I got blisters, bad :(

[REBMystic]

Well, I knew this was going to be a bit of a project boat, but did not expect this. This week I had the yard soda blast the bottom to have it barrier coated and new bottom paint. The old bottom paint was patchy and not adhering well. 2 previous boats I had barrier coated with great results. Anyhow, the soda blasting did a great job at popping them. Yard said they were dry. The most affected areas: Transom is very bad. Keel in aft half is bad, and a few areas up in the bow not far from the bow thruster. My boat is a 2001 31TE, twin engine. Another Albin in our yard was blasted at the same time, a 2003 28 TE. It's hull looked great. Zero blisters. (50-50-90....) FYI my boat spent a good portion of it's life in AL and FL. When I bought it, the survey showed no visible signs of blisters or delamination (tap testing). (moisture meter not used since boat was in water and just pulled)

Spring commissioning will be a number of weeks later than I had expected I'm familiar with blisters in theory, but never repaired. Youtube has been great on seeing the range of methods. I will not be doing the full gelcoat removal, but should be able to grind out the affected areas to get good adhesion to filler. Wish me luck! Photo's attached for your viewing pleasure. (my boat blue bottom, Albin 28 white bottom) I'm here to help you feel better about your boat!

[Nancy]

>>I'm here to help you feel better about your boat! <<
Glad you're keeping your sense of humor!
But seriously, that's really not what you want to run into during spring commissioning. You'll get there, though, and you'll know it's repaired the right way.

[Jkraft]

You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last. Yours does not look great but there is a 46 post on the hard next to me that looks about ten times worse. You will get through it and have one less thing to worry about. Good luck and take pictures as you progress for us.

[REBMystic]

Project update: Before grinding on Tuesday evening, I definitely saw wet spots in the gelcoat near the affected areas. That told me there were still un-popped blisters. Attached photos are after first round of grinding. You can still see some dark spots / un-popped blisters. So I have more grinding / sanding to do. Looks like I will need to get pretty much all the way to fiberglass in these area. I noticed the gelcoat was super thick in some spots, especially the keel. Once I get them all sanded out, I'll wash it well, clean with alcohol and let it dry for a week or two. This BoatUS article I found is the most straightforward on how to fix. I like it's suggestion on how to check for moisture. https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/ex ... ter-repair