buyer - as this is a serious action to take.

I assume that surveyor having metered the hull has decided that hull is not coated. His report should reflect hull state and whether epoxied or not ...

Do you not agree ?????

 

[Tisme]

Re: Tisme .... agreed ...

I don't know; which is why I was asking. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I don't know if my boat has been epoxied. The surveys I have had have always given good readings and, as far as I can remember, the surveyors have not mentioned epoxy at all. I just fix the patch with araldite as it's an easy, quick way to do the job.

However, if you don't get into the GRP there's surely no point in taking a reading or even scratching the antifoul? If buyer and seller won't give permission isn't this one of those occasions when all you can do is report that no readings were taken?

 

[john_morris_uk]

Re: Tisme .... agreed ...

The point is that you dont need to get into the epoxy or the laminate to measure the moisture content. The meter measures moisture in the hull and laminate when sitting on the surface. Unfortunately, antifouling paints can hold so much moisture that you cannot get an accurate reading of the moisture content of the hull through the paint. I hope this explains why surveyors remove patches of antifouling.

Moisture meter readings need to be interpreted, All sorts of things (even wet carpet inside the boat) can lead to odd readings. In the end I am happy to pay the surveyor to give his professional opinion on moisture content of a hull that I am thinking of buying.

 

[woody001]

Re: Tisme .... agreed ...

u want to speak to oldsaltz on here - - he is the man for this type of question

 

[alienzdive]

Re: Tisme .... agreed ...

I think there is no correct or wrong answer to this question.

If the surveyor has use a scraper and removed the paint back to a non feateed or sharp edge he has weakened the integrity of the coating, which from your post it looks like is the case. To prove this you may need to get another surveyors report. Many surveyors will agree or disagree with this method of surveying although I think it is not the correct procedure myself but am not a surveyor so can only gve an opinion.

The product manufacturers could also provide some assistance but it may be very difficult to determine the manufacturers at this stage.

A marine paint surveyor would be the best bet. But all this takes tiem and money and it depends on the value of the boat.

The original surveyor may then respond by saying that the antifoul was in poor condition and the whole lot needed scraping off anyway although he may have failed to mention this in his report.

However if a surveyor damaged my boat to this extent I would try and get it rectified on his PI insurance.

But again it depends on the fairness of the hull and the thickness edge that has been left by the antifoul removal.

As far as the moisture content. It is not unusual for a fibreglass boat to come out of the water with high moisture content, this would actually be expected. After many months sitting on a hardstand this should rectify itself until re-immersion. Epoxy is a water resistant barrier but not water impeniterable.

 

[Birdseye]

In the UK it would be normal to scrape off some antifoul but go no further. You scrape off the antifoul because it is a permiable coating which will retain some salt even as it surface dries and therefore give false moisture readings - worse than actual.

I'm not a surveyor but from what I've seen it would be unlikely that a surveyor in the UK would scrape through the epoxy coat if the boat has one. For a start, epoxy is hard so its not at all easy to scrape through. Secondly its not necessary since a meter will give a valid reading through the epoxy. Thirdly, ots arguable that removing the epoxy is damaging the boat by breaching the protective coating, so the surveyor would first need to get both your agreement and that of the seller. Bit like taking core samples of the laminate.

Anyway, ask the surveyor what he has done if you want to be sure. Anything else is just speculation. Personally, I would just stick on some antifoul and dump it in the water. In fact thats what I last did.