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Oldsailor27 · 19-04-2022, 06:59

Hi guys,
I have removed water tanks from the V-Birth and found out some spots that need to be grasses over. There are one obvious light spots where I poked with a screwdriver and there was small delamination spots in a size of a dime or a quarter. Others are really small once I am guessing caused my starving resin when the boat was built.
Please advise the best course of action,- should I sand all the surface to make it flat and glass it all? The surface of woven rowing is very uneven so I might need to remove quite a bit of fiberglass to make it even.
Is there any other ways may be to spread some thickened epoxy and then glass it over. I am new so any input is greatly appreciated.

5BTM · 19-04-2022, 07:05

I would leave it alone.

Oldsailor27 · 19-04-2022, 07:30

Thank you 5BTM,
This is my first boat and I am planning to keep it and might sail to Caribbean one day.
If these tiny voids will not glow to a problem then I guess I should be fine just leaving them as is. I have attached some more pictures.

5BTM · 19-04-2022, 07:55

That is a solid looking hull.

This is the reason I love Albergs.

Sun and Moon · 19-04-2022, 09:45

Fiberglass passes light, so that is not a concern. It's hard for me to see in the photos the dings you are talking about, so can't comment. Try tapping with a hammer or mallet to see if the whole area sounds solid. Maybe get a local boat fiberglass pro to come look and get his opinion, but you need someone you can trust not to just say he'll fix it for you. I agree with 5BTM - Albergs are good hulls, you probably don't have a problem.

Also - is that the hull, or is it just a platform to support the water tank?

Oldsailor27 · 19-04-2022, 10:02

Thanks again. I must be overly paranoid about old hull and I must admit my lack of experience as well.
Will leave it as is for now

Oldsailor27 · 19-04-2022, 10:12

Thank you Sun and Moon.
It’s a hull. I did the tapping and it’s sound.
Over all the hull has some spots with delaminating which I found while stripping gel coat from on the outside hull last fall. I have glasses couple of thru hulls and while grinding fibreglass I noticed that there are tiny voids in laminate which are from a bit starving resin. There were two spots with delaminating about 3 inch diameter and a dozen smaller spots. But over all the hull is good as you say.
It might be good idea to find fibreglass pro to get it checked as I will be doing more works in the inside keel area.
Thank you for your input

Sun and Moon · 19-04-2022, 11:44

I'm not an expert or a historian, but in 1975 I think they were doing hand layup, so it's not surprising that you would find voids and resin starved areas. And even good manufacturers had bad days, so it's right for you to investigate things you find. Luckily, they were also overbuilding, so most of the problems you find are probably not problems. On the other side of the coin, I think that may be the time period where hulls were developing osmosis blisters. A little research into your boat during that period will probably produce answers for you, and a good epoxy barrier coat, neither difficult nor expensive, will prevent most blisters.

Oldsailor27 · 19-04-2022, 13:01

Thank you Sun and Moon.
Much appreciated. Yes, even for my little knowledge I can tell they it has a quite thick hull. I found some small blistering while I was stripping hull, but nothing too too bad which is surprising for me as for an old boat I was expecting osmosis problems. The boat was sitting on hard for couple of years before I bought it, so it is quite dry except one slot 3 ft to 3 ft where reading goes up to 20-25%. The rest is below 10%. Unfortunately I do not have a history of the boat. The owner of the yard keeps telling me that I am overdoing everything with the repairs but it’s for the most part due to lack of experience and willing to make it right so that I could do offshore sailing.
Thanks again for your valuable information

nortonscove · 19-04-2022, 13:07

The boat has lasted this long without any real issues. That said if you just want to add to it for peace of mind you could do a little sanding to make adhere better. Was down with a little acetone and start with mat and follow up with woven. Repeat as many times as you wish and finish with mat. You can then throw on a bit of gelcoat to make it look pretty. Of course if you plan to sell the boat in the future the potential buyer might question why the work was done and what it might be covering up.

boatpoker · 19-04-2022, 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldsailor27

Thank you Sun and Moon.
Much appreciated. Yes, even for my little knowledge I can tell they it has a quite thick hull. I found some small blistering while I was stripping hull, but nothing too too bad which is surprising for me as for an old boat I was expecting osmosis problems. The boat was sitting on hard for couple of years before I bought it, so it is quite dry except one slot 3 ft to 3 ft where reading goes up to 20-25%. The rest is below 10%. Unfortunately I do not have a history of the boat. The owner of the yard keeps telling me that I am overdoing everything with the repairs but it’s for the most part due to lack of experience and willing to make it right so that I could do offshore sailing.
Thanks again for your valuable information

A little info on Moisture meters... they do NOT measure moisture and certainly cannot give a moisture percentage on an FRP hull.

Moisture Meter Mythology and Flir thermal imager

Ken Z · 19-04-2022, 14:47

The choice to epoxy fill the area is yours. A method of doing it is, sand only to remove chipped material, clean with acetone mix cabosil with the epoxy to peanut butter consistency and lay a thin coat over the woven, wet out a piece of 10 oz. fiberglass on a piece of tin fold, pick that up and place over cabosil coated hull, peel off tin foil, squeegee it smooth. Saw dust can be used for cabosil , not my choice .