Hauling in South Florida, Blisters DIY yards

[tomrealest]

We keep the boat in Ft Lauderdale and I am overdue for blister work. My plan is to haul the boat after Memorial Day and leave it on blocks until late September or early October. I want to see how bad the blisters are, open the blisters and let them dry out over the summer. I also will check/replace thru hulls and other under water gear. The boat is a 1978 58' Yachtfish.

In the past I have felt like I have been taken by a couple of the yards in Ft Lauderdale. The final bills did not resemble the estimates even adjusting for change orders and surprises.

I had heard about a do it yourself yard somewhere near Stuart. Anybody know any thing about the yard or had experiences with them? Any REASONABLY priced yards with recommendations by anyone?

What is the preferred material to repair the blisters? If the moisture meters show the bottom is dried out in the fall, what are the recommendations for materials for a barrier coat?

Because the prices of these boats has dropped so much, I really question the practically of peeling the bottom. The link below is a very interesting read by a very good yard.

http://www.zahnisers.com/repair/blister/blister1.htm

Thoughts???

 

[ian w]

Try Playboy boatyard on the dania cut off canal

 

[saltshaker]

Check out Cracker Boys. I've never used them but others here have with good results.
http://www.crackerboyboatworks.com/

 

[J's Dream]

Check out Cracker Boys. I've never used them but others here have with good results.
http://www.crackerboyboatworks.com/

I've dealt with both Cracker Boy yards, and they're great for DIY. Last I was there, they required you to buy your bottom paint from them.

As for blister work, IMHO it's a waste of time and money. They're (almost) always non-structural.

 

[jim rosenthal]

if you want to do this, I'd recommend soda blasting the boat, or wet sandblasting with fine sand, to get all the paint off and see what you have. That will get some blisters opened up, but not all of them; you'll probably have to needle-gun the hull to do that. Then let it dry for several months, and then fill the blisters with something appropriate- you can use West epoxy and their blister additive, or VC Watertite, or 3M makes fairing compounds, too. Then roll on 10mils of Interprotect 2000 and you should be good for a while.

I would advise against peeling the bottom. I think it is a terrible idea, and you might talk to Tom Slane and see what he thinks. Just repair what you need to and leave it at that. With the diminishing value of these boats, fixing just what you need to is not a bad philosophy.

 

[saltshaker]

...Because the prices of these boats has dropped so much, I really question the practically of peeling the bottom.

The cost of maintenance is part of the cost of ownership and the value of the boat doesn't effect that, unless you are fixing it to sell. Do what is right for the boat and the problem you have. None of these boats make sense from a financial perspective. The fact that they are worth a lot less now only changes the percentage of total value each project cost. The bottom job cost about the same today as it did 5-6 years ago when the boat was worth more. As far as peeling goes, I wouldn't do it at any cost unless the bottom was delaminated.

 

[motoryacht lover]

I had a good experience at A&J boat works in Stuart. It is all the way at the end of manatee pocket. I also had my bottom sandblasted (no blisters, just paint buildup) and some other work done at Owl Creek boat works in Alva, FL. It is across the Okeechobee near Ft. Myers. He gave me a fixed price and stuck by it and I think his work was definitely above average. I would return to both yards. Also like somebody else said I have heard good things about Cracker Boy in Fort Pierce I think.

 

[Bugsy]

It's not cheap but we used River Bend on the New River in Ft.Lauderdale. We have a 43 Conv. and I think the storage cost including taxes was just over $800/mo. and remained there from June until mid-October.

There are contractors on site who can do the bottom work but you can also DIY.

We used to go to Indiantown on the Okeechobee but their monthly rates were increasing every time I turned around and by the time you figured in fuel cost and convenience, we were happy with our choice of River Bend.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Another DIY yard is Hurricane Cove Marina on the Miami River. I think this yard, Cracker Boy in West Palm, and Playboy on the Dania Cut just south of Ft. Lauderdale, are the only DIY yards in South Florida.

 

[thoward]

I have used Cracker Boys in Ft Pierce. Great folks, no problems.

