Blistering Hull

[dyvrman]

I was wondering if the members could shed some light on a bit of an issue I have?

I belong to a diving club and we have a 4 1/2 year old lovely 7 meter RIB called Delphys, she is lovely and handles really well, she's really responsive with the Suzuki 140 on the back, only trouble is, is that she's is showing signs of BLISTERING! The blistering is all over the hull and even above the waterline. She is kept in water year round but on a drying mooring so every couple of weeks she is dry for upto 4 hours, we've never anti fouled or put an additional epoxy coat on her.

Has anyone else had troubles of this nature on such a young boat, surely this should not be happening irrespective of any additional coatings!

At the moment I'm not willing to name and shame the manufacturer., I logged the complaint with the manufacturer 3 weeks ago but as yet I have not received any response !

[Poly]

Blistering sounds like osmosis, but rare on ribs and not normally seen above the waterline. A picture paints a thousand words so suggest you add some pics.

[ShinyShoe]

Osmosis blisters smell of vinegar when burst. The only time I've seen osmosis above the waterline the hull had been stored upside down for years.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by dyvrman

I was wondering if the members could shed some light on a bit of an issue I have?

I belong to a diving club and we have a 4 1/2 year old lovely 7 meter RIB called Delphys, she is lovely and handles really well, she's really responsive with the Suzuki 140 on the back, only trouble is, is that she's is showing signs of BLISTERING! The blistering is all over the hull and even above the waterline. She is kept in water year round but on a drying mooring so every couple of weeks she is dry for upto 4 hours, we've never anti fouled or put an additional epoxy coat on her.

Has anyone else had troubles of this nature on such a young boat, surely this should not be happening irrespective of any additional coatings!

At the moment I'm not willing to name and shame the manufacturer., I logged the complaint with the manufacturer 3 weeks ago but as yet I have not received any response !

How old is the rib ?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Chris

How old is the rib ?

4.5 yrs

[Mollers]

A GRP guy will know more about this, but I always thought that such gelcoat blistering was caused by the hull being laid-up in a damp environment. Not good, I'd be really getting at whomever built it.

[Searider]

Need some pictures

[dyvrman]

4 1/2 years

[whisper]

Sounds like osmosis.