On May 4, 11:20�pm, "yusuf" wrote:
Dear friends,

I have a question:
my boat has a high level of moisture in the hull but I don't see *blisters.
Somebody saya that in this situation is better dont do any treatment, any
epoxy barrier coat, because it can be even more dangereuse.
Others say to apply a thick epoxy barrier to decrease the volume of water
coming in the grp.
I'm a bit confused. What is your opinion and suggestion?

Fair wind.

Yus

What makes you think you've got a "high level of moisture" in the
hull?

A common mistake is the use of a moisture meter on gelcoat during a
haulout.
Always be slightly suspicious is the moisture meter is wielded by
somebody with a vested interest in selling you a $XXXXX.XX bottom
peel.

Gelcoat is porous. Water is supposed to pass through gelcoat.
Following a haul out you can nearly always get a high moisture content
reading on the gelcoat.

To *really* see whether you have a water saturated laminate, you need
to do a "test peel". Pick an area a couple of feet square, and rout
(peel) away the material to a depth sufficient to remove the gelcoat
and the skinout mat. Let that sit a day or so, (protected from rain,
pressure washers, etc) and *then* use your moisture meter on the
laminate. Far more often than not, the problem will have disappeared
along with the gelcoat. If no problem, glass over the test peel, apply
appropriate bottom paint, and away you go.

If a problem really exists, peel the hull down a bit and apply a
couple of layers of vinylester to build it back up. Whoever advised
you that simply throwing a barrier coat on a wet hull would be a waste
of time was correct...the good news is that the frequency of wet hull
syndrome is actually pretty rare. Some boatyards do dearly love those
120 "laydays" to dry out the hull, so before spending big $$$$$ on a
possibly less-than-objective analysis you might want to get a local
surveyor to look at it.......and even then perhaps get a second lcoal
opinion.