The Gaffer's water barrier is compromised, volunteers needed

[The_Gaffer]

The Gaffer's water barrier is compromised.  As soon as she was on the road trailer today, I could see that part of the water barrier was peeling off the gelcoat.  This water barrier, by West Systems,  has been there for 6 seasons now.  It all needs to come off as I'm sure some water would have seeped in between the barrier and the gelcoat.  That's an open invitation to trouble (osmosis) if that water is left there and trapped with a new barrier coating.  So, all the barrier, including the one still adhering to the hull, has to come off!.
This is where I need your help.  Any volunteers for this task?.  If its four of us including me, we can take 1/4 of the hull each, and in a day, it would be ready.  Anybody willing to help out, get your vibrators, orbital sanders, scrapers...anything to sand down the barrier.  It should be a fun day, the_Gaffer will provide food and drinks!
I will be applying the same West System barrier again. But thats another story.
The_Gaffer will not forget your kind generosity, and will surely offer the 1st trip for Alungi on the house!!! 

[camkev]

 It should be a fun day, the_Gaffer will provide food and drinks!


Wowwwwww that's great fun   Joking mate!!!!

[benri]

Good idea The_Gaffer! Hope you get your volunteers.... If they are any surplus, I'm sanding the antifouling! :-)

[camkev]

Me too..very soon!!

[skip]

Usually you only remove everything completely if you're riddled with blisters. From what I read on West Systems site and online, if you have a patch that can be easily done, you just open up the area around it, down the glass fiber, let it dry out and then rebuild up. In terms of you worrying about water seeping between the barrier and the gelcoat, remember that many boats don't even use an anti-osmosis treatment and run for years! My inclination would be a total strip if you had problems all around, as West Systems should last far more than 6 seasons. Did you have any blisters or just a bonding issue?

Where abouts have you lost adhesion? Is it within the bilge area or a dry area when looking at it from the inside. One of the most important things is keeping the interior as dry as possible especially in bilge areas, places where there are water tanks that might leak. The recommended minimum is 20-mil barrier coat thickness, which should only need topping up if you have sanded the hull down alot. Each season when you do the antifouling do you sand it all off or just remove the top layer of previous antifouling?

It could be you have an isolated problem which can easily be repaired and then whilst you're at it you could always remove all the antifouling and apply another 2 coats of West Systems, but removing West Epoxy by hand will be very interesting!

If you're going down to the base gelcoat I would seriously consider soda blasting. A guy recently set himself up with the proper system which isn't invasive like sand blasting, uses bicarbonate of soda and gives you a nice even blast without the dangers associated with sand, I would be hesitant myself to sand down that far manually as I'd be worried about uneveness etc.

I found this guide quite interesting to reference http://209.20.76.247/ss/assets/howto-pub2/Gelcoat%20Blisters%20Diagnosis%20Repair%20and%20Prevention.pdf

[shanook]

I wouldnt dream of sanding down the west system its like sanding glass. Joe just clean the area and glass paper the rest for good adhesion and do the whole bottom with west system

[skip]

Tony the problem seems that the West System 6 coat that was applied didn't bond well to the gelcoat. In fact gaffer managed to remove a whole section just with a scraper which is a bit worrying.

However I tend to agree about the sanding glass issue! Hence I was thinking Soda Blasting

These are the guys who got the system from the US now in Malta http://www.sodablastmalta.com/

[shanook]

that dosnt sound good does it? West system is usually very reliable, I wonder why it didnt bond? yep i agree there are more than one that does soda blasting.

[skip]

You sure more than one that does Soda? As far as I know lots do sand blasting but not Soda blasting. You can't just use Bicarb of soda in a regular sandblasting machine.

[mike.d.]

put me down for a couple of hours, nothing much to do at moment.

[shanook]

mike d better contact Joe (The gaffer)

[mulett75]

Can you please inform when you intent to start this operation? I might find some time to give a helping hand.

[owenbullu]

as long as i don't come in contact with fibre glass particles you can count me in. but i don't have any tools, just let me know Gaffer

[fish-noob]

same here bro - fibrelass is a nono - tools i dont have but willing to help....

[visa]

Jo i would really check out the soda blasting, u loose nothing to check might not be that expensive,