I'll weigh in on the barrier coat discussion with another (long) opinion (which is worth exactly what you paid for it!) I can tell you from experience that blisters are something that you do not want to deal with. Period. It is either an extremely expensive repair to have someone else fix the problem, or and expensive, time consuming,physical,dirty, nasty job to do yourself. Don't believe me? then check this link.... _http://havasumontgomerys.piczo.com/?g=20711458&cr=1_ (http://havasumontgomerys.piczo.com/?g=20711458&cr=1) Granted...I was dealing with a worse case scenario (26 straight years in warm salt water 24/7/365), but nevertheless, you don't want to go down this road if you don't have to! I promise you. I was the Asst. Manager of a West Marine (Worst Marine???) for three years and helped many a customer who was dealing with the blister dilemma over that time. It's a bad deal no matter what level you deal with it at. One of the problems when dealing with the decision of whether or not it barrier coat is that you can't judge the ability of your particular hull to resist blistering based upon the performance of your buddy's similar boat. Every hull is a different lay-up and may react differently depending on the quality control of the rein mixture. The blistering process begins with osmosis drawing water behind the gelcoat into microscopic voids or pockets. The problem really begins when the water interacts with minute amounts of uncured resin or hardener that may be left within the cured resin from minute variations of the original hardener/resin mix ratio. If everything was not mixed exactly in the right ratios, there may remain miniscule amounts of uncured resin or hardener within the cured resin. When the water enters these pockets there is a chemical reaction with the uncured resin. Here's where the real problem starts. When the water and resin interact they produce an acid that has a molecular structure that is larger in size than original water molecule. So, that porosity that allowed the water to enter in now acts like a one way door. Water can get in, but the newly formed acid cannot get back out. The acid now starts to work it's way through the resin which causes the blister to start to swell. When the blister swells it causes it to draw more water in, which causes more acid, which causes more swelling, which draws more water....you can see where this is going. It's a self perpetuating cycle. Some boats will resist blistering for years upon years, while others will show signs within a season. You just aren't going to know until the boat sits in the water. Additionally, hulls that were laid up during the years of the first gasoline shortages seem to be more prone to blistering, as the newer and more resistant vinylester gelcoats were not in play, and resin manufacturers were manipulating formulas to use less petro-chemical products in the formulation of the resins to keep costs down. The newer vinylester resins reportedly due a superior job of resisting blisters. Barrier coat such as Interlux 2000E forms an actual watertight shell around your hull. BUT, only if you apply it to the required 10mil dry film thickness. That usually requires 4-5 coats. If you want it really smooth, and you are applying by roller like I did you will need to apply a couple of extra coats so you can come back and remove the roller stipple without taking the thickness below the required 10mils. At $120/gallon it's not a cheap product. In my opinion applying it in any other manor than that specifically called for by the manufacturer is a waste. That includes prepping the area with the specified proprietary cleaning products even though they too are expensive. Why? 'Cause I can't tell you how many customers I had who were smarter than the manufacturer and had their own application methods and shortcuts which saved them hundreds of dollars and hours of time. Of course I'm sure you figured out already that those were the customers almost every time that returned to the store crying the blues about how the product didn't work, didn't stick, wasn't worth a darn, etc. Then they had to go through the not-to-enjoyable process of removing the mess they had created just to get back to a bare hull so they could start over and do it right. Also, if it takes 10 mils to get it watertight, which is the goal, why would you even consider applying it thinner, thus spending all that money but not getting the protection you desire? One other thing to consider is that working on a lapstrake hull is MUCH more labor intensive then a smooth hull. You only want to do it once. Cleaning out the angles between the strakes is extremely difficult and unpleasant work. The barrier coat works when applied and applied correctly. It should prevent you from having to ever go through the blister process. One caution though: Make sure your hull is DRY before applying the barrier coat. Dauntless was taken to a boat yard about three years prior to us purchasing her, for a blister problem. The boat yard suggested grinding and filling the large blisters and then a barrier coat before bottom paint. The previous owner had this done and I am sure it wasn't cheap. Well, to a boatyard time is money. They get paid when the job is done. Although some blisters were filled, nothing was given ample time to dry out. Drying laminate in a humid atmosphere like Florida takes a long time.....months. I'm not sure how long they dried her out but it wasn't long enough. They sealed her up with barrier coat and applied bottom paint. I'm sure she looked great when she went back into the water. Unfortunately, she blistered right through the barrier coat from the backside due to the laminate not being dry. Do it right the first time. After many hours of stripping her hull back to the original gelcoat, we let her sit with the blisters ground out in the AZ dessert air. The single digit humidity eventually got her dried out but it took months. Then I waited a couple more months to be sure before filling the blisters and re-applying the barrier coat. We are going on three years now. She is kept in a wet slip for 6 months each year and sailed for many extended trips throughout the other 6 months of the year. We have not had a single sign of any blisters at all. So that's my take on barrier coat. My experience is that applied correctly it works. If you are not going to follow the manufacturers directions exactly, you might as well throw your money in the garbage can and you'll be ahead of the game. The when you hull blisters, you at least won't have to sand all that stuff you applied incorrectly off before you start the blister repair process. Bottom paint.....that's a whole other discussion! However, if you are not needing anti-fouling protection you can barrier coat and leave it at that. I had another boat that I did that to and it made a nice light grey bottom. I conferred with an Interlux rep before doing this and they said it was no problem. Sure does make keeping the boat on the trailer look more enticing, doesn't it? But, you'll never use your boat like you will if it's in the water, rigged and ready to go. It's totally worth it. Good luck! Sean Montgomery 23 "Dauntless" **************New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your destination. Dining, Movies, Events, News & more. Try it out (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000002) _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
