Interesting article on the obsession w/blisters

[matane]

From the above comments-makes you grateful to have a CD.
Looks like the CD22 I'm purchasing is ok- waiting for report, but he briefly informed me that there were no blisters, and the hull was in good condition and rudder showed no signs of problems. Only problem was a couple of spots- small- of delam toward, near the bow. I will negotiate that these be taken care of as a condition of purchase- which apparently wont be a problem.
Now... the trailer quest.

[bamabratsche]

That was a fun read, but I think he is mistaken on the relative advantage of mat vs. woven cloth. Chopped strand mat is the strongest fiberglass fabric you can use for yacht repair. It's even stronger if you blow fibers into a space and laminate them as was done on our boats. Fiberglass cloth provides very good abrasion resistance but not much strength except along the lines of fiber. The mat, with its random arrangement of fibers, is generally stronger in a hull-building application.

Sorry for the borderline lecture, but I would hate to see someone repair a hull based on his recommendation. When in doubt, see the West System repair manual -- it has never served me wrong.

This is different from what I have read elsewhere (Don Casey, Tim Lackey, etc.), and different from what I did when recoring my deck (two layers of 1708 biaxial cloth). So I got curious and looked around on the West System site, and found this:

"Thirty-five years ago, fiberglass boats were overbuilt by today's standards. Many boats were built primarily with chopped strand fiberglass and polyester resin. Chopped strand fiberglass is not very strong compared to the woven fabrics and stitched oriented strand fabrics used more recently."

Apparently fiberglass technology is continually evolving.

Speaking of Tim Lackey, it looks like he has a Typhoon in the queue for this spring (http://www.lackeysailing.com/logs.html#upcoming). Should be interesting.

[matane]

The article did answer many questions I had. Having said that...... my boat had no blisters in the survey.

[drysuit2]

Nice article. Thanks for posting.
My CD has had blisters for over 20 years now. They are the kind that oozes purple liquid when pierced. Every few years I think about soda blasting, or taking a sander to the hull from the waterline down. Then fairing the hull and barrier coating the bottom. But I never have the money, inclination, or the time...

So every other year when I haul her, I grind down just the blisters I can see. Let them dry out for a week or two, then slap on some silica thickened resin, and barrier coat around whatever I had ground down before I roll on the bottom paint.

Someday, I will do a full on repair, [probably before I sell her] but I just would rather be sailing.

[jbenagh]

I stand corrected. Thanks for setting the record straight!

Jeff