I'm after some sage advice. Any and all advice, though, will be considered.

I've inherited a 26 foot GRP yacht currently moored in Canberra's biggest
lake. The boat hasn't been sailed in over 5 years, but is largely complete.

Apart from seagull poop, it needs new ropes, paint and most woodwork but the
hull looks OK and she sits in the water fine, too. It has sails, most
standing rigging, but the mast blew down and the step needs to be
reinstated.

The paint above the waterline is crazed, but the fibreglass down to the
waterline looks fine all round (no bubbling.) Below the waterline is a lot
of algae.

The problems a

a) I don't have a tender at the moment. The dinghy I was given was in worse
(!!) condition and I'm currently repairing it. Currently accessing the boat
by kayak.

b) I'm going overseas for 12 months come January.

c) Until 2005, I don't have much spare cash (I'll have a bit more when I get
back.)

So I've got 2 months to do what I can. At some point this boat needs to come
out of the water for a full repaint, and to be checked for osmosis.

My options are to either take it out now, clean it/paint it, then leave it
on stands for a year before finishing the job. Or clean it where it floats,
go away for a year, come back, take it out, and clean it up, fix it up and
paint it. I'd rather do the second option, but I'm worried things might get
worse if she's left in the lake.

So, my questions a

- Is it likely the hull has some osmosis? (AFAIK, it's mostly a salt water
thing, right?)

- If I just clean it up a bit (no more seagull poop or grass growing in the
cockpit, clean bilge and working pump - preferably auto/solar) and leave it
for a year, how likely am I to generate any new problems? I have
friends/family who can check on her for me.

- What haven't I thought of in restoring it?

Any and all relevant advice would be nice.

Cheers,

Angus

Haul the boat, clean up the bottom and check for osmotic blisters. If any are
present the hull will need to be completely dried. The year you are overseas
would be an ideal period for the hull to dry, Upon your return you could make
the blister repairs immediately thus saving a long wait after your return.

Seek professional advice before attempting any blister repair.

If there are no blisters you will not have wasted any time nor effort as you
will have to haul the boat at some point in order to inspect it and to apply
antifoulant.

Good luck.

Butch

I'm afraid checking for blisters is not enough -- the hull can be wet
without any blisters showing. It is typical here (Boston, USA) to check
boats with a moisture meter after they have been hauled and the surface
dried. If there is any significant difference between the moisture reading
above and below the waterline, the hull should be dried and barrier coated.

With that said, Angus has left out some important information -- how old is
the boat and who built her? The osmosis problem began to be recognized as
serious in the eighties, so the later the boat and the better the
manufacturer, the less likely you have a problem, as there was a gradual
shift to the more resistant (and more expensive)vinylester resins.

Swee****er, our Swan 57, built 1982 was wet (no blisters) when we bought
her. While Nautor is a top quality manufacturer, 1982 was a little too
early and, also, she had spent eight years in the Caribbean. We stripped
the bottom paint, tented the bottom, and ran two dehumidifiers under her
while we were doing the refit. When she was dry, we applied an epoxy
barrier coat. This is a lot of work and your 26 footer may not be worth it.
And, no, it's not just sal****er. Water's the problem, not salt.

Questions to ask:
You say "the paint above the waterline is crazed." Is it paint or gelcoat?
Paint is unusual on a small glass boat and, unless she is very old, suggests
that there was something to cover up. If the gelcoat is crazed, there are
all sorts of potential problems.

As a very general rule, wood boats are better off stored in the water; glass
boats are better off stored on land. While you will probably have to pay
for land storage, you should decide if the boat is worth it. Aside from that
generality, as Butch suggests, a year out of the water is a good time to dry
the hull. (It may not be enough unless Canberra is drier than my image of
it -- you may have to go the route we went with Swee****er.) If a meter
shows she's wet, you might put a dark colored tarp over her down to the
ground on a good frame for the year and hope that the extra heat inside
helps the drying.

"It has sails, most standing rigging, but the mast blew down and the step
needs to be reinstated." Sails in what condition? If they've been in the
sun for five years, they're not sails any more. What standing rigging is
missing? $$$ there. There's a recent thread mentioning US$2,500 to replace
a mast step in a similar sized boat. Make a list of everything that needs
doing. A conservative list, piece by piece, Can you do it yourself? As a
very general rule (twice in one post -- remember that all generalizations
are false) if you can do good work yourself, you'll increase the value of
the boat more than you spend. If you do poor work yourself, you'll decrease
the value of the boat. If you have a yard do it (in developed economies),
you'll spend more than you increase the value of the boat.

Bottom line -- get someone local who is expert to take a look and see if
she's worth the trouble. Or try looking her sisters up using an advanced
search on yachtworld.com to get an idea of values.

This is a little disjointed -- my apologies...


--
Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com


..
"JDavis1277" wrote in message
...
Haul the boat, clean up the bottom and check for osmotic blisters. If any
are
present the hull will need to be completely dried. The year you are
overseas
would be an ideal period for the hull to dry, Upon your return you could
make
the blister repairs immediately thus saving a long wait after your return.

Seek professional advice before attempting any blister repair.

If there are no blisters you will not have wasted any time nor effort as
you
will have to haul the boat at some point in order to inspect it and to
apply
antifoulant.

Good luck.

Butch

I would strongly suggest finding and marrying a very rich woman immediately.
This boat sounds like it's worthwhile to pursue. It would be best done with
someone else's money.

For gosh sakes, don't spend more than the boat is worth trying to repair
blisters.

Have a qualified surveyor look at the hull once it is hauled out and the green
stuff power washed away. If there is delamination, you will need to make
repairs. If there is nothing more serious than garden variety gel coat
blisters, yes, you technically have a "defect" but one that is never going to
effect the structural integrity of the boat. A gel coat blister is like a mole
on the butt of a beautiful woman- it "shouldn't" be there, but it does nothing
to detract from the overall enjoyment or structural integrity .

If you want to address the blister problem on a permanent basis, you will need
to peel away all the existing gelcoat and the top layer or two of roving. Then
get the hull as dry as possible. Finally, replace the removed layers with
vinylester, rather than polyester. On an old boat, it ain't worth it.
There is a huge failure rate when lesser methods are employed.

Biggest effect that blisters have on a boat is their ability to depress the
price when buying or selling. Funny how many guys who insist on a $10,000-
$30,000 discount to accomodate "blister repair" put the exact same boat back on
the market several years down the line with the exact same, untouched,
blisters. :-)

Typical conversation at resale time?
Current buyer: Omigod! Blisters! What kind of crap are you tryng to pawn off on
me? I need a huge discount! I won't even be able to use the boat for months,
while it sits in a shed someplace, at $30 a layday, drying out!

Current seller (who gave the exact speech outlined above when he bought the
boat):
Oh, fiddlesticks. Purely cosmetic. All those bllsters were there when I bought
the boat. Never gave me a moment's problem.

One of the portions of Dave Pascoe's site that makes good sense to me is his
article
about the considerations involved when acquiring a boat with blisters. Here's a
link.

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/BuyingBlisterBoat.htm