"DSK" wrote in message
...

Harry Krause wrote:
BTW, no matter what anyone tells you or what you read, if you see
evidence of osmotic blistering on a boat you are thinking of buying,
move on.

Depends on the boat, depends on the blisters.


Chuck Gould wrote:
Please do tell how the typical gelcoat blisters found on most used
boats have a "far greater impact" than cosmetic.


I dunno about "far greater" impact, but one certainly sould not take it
for granted. After all, a fiberglass boat has a great deal of structural
integrity depending on the skin. That means any diminution of the skin is
diminishing the structure, no?



David Pascoe

ummm, yeah. Him.

One might want to take his web site with a grain of salt. He thinks diesel
engines have spark plugs and that pressboard is the same as laminated
composite.


after examining 4000 used boats with some degree of blistering he found
only about 10 where the blisters actually created an issue with
structural integrity.

Measured how?

I've seen blisters that were in the paint and not affecting the fiberglass
at all; I've seen some that were in the surface and either did not affect
the strength, or affected it very very little... and some that certainly
would affect the structural integrity of the boat, since they were almost
baseball-sized craters.

As for claims of affecting or not affecting the strength, the only way to
tell would be to place a load on the hull and measure the deflection, then
compare that result to a similar test result done when the boat was new.

Most boats do not get such loads under normal use, which is why you don't
hear much about blistered boats crumpling at sea. OTOH to buy a severely
blistered boat and head around Cape Horn, just to prove the boat's
strength, would probably not be smart.

Fair Skies
Doug King


I think the biggest effect blisters have is on the boat's resale value.

Eisboch