Hull Chips/Bubbles?

[atv_freak]

I looked at an 07 SX230 yesterday and the hull (below the waterline) is full of small bubbles and chips... hundreds of them. Looks like gelcoat blisters? Has anybody else had issues like this and what are the options. For what it's worth I would be trailering the boat full time.

 

[tdonoughue]

Wild. I am betting the gelcoat was not put down properly or something. Never seen anything like it. Can't imagine it is a cheap or easy fix. Probably grind off the gel and regelcoat it...

 

[zipper]

That is not gelcoat. It is a bad white paint job over blue gelcoat or paint? It looks blue in the chips. It should not be. The gelcoat should be white there. Chips thru the gelcoat into the glass/resin do not show as blue. What color is the topside. Maybe someones attempt at primer/epoxy paint? Those are not hull blisters. I have never seen anything like that on an unpainted Yamaha FRP hull. Very strange...more pictures above and below the waterline might help. The fiberglass under the gelcoat is this color, not the blue I see in the picture.

 

[atv_freak]

Interesting. It is blue showing in the holes. It's the blue color scheme above the water line... I figured the blue gelcoat covered the whole hull and then the normal white gelcoat on the bottom covered the layer of blue.

 

[swatski]

Yep, what @zipper said. this is not gel coat blisters (good); those are different - and total destruction. Someone apparently painted the hull, not very well (bad).

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[atv_freak]

So then it looks like there is at least 2 coats of paint on there... One white and one blue? I guess that requires sanding to remove? Or is there stripper that wouldn't hurt the gelcoat?

 

[zipper]

Interesting. It is blue showing in the holes. It's the blue color scheme above the water line... I figured the blue gelcoat covered the whole hull and then the normal white gelcoat on the bottom covered the layer of blue.

I have the same boat, except the color and the AR version (tower). Mine is orange and my color scheme is per factory, minus the graphics. At/below the waterline the hull is white and the Orange on the topsides only, or in your case the blue should stop short too. I would sand a small area and see what is under there. Don't start too aggressive on the sand paper, but go there if you need to.

 

[atv_freak]

So this is a boat that is for sale. It would definitely be a project... but if I can get it for cheap enough it might be worth taking on.

 

[Sbrown]

If it is gel coat blistering, also known as water blisters, there is a pretty simple fix for it if you're at all handy. I personally think it actually is gelcoat blistering, and having dealt with it before I am somewhat familiar with the symptoms and the repair. If you can get it for a good price, I wouldn't be afraid of it, especially if you're putting it on a trailer

 

[atv_freak]

That's what I was hoping to hear... how did you fix your water blisters? I've read a bunch of different ways to fix them from just filling them in to removing everything and starting over.

 

[swatski]

If it is gel coat blistering, also known as water blisters, there is a pretty simple fix for it if you're at all handy. I personally think it actually is gelcoat blistering, and having dealt with it before I am somewhat familiar with the symptoms and the repair. If you can get it for a good price, I wouldn't be afraid of it, especially if you're putting it on a trailer

So, is this white blistering gelcoat in the picture a second coat (or it would be first factory coat)?
I'm so curious now, lol. it just didn;t even occur to me it could be gel coat blisters, blistered boats I had seen in person looked nothign like this , much worse, and involved swelling and delamination down to fiberglass and just big, ugly bubbles - something that could be fixed with layers of epoxy but really a pro-shop job.
Thanks for clarifying, sounds like you know what you are talking about.

 

[Sbrown]

That's what I was hoping to hear... how did you fix your water blisters? I've read a bunch of different ways to fix them from just filling them in to removing everything and starting over.

If time was of the essence and it had to go back in the water to stay in a slip, you would typically grind the blisters off to get the water out, let dry a couple days, re-fair the bottom and then epoxy barrier coat and bottom paint. If you are keeping it on a trailer, just leave it alone for a couple of weeks, the bottom will dry out on its own, then sand the bottom fair, and then apply an epoxy barrier coat, usually with a roller and then tipped with a brush. The epoxy coat can be tinted any color you want. You can then paint it with bottom paint if you want to, but generally speaking trailered boats don't usually get bottom paint. The whole process is no more difficult than painting the bottom, really. At least for those kind of blisters.

Now if you had bigger blisters, say bigger than a quarter in diameter, that is a sign of delamination and as @swatski indicated, a whole other ballgame, repair-wise. Definitely not an easy DIY repair. If that were the case, my advice would be to pass it by.

The gelcoat our boats are made of, and most other Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP in Yamaha terms, or more commonly just "fiberglass") use as well is made from a polyester resin, which while it is highly water resistant, is not actually water proof So in my neck of the woods it is somewhat common to find hull blisters on boats that were wet slipped without any bottom paint. Usually what causes the chipping you are seeing is when the hull is unable to dry out completely before freezing weather hits. The expanding, freezing water pops the skin of the blister off and leaves those nasty little pockmarks.

 

[atv_freak]

Well just to follow up... I contacted a reputable fiberglass shop in my area and they said they recently did a bass boat with very similar issues (removed all the gelcoat and resprayed it) and the bill was $9k!

The seller said $13k was their bottom dollar which was not low enough for me (it also needs new upolstery). I'm in no hurry so we'll see if they are willing to come down further with time.

 

[swatski]

I'm not surprised, those are labor intense projects for sure.
Interesting what @Canuckjetboater said though, maybe it is paint?

@anmut All of my other NON- jet boats were gel coat which I could match from Spectrum but RIVA and Yamaha said the bottoms of the Yamahas were now a paint NOT a spray-on gel coat finish.