Comments on: Blisters

By: bruce warren

bruce warren — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:42:46 +0000

I too have a Valiant with blisters and have learned to live with them. My list of priorities re work is SSCC [ Seaworthyness, Safety,Comfort and Cosmetic] All i’ve read, including an article by a long time boat surveyor is that the Valiant blisters are not classic osmatic blisters and that there is no record of any boat having hull damage due to blistering. Thus I’ve put the blisters in the the Cosmetic priority which means I may get to it before I die.

I enjoy your blog and wish you well on your journey.

By: Maintenance Log for Syzygy » Our first weeping blister

Maintenance Log for Syzygy » Our first weeping blister — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:19:15 +0000

[...] Blisters [...]

By: admin

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:58:31 +0000

Your plan sounds very thorough. Claims of why the blisters are happening are suspect–especially the fire retardant resin argument. But it doesn’t really matter where they came from, right?

We haven’t had to deal with the blisters ourselves, though our boat received the strip and reglass treatment before we bought it. With Valiants, the blisters return as often as not. What thickness of the vinyl-ester material will you end up with? Someone told us that if our blisters never returned, it would only be because of the thickness of the glass that covers over the bad layers (the idea being that new blisters still form, but they are confined below the new glass, which is thick enough to not “print through” and reveal the blisters).

If we get blisters, we won’t have the money or time to do anything about them, so we will live with them until it feels like they might sink the boat.

best of luck, I don’t envy the enormity of the project that you’re starting. I support the plan, sounds like you know exactly what to do.

By: George L. Busony

George L. Busony — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:25:11 +0000

I’m having blister problems with a 40′ Willard hull vintage 1973. Surveyors claim problem is caused by fire retardant resin used in the mfg. I have had the top layer of glass stripped and I’m in the process of grinding out thousands of blisters, nasty job; the surface looks like a lunar landscape. The plan is to build up the blisters with glass matt then fair the hull with a faring compound (structural product that contains glass fibers, red in color) I’m not yet sure of the name of this product. The entire below waterline area is to then be washed with baking soda to neutralize acids that may be present then to throughly dry out the hull. The entire area will then be covered with two layers of vynal-ester material then apply at least two coats of epoxy barrier coat followed by two coats of good bottom paint. Comments or suggestions will be very much appreciated, thanks.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:45:01 +0000

Matt & 2 Jons:

While there are many opinions as to the reason underlying the Valiant’s particular type of blisters, I think one explaination (albeit with several possible causes) really sums it up.

The Valiant blisters are NOT osmotic water blisters (ie, not due to seawater penetrating the gel coat via osmosis). They are accumulations of uncured or poorly-cured resin that migrate (also through osmosis) to the surface just under the gel coat where they form blisters. There are two main theories why the Valiants are prone to this. 1) the fire-retardant Uniflite used may have inhibited proper curing. 2) Valients were made during the oil crisis of the mid 70s, and good quality resins were hard to come by. Either theory has merit, and the most likely cause is probably some combination.

Good news is that two things happen as the boat ages. 1. the resin continues to cure, so less uncured resin exists to form new blisters, and 2. most of the uncured resin has already caused blisters, so less is available to cause more!

Another result of the Valiant type of blisters is they don’t need water to form. Thats why some of the early Valiants also have blisters above the waterline and on deck structures. But again, new blisters become much less likely as the boat ages.