Blistering 2007 21V

[jamkit]

I have a 1' x 2' patch on the bottom that has started to blister. I got the boat in late August of 07. I live in Michigan so it was in the water from last week of august 07 to Oct 1st 07. It has been in the water this year from mid june until this past weekend. Should the bottom have blisters so soon?

[Salty87]

i'm going with no...talk to your dealer yet?

[riveredge]

My '89 bravura has been in the water every summer since 1989, sometimes from April to November without coming out maybe even once. No blisters. Soooo... I'd say you should definitely call your dealer.

[jamkit]

No! Just found them over the weekend! Will call them this week.

[myturndad]

from my understanding is if you "leave" the boat in the water for a extended period and not on a lift, you can and more than likely get gel blistering. thus will not be covered under warranty.

when i had my 05 ssv (bought new) i developed blistering on the hull where it made contact with the bunks. both sides from the front to the rear were damaged.

it was covered under warranty since i never had left my boat in the water for any extended period of time. most was 3 nights at table rock lake.

however the following summer they came back.

good luck with the repair.

[DKJBama92Mariah]

Conventional boating knowledge suggests that anytime a boat is to be left in the water for extended periods of time, the bottom should have an epoxy barrier coat applied. That being said, Supra may barrier coat the boats from the factory; I'm just not sure.

The fact is gelcoat is porous, even the expensive vinylester stuff. When left to soak in the water, the water seeps through the microscopic porousities in the gelcoat causing blisters.

I am not suggesting that these blisters are your fault jamkit. I just know that if I was to leave my boat floating for a season, it would have it barrier coated at reputable boatyard.

[1suprassv]

however the following summer they came back.

good luck with the repair.

What have you done since? Any repairs? SC involved? Covered again under warranty? My 02 has the same problem and noticed them again this year. Boat only sits in water from Sat morning to Sun afternoons!!!! Very disheartening. And I disagree with the porosity statement made above with gelcoat as my 84 nautique, I've owned for 9+years, that sits in the water 7 months out of the year, hasn't one blister!!!!! IS SC SKIMMING to save money? or just using cheaper ingredients while keeping costs down for them and ourselves? It does piss me off, that my 02 has hull problems and bought this boat due to their long term reliability and cost benefits versus the 02 SANTE I was originally buying in Charlotte. What can be done now and will SC step up and fix it again? And how do you keep it from happening again. I was originally told by Les during my initial problem that some boats were put on bunks/trailers before proper curing occurred causing these problems but if thats the case, why is it happening again?

[DKJBama92Mariah]

I was originally told by Les during my initial problem that some boats were put on bunks/trailers before proper curing occurred causing these problems but if thats the case, why is it happening again?
If the blisters come back in the exact same spots, the repair was done improperly. You can't just grind off the old and slap new gelcoat on. The hull is still wet and has to be allowed to dry before applying new gelcoat. The drying process often takes up to six months. They use a hull moisture meter of some sort to tell when the hull is dry enough. If you gel over wet glass, it will just blister again in the same spot.

Any chance you've used that bunk lube stuff on your trailer?

[1suprassv]

No, no bunk lube. The last repair, at least what I was able to witness, gelcoat and part of the fiberglass was removed. Are you saying that all the fiberglass should be removed? I literally have this problem the length of all 4 bunks from the rear to roughly halfway down the bottom, under the driver seat so to speak. Removing all fiberglass would at some point involve the structural integrity of the boat like the stringers and such. This seems like a much deeper rooted problem than simply cutting out 4 strips, 6-8" wide and 5-7' long. I'm no rocket scientist but if Volvo told me they were going to cut out part of the bottom of my XC90 then we'd have REAL issues like trade mine for one just like it and no problem! Correct me if I'm wrong but removal of a one piece structural unit or parts/pieces thereof I find difficult to swallow. I compare it to building bridges. One the structural column holding spans up needs replacing, they don't cut it out, they rebuild the entire bridge. Very similar in nature only different parts/pieces. The hull is designed as a one piece unit not parts to a whole. I don't want a new boat, love mine, but this problem isn't comforting and irritates me everytime I swim around it checking on its progress.

[DKJBama92Mariah]

No, not at all. They just remove the gelcoat down to the fiberglass and maybe enough glass just to rough it up. Then they just have to let the boat sit until the fiberglass is dry; that is the part that can take months. This is why blister repair is done over the off season. It sucks it takes so long, but this is simply how it has to be done to prevent the blisters from reappearing.

Personally, I would not take a fiberglass or gelcoat repair to a dealer. If someone is gonna grind on my boat, it's gonna be a REAL boatyard.