 

[dastahl]

Yup Cracker Boy. Fair honest time sheets. DIY. Big lift. Lots of room.
Skooch

 

[ron6785]

if you want to do this, I'd recommend soda blasting the boat, or wet sandblasting with fine sand, to get all the paint off and see what you have. That will get some blisters opened up, but not all of them; you'll probably have to needle-gun the hull to do that. Then let it dry for several months, and then fill the blisters with something appropriate- you can use West epoxy and their blister additive, or VC Watertite, or 3M makes fairing compounds, too. Then roll on 10mils of Interprotect 2000 and you should be good for a while.

I would advise against peeling the bottom. I think it is a terrible idea, and you might talk to Tom Slane and see what he thinks. Just repair what you need to and leave it at that. With the diminishing value of these boats, fixing just what you need to is not a bad philosophy.

Are you sure the blisters are in your gel coat and not just in the paint?? If you sand or bust the blister and there is pain underneith and not gelcoat its in the paint

 

[tomrealest]

In the real estate business, so I have been broke for a few years and have not had her hauled. The last time we hauled her, she had a lot of quarter & silver dollar blisters. We opened them, let them dry out for a few days, filled them, painted and launched

This time I am thinking of hauling right after Memorial Day, opening all the blisters and letting the bottom dry out until October and then doing a moisture test on the entire bottom. Then filling them in, possibly putting on a barrier coat & bottom paint before launching.

I appreciate the recommendation for the yards. I will check them all out and make a decision in the next two weeks. I appreciate all of the help.

 

[spindrift]

Tom:



There have been a number of good articles in mainstream boating media about osmosis over the past 5 years. In the past, I have purchased (out of nine hulls) two boats, one a 38 footer the other a 52, that had osmosis. In both cases I had the yards do the work, as I did not have the time or inclination. The 52 job ran about 12k and the 38 was actually a bit more as I had to remove a layer of defective cloth 54 inches wide from bow to stern. These prices are about 12 years ago. I did look at a 53 Hatt up in Jacksonville 4 years back that needed the work and was obtaining bids of 18-22k. There is an old article about 5 years ago in Power and Motor Yacht that really walks you through the process. The good news is that recently there have been some good advances in key steps in the process that should ensure that you will get the job done correctly the first time. There are very specific steps that you have to follow. This is what I would suggest.

1) The key as stated above is to get the old paint off and soda blasting is the fastest way to go. You then can assess how bad the damage is. You most likely will have to remove the gel coat and maybe a bit of glass. As Hatts have a heavy layup, this will not pose any structural problems.

2) The interesting point is that you will need to wash the boat frequently to remove / flush the acid that has occurred in the layup. This is actually a byproduct of the osmosis (water wicking through a porous gel coat).

3) As part of step three you need to measure throughout the bottom the moisture content of hull. Washing the bottom with fresh water actually, this seems counterintuitive, assists in drying the hull out as you are removing the by-product acid from the layup thus reducing moisture readings. There are some interesting new techniques involving spot vacuum bagging (there was an article last month in Power and Motor Yacht about this) and steaming that accelerates the dry out.

4) Given the time, effort and money you are spending, I would arrange for an experienced surveyor or professional service manager from one of the yards to help you on the moisture reading. Once the moisture content evidenced by readings drops to the acceptable range you go to the next step.

5) Fill in with approved epoxy fillers any gauges left by the blister removing process. Then sand and prep.

6) Barrier coat. There are two schools; one says to use an epoxy barrier (the folks that make Awlgrip advocate this) and vinylester barrier. Everyone I have spoken to gives an advantage to the second. I know one yard in RI that actually does the vinylester barrier first followed by Epoxy coat.

7) Then apply your ant-fouling bottom paint. I would take a look at a new paint, again Power and Motor Yacht has commented on this, that is a very slick epoxy / silicon product. I spoke to Billy Smith at Trinity Yachts last week and he has tried it on his personal boats and notes that it is good for 3-5 seasons and has little slime and other marine growth buildup. You do need to use the boat at least monthly and run it above 8 knots. If you are going to just plop in the slip most of the time then this is not for you.

