My baby has a bunch of blisters - getting them fixed at the yard

k9medic

Active Member
Mar 27, 2013
597
Florida
Boat Info
1998 420 Aft Cabin
Engines
twin 3116 CATs
I had my 420AC hauled out on Monday to have a bottom job done on it as well as some cosmetic fiberglass repairs around the exhaust outlet.

Yesterday I received a call from the boat yard telling me that there were a bunch of blisters on the hull. I knew from the prebuy last year around this time that there were blisters but figured I would get to them a little at a time.

The yard guy made the recommendation that I focus on them now rather than have the other fiberglass areas repaired since the blisters can only get worse.

I told him that I had an absolute budget of $3500 for repairs to include the bottom job which was already quoted at $2100 including the haul out and 5 days in the yard.

At first I got some push back on the cost of the repairs but we found common ground when he figured out that I'm just an ordinary guy and that I played an indirect part in taking care of his dad in the hospital.

Today he called me with some good news/ bad news about it. The bad news is that I wound up with a total of 90 blisters of all sizes that they are going to repair. The good news is he said he will stick to his original quote of $3500!

In my eyes this is an amazing deal.

What say you?
 
I had a bunch of blisters, not nearly as many as you, noticed on a haul-out two summers ago during which I was already planning some fiberglass work. This was at a Sea Ray dealer. Even though I was (just) past warranty, they worked with Sea Ray which covered the repairs. We also found a leak on one side around the shaft tube; I was told this is a common problem. Sea Ray also covered re-glassing for both. I know your boat is a couple of years older but it might be worth it to see if Sea Ray will chip in.

It was explained to me that my "blisters" were very shallow imperfections related to the process for bringing the boat out of the mold and not generally very serious. I think there are more serious and deeper blisters that require more extensive repair. Your price might have been related to the kind of "blisters" you've got but I think you might need to make sure of the kind you have and that the repairs aren't done too cheaply so as to mask problems that will come back later. Perhaps someone more knowledgable can elaborate on the difference, if any, and other things you need to consider.

Edit: Just realized that 2005 was the year of your dinghy. A 1998 boat would probably be a stretch to ask the manufacturer to repair.
 
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I had 4 yards quote my 94' 330 DA to sand blast and paint my bottom. Cheepest was $3500, highest was $4700. This is for sand blasting and repainting with interlux epoxy barrier coat. This was for a 33' x 11.5' boat with no blisters. Depending on the bottom paint they are using, I think your quoted price is good considering what my local yards were charging. I desided to paint my own bottom the yard to sand blast, I'll let everyone know how this turns out this April.
 
the bottom job quote came out to $50 per foot so it was not that bad of a price. I had another marina quote me $30/ foot and I was seriously thinking about going there. It's a good thing I didn't. That marina's travel lift straps broke on Monday!
 
Sounds really cheap to me. I looked at a 40' Sundancer and it had about 150 blisters on the bottom and the repair cost was going to be $10,000. So I walked away. However I did learn a lot. To correctly repair blisters you want to grind them open and let them dry. This can take as much as three months on the hard. I didn't want to buy a boat and have it sit there for three months while the blister dried. Then because the gel coat was porous, you really want the apply a barrier coat to completely seal the gel coat from the water. If you really look into a completely non permeable barrier coat it can be 5 coat of epoxy paint applied at precisely the right intervals and the right temperatures. If done properly, this will cure your blister problem. If not done correctly you will likely have a recurrence of blisters. So, if you can get it all done and done correctly for that price that's great, but I'd check around and make sure that it is going to be done right because you won't want to do it again. Are they willing to warrantee the work?

Good luck,

Pete
 
I picked up the boat last week and it looked really good. The owner said he was only able to take care of about half of the blisters and the rest could be taken care of at a later time. They were doing this same repair to several boats in the yard at the time and the yard has been doing it a while so I am hopeful that it was done correctly.

The bill showed "repair of 45 blister/ 50% discount applied, remainder to be taken care of during next bottom job."

It's funny how much crud will slow you down at WOT! There was some growth (fresh water) on the bottom and I lost 7 kts. from it. With a clean bottom I was hitting 24kts WOT and cruising at 17.5kts!!!
 

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