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Gel Coat Chip


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Hi Guys.

 

I recently bought a little variant yacht.

 

Before purchasing it I had it lifted out of the water for a visual inspection.

 

A area of concern was a gel coat chip about the size of a poker chip. It was very fresh. Had no fouling or any staining at all. It was either a blister that came off under water pressure, or more likely, the lift operator smashed it off with his spade when removing the barnacles. He was throwing around a lot of force. The boat was then slipped back into the water.

 

Anyway, my question is this. How concerned should I be with this exposed fibre-glass? Does this boat need to come out of a water ASAP? or would a few more weeks, maybe a month or two make little difference?

The chip is situated below the waterline. The balsa core was not exposed.

 

I could see no glass matting, just the natural beige-brown of fibreglass/resin.

 

The more time to prepare before pulling her out the water the better.

 

Thanks

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No there is no rush. It is purely cosmetic.

When it comes to repair, you can attack it in two ways. Either gel coat again in the hole, which takes a little skill coupled with a few tricks if you want a nice finish, or you can simply fill with filler and touchup paint the area if you want to do it simply.

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Below the waterline Wheels,

 

 

Below the water line??

How long does it take for water to penetrate naked fibreglass? And how far does it ingress?

 

(paranoia creeping in)

 

Cheers guys :)

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Gidday cowlum,

 

If it was my boat, I would be a bit uneasy about what is going on, including whether that spot was already raised a bit to have been picked up by the edge of the spade (if that is how it occurred).

 

I'm guessing it was you doing the visual inspection and not a surveyor?

 

I am definitely not using the o-word (or worse still, the p-word) especially given that you are talking about just the one spot. However this a good general article (written by a guy who is well respected) that will at least give you some background on GRP and how water can affect it.

http://www.mike-menzies-marine.co.nz/new_page_3.htm

 

I think I would be looking into ways to get the boat out for long enough to rinse it off, dry it and get some epoxy in there, especially if there is any likelihood that the timing of your full haulout might become three or four months.

 

Put it this way: I don't think you would end up regretting doing something about it sooner.

 

Sorry to give you the grim version, others might be more upbeat.

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Osmosis is a very different beast in how it acts internally inside glass. It is extreme pressure, over time and the main enemy was the acidic nature if the liquid inside that caused the Resin to break down. But now so much more is known about what why and how to fix, the old worries of Osmosis is pretty much gone these days. A decade ago there was so much scare mongering and massive amounts of money taken from scared boat owners thinking their pride and joy was about to turn to a pile of mushy fluff.

With this particular case, re gelcoat chipped, even if it was once an osmosis bubble, The resin itself is completely waterproof. Water will not go anywhere. Gelcoat is purely cosmetic and a UV protector to the Substrate. It is just like paint, but applied first and then the substrate, instead of biulding the substrate and finishing with paint.

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Great thanks guys. This is exactly the answer I was looking for.

 

I will take a cautious but non-hurried approach :)

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