Posted by Art Quade (aquade@…>)
Hi Dave,
Although I have not had blister repair experience, I would suggest leaving
the bilge free of any absorbent material. Let a well ventilated cabin do
the trick. Any material you place in the bilge, it too will become moist
and prevent normal evaporation from taking place. Plus it’s going to be a
pain to clean out.
I’m sorry I do not have any useful advice to offer regarding the real issue.
I hope someone offers sound and useful advice.
Art
“Simple Thoughts”
-----Original Message-----
From: freedom21@yahoogroups.com [mailto:freedom21@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of dkrogers11
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 1:08 AM
To: freedom21@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [freedom21] Blisters from keel to sump (see album)
Greetings all,
I am figuring that someone else out there may have dealt with a
similar problem. I picked up my Freedom 21 (first sailboat) last
weekend and didn’t realize the extent of a blister that was found on
the bottom port side of the keel.
Upon sanding and anti-foul painting the bottom side I found a
blister in the fiberglass. Easy fix at that point… narl out the
blister lines until they end with a pneumatic bit, clean, dry, and
reglass the whole. After sanding and anti-fouling it was just like
new on the bottom half. Well, in the cabin around the sump area
just above the keel was a rather large blister crack (the edges of
the crack protrude ¼ inch upwards) that I did not see when I first
bought the boat… lesson learned for future inspections. After a few
calls to builders of hulls/yachts from a friend of mine I found out
the etiology of the flaw was probably from the initial blister in
the lower keel. Most likely the lower blister that was not cared
for early enough let in water. This water ran upwards along side
the lead keel through the glass and when winter hit the low
temperatures caused expansion of the ice and blew the upper portion
of the glass above the keel (See album ‘Blisters from keel to
sump’). Another good lesson learned for myself through another’s
mishap is the reason to find and repair blisters sooner than later.
During discussions with the hull builder in the Niagara Region of
Ontario he mentioned that one sure method of repair if a
professional was hired to do it would be to store the boat in a
heated garage over the winter to dry out the glass and the keel
($$$), and then after a few months drill, chisel, vacate, clean, and
refill the area above the keel in the sump ($$$). He did mention
that it was excellent design that the Freedom 21 keel was built with
lead verses cement! Another method of doing it if the owner (and
friends) were handy would be to drill and narl out the crack
(blister) until it ends, spend the summer drying it out, and when
fall comes devote a bit of time to vacate, clean, and refill the
area with high grade glass in layers. This second method was only
suggested upon learning that all measurements of the keel indicated
that it was straight, perfectly center, and having no cracks where
the keel merges with the underside of the boat.
At this point the sump is technically dry of any water that was
seeping up from the hole in the sump and it has not refilled with
any water for a couple of days. To continue to dry it out the plan
is to add kitty liter to the area and replace it when it’s either
damp or every few weeks to get the rest of the moisture out of the
hole to prepare for a fall fix.
If any have experienced such problems I am all ears to learning how
others have dealt with it, and will endeavor to keep you up to speed
on the repair of a huge problem if left unrepaired.
Regards to all,
Dave Rodgers
Any indication how this blister happened? My boat seem to be taken out for winter storage every year before I got her but I intend to keep her in the water through next two seasons. Wonder if I will get blisters