I know that some in this blog will advise you that you are wasting time and money due to the diminished market value of the older boat. However, every bona-fid marine surveyor that I have spoken with whom is top rated agrees that sooner or later you need to fix the osmosis problem. A rough bottom adds drag and increases resistance and fuel burn. As a former sailboat racer I can assure you that there is a reason why Americas Cup Yachts spend big money to obtain a slick bottom. For example, after I completed the bottom job on my old 52, I got close to an extra knot of speed out of her.

I am only offering you a cursory statement on what I think you need to do. You need to dig in and do a bit of research and talk to some qualified yard personnel, I would avoid the older guys because they may try to talk you out of doing this. I am 61 and do not take advice over anyone over 50 in the yards on technical stuff as many are too set in their ways.

Last, if after doing all this someone comes buy and busts your chops for doing it (frequently brokers and bloggers) then by all means borrow a very heavy winch handle from one of your sailboat neighbors in the yard (a double handled 10 inch type should do the trick) and whack the naysayer in torso (not the head you don’t want to go for the quick kill) hard. If he continues to bust your chops hit him again and stuff a 20-dollar bill in his pocket and point him back to boatyard bar. He most likely will then resume his drunken banter with a Marine Max Broker until they find another person taking proper care of their yacht whose chops they will bust with impunity as he will not be as prepared as you are (he will not have access to the heavy winch handle).

Best of luck on the project. It is a pleasure to see that you are thoughtfully taking care of your boat.

Spin

 

[saltshaker]

$300ft is the going rate for a basic bottom job. If the bottom is real bad and needs more work then that price will go up. That doesn't include the haul out and storage fees. If you decide to do it you must use a barrier coat to seal the hull. If you've opened blisters in the past and never sealed them, you probably need to do the bottom now. Most of the time, these old Hatts don't need a blister repair. But it sounds like you may need to based on the size of the blisters and the fact that you've opened them up in the past. If you soda blast the hull, you'll get a better assessment of the bottom and may not need blister repair. If you sand blast, you'll open up every little blister and typically will end up with a very porous gel coat that will need a barrier coat at the minimum. When I bought my boat, I was told the bottom was blistered. When we hauled the boat for the survey there were small blisters through out. After the bottom received a very aggressive power wash which removed a lot of the top layer of bottom paint, the blisters were gone. When I had the bottom done a few months later, there were no blisters. Start with a good power washing and then see what you have. If you have a lot of paint build up, then blasting is the way to go. Even if you don't need to do any blister repair, getting rid of the paint build up and having a smooth bottom will be well worth the effort.

 

[Boatsb]

Careful jack someone may hold you to that number site unseen.

By the way add in to the budget for things like running gear work. bearings and tuning add up. repacking the stuffing boxes or replacing the seals,

 

[saltshaker]

Careful jack someone may hold you to that number site unseen.

By the way add in to the budget for things like running gear work. bearings and tuning add up. repacking the stuffing boxes or replacing the seals,

That's why I said "basic bottom job" That's like saying 3K per hole for a rebuild. That number should work as long as the cores are all good. I saw the paper work to major 1 12V92 that locked up while running at 2000RPM. One bad block, crank shafts, a couple of heads that had no core value etc. Total bill was just under $120K. I had an estimate of around $5K to do some engine work on my boat when I bought it. Ended up running almost 15K in the end. Needless to say they did a lot more than we originally talked about. In the end it was money well spent and I was fine with the bill.

 

[Boatsb]

Your a wise man and a Gentleman. While your in there is an expensive process. The reality of boat ownership is "you never know for sure" especially on older boats. Sadly too many boats have been poorly maintained and when sold the new owner is in for a few surprises.

 

[saltshaker]

My boat was very well maintained and I'm trying to keep it that way.

 

[Boatsb]

It looked great when I saw it. Well except for one outrigger but ....


Jack it is cheaper to maintain it than restore it.