What is the best way to reseal a fiberglass hull?

[Commander-147]

About 10 or 12 years ago the previous owner of my commander 26 decided to have a barrier coat applied to his boat. When the yard was stripping the hull to apply the barrier coat I believe they sand blasted it. I believe that because of what I am finding now as I sand through the barrier coat. In the picture you will notice a pink filler. Where ever they went through the gel coat completely they covered it up with this pink filler. It smells like polyester resins when you sand it. Note the wet spots in the pink filler where it is still weeping.

I'm not sure if it was the result of the yard's work or something else but something allowed water to seep into the hull. The inside of the keel was filled with poured in expanding foam. The foam became water logged and with this boat residing in Vermont where winters freeze hard the entire lower area of the keel has become crazed.

I am digging out the water logged foam from the keel. And plan to repair and seal the keel once more. So my question for this forum is how do I best do that? From what I have been told so far it sounds like I need to remove the rest of the gel coat and put a layer of 6oz. cloth with epoxy resin on the out side and then fair it up and redo the barrier coat. In addition I was told it might not be a bad idea to do the same on the inside which is a much more difficult task.

Do you guys agree with what I'm being told or is there a better way?

[Oscar]

Water + freeze is one of the most destructive forces of nature. Over time whole mountain ranges come down.....

I agree with the outisde strategy. I would remove the foam on the inside and get it as dry as possible. There is no structural damage, nor are you even close, so the inside doesn't need reinforcing. I does need to be as dry as possible. Do that, go sailing. Evaluate.

[Rachel]

Although, do I understand you correctly in that water is seeping from the inside of the boat (bilge) to the outside of the boat (hull) through the laminate? If so, that's not a usual condition, and might warrant further discussion/addressing.

To be sure I'm clear in my understanding, is the area in question a "false" keel (i.e. a separate compartment that does not connect directly to the inside of the boat) or is it a part of the regular, connected-directly-to-the-bilge hull?

Rachel

[Commander-147]

Rachel

Yes water is weeping out thanks to the poured in place foam that Pearson put in the keel during the manufacturering process. The foam got water logged and I am in the process of removing it from the keel. But if water can seep out it can also seep in. And thanks to the damage done to the gelcoat on the keel by previous bottom jobs before I bought the boat I now need to seal the fiberglass once again.

The keel is part of the hull and the ballast was installed in the forward half of it. The aft end was filled with the foam.

[Oscar]

Water seeping out or weeping blisters is not the same thing, although I suspect the latter.

[Commander-147]

Oscar

After researching this situation for much of the weekend I plan to follow your suggestion to seal the outside and get the foam out of the inside and let it dry out and then leave it alone. Your voice was a confirming vote for what I was already coming to understand.

The thing I did not realize until my research this weekend was that fiberglass needs to breath much like wood which takes on and gives off moisture content over it's entire lifetime. I've been a woodworker most of my life and knew this about wood but did not realize fiberglass did it also. So the last thing I want to do is seal both sides of the glass so the moisture in the FRP cannot escape without causing damage somewhere.

As far as your last post on this subject, I'm sure I don't know which it is. I do know that the weeping has stopped in the areas where the foam is gone. Who knows it may be both.

[Oscar]

The thing I did not realize until my research this weekend was that fiberglass needs to breath much like wood which takes on and gives off moisture content over it's entire lifetime. I've been a woodworker most of my life and knew this about wood but did not realize fiberglass did it also. So the last thing I want to do is seal both sides of the glass so the moisture in the FRP cannot escape without causing damage somewhere.

That's the way I see it too. And not so much not sealing the inside as not having a constant supply of moisture there. If you completely encapsulate when the wood/FRP is dry, you're OK, which is what Pearson did, and how many plywood/glass boats are built. Once it developed a leak somewhere, and got soaked, the deterioration began. On the tri I am rebuilding, most of the blisters on the outside were where the soaking wet core was on the inside. Yes, FRP is porous. That's why there's a gelcoat on the outside. It is, allegedly, waterproof. Epoxy is much more waterproof.

You won't kill it or sink it by fixing the outside and leaving the inside and going sailing. If it takes care of the problem, good, if not you can always get more drastic down the road. At least you'll have had some sailing.