Interior blisters?

[Brent]

Here's the bilge of #66, aft, where the stuffing box would probably be on an inboard model. The grey object at the bottom of the picture is one of the lead pigs.

It appears that the water has been there for so long that the inside layer of fiberglass has blistered and separated from the rest. There's (obviously) still a bit of water down there (couldn't reach it with the shop vac), and I have not had the opportunity to get my hands in and examine it closely. I think it is just one or two layers--the hull seems to have no integrity problems from the outside.

I figure that I'll need to really dry it out down there and probably strip the blistered fiberglass out. Once that is done, I'll add a couple of new layers just to be safe.

Am I on the right track? Any suggestions as to how I should attack this?

[Brent]

Here's a closer, better lit shot:

[Bill]

It's my guess that by now the hull laminate is holding a bunch of water. Leaks from the bilge are one way that the water enters the hull laminate.

The fix is to totally dry the hull, repair and seal the bilge and then seal the hull with epoxy. Job shouldn't take more than four months :p

[Mike Goodwin]

Even the WEST system Bros. admit that vinylester resin is more water proof and quite a bit cheaper .
Plus it does not blush and is ready to sand in 45 minutes .
But we wont talk about the fumes !

[ebb]

If you tap it with a hammer and it sinks in:
It's a mushroom.
If you hit it with the hammer and it cracks,
It's Paint or Gluvit or Intersump.
If you hit it and you can see fabric,
God help us all.