Osmosis Repair Part 2 - Drying the hull laminate + hull and keel repairs (Project Lottie Ep7)
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- In this episode I continue the Osmosis repair by moving this Contessa 32 under cover and use my heat and vacuum pads to draw the remaining moisture out of the glassfibre hull. I also make multiple repairs to the hull, keel and seal up some old seacock and transducer through-hull holes.
While this is all happening I give a quick (but by no means full) explanation of why boats get osmotic blistering and "wet" laminate (commonly called Osmosis), how I go about drying a hull and I do some small gelcoat repairs on deck.
Many thanks to the owner for giving me permission to create this content based on the refit of his boat.
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About Me
I run a small business called The Solent Boat Butler and spend my days repairing, maintaining and refitting sailing boats (often Contessa 32’s due to my long experience with them). I'm mostly in the central Solent area of the UK. Being a cruising and racing sailor with many thousands of inshore and offshore sea miles logged I like to think that I bring a great deal of real world experience to my work and help many new (and not so new) boat owners to improve and maintain their boats. When I'm not fixing boats I also provide some own-boat sail training, help owners with deliveries and provide consultancy services to those that are refitting their own boats for cruising or racing.
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Disclaimer
I hope that viewers both enjoy and learn something from my videos but please remember to take the appropriate precautions for any DIY refit works you undertake with appropriate PPE and the correct tools for the job. If you are in any way unsure as to how to go about a project or are unsure if something on your boat is safe please consult a professional.
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Music credit - Bensound.com
Wow, that's awful news about Jeremy Rogers. As a huge fan (and hopefully future owner) of Contessa 32s, I greatly appreciate the value he brought to the world in the work he did. Greatest sympathy to his family and all of his friends and fans. Dang.
An owner seriously loves that Contessa, and seriously trusts you.
Great tutorial on osmosis. Looks like this boat will be good for another 30-50 years when you're done. I dread to think how much this is costing the owner, but it'll be worth it for restoring this bona fide plastic classic.
Hope so and thanks
That was a fascinating video. Your explanations are clear, and presented in a pleasant and articulate manner. I always look forward to new episodes.
Nice tribute at the end to Jeremy Rogers 😢
Thanks for your kind comment. 😊
Thank you, watching your repair work brings back fond memories of youth when we had a small cabin cruiser on Lake Kariba. It was holed hitting a submerged stump and whilst very minor compared to what you are doing, we took it back to our farm, dug a hole for the cabin to fit into and turned the boat upside down. After repairing the bottom we turned it over and cut the floor out of the cockpit so as to remove the foam which was waterlogged, replace it and remake the floor. Just wish I had seen your channel before that 😂, thank you.
That sounds like a pretty big job on its own.
Again a brilliant episode of your work! Very clear and informative - one gets a good appreciation for what is required to do a thorough osmosis treatment job/ renovation. I hope you keep documenting your work. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Ulrich
A surveyor once told me that if the forward keel on a 32 had hard impact damage he always expected to find evidence at the top/back, in the form of delamination or dishing. Much in the area you see with with bolt on, fin keels and where the damage is on Lottie. No point really, just an observation 👍. Very useful videos, thanks.
An amazing amount of information and work done on this hull. What seamanship and craftsmanship is all about! Well done so far!
Thanks
This is a great channel, very informative, most people posting videos about osmosis and bottom treatments have a cursory knowledge of the subject.
Thanks very much, I appreciate the comment and praise.
another great video... the sailing community will certainly chime in if those here comment on other sailing channels what you are starting
Congrats and fair seas to you
Thanks!
I stumbled across this content, and it's superb. Thank you for filming the Contessa refit !
I'm really enjoying learning about the techniques and tasks need to restore a more modest yacht on the S Coast of UK.
Keep filming !
Thanks James
you make it look easy mate. almost easy enough for a first time DIYer to tackle. i fear my project boat needs this level of repair.
It’s bloody hard work and needs specialist tools. It can be done diy but most don’t have the time/skill/knowledge but this hopefully helps people along the way.
Great job! Thank you for all the information passed along!
Thanks Jean, its a lot of work!
This is a great new channel, yes the video is long but I think the content is great and worth the time. Your doing a great jot and I enjoy and value the information ….. thanks
Perfect length, in my oppinion :)
Love your work, you make it look easy
Thanks
sorry to have stopped you working ,love it all thank you ,Regards Ian Rees
Thanks 👍
Maybe a Contessa is sufficient for my wife and I. With these videos I basically have a "video manual" at my disposal. The hull work seem to be outside the ambit of my attainment. The videos however show that a project purchase is possible. Well done excellent detail for aspiring buyers.
If I had a boat, I’d certainly trust you to take care of it
Wow, vacuum pumps that are used to pull vacuum when installing air conditioners also have the same oil concerns. Those pumps are fairly inexpensive for the smaller ones.
Nice content. Really interesting. I would go into more detail if I were you. Ooh glorious sanding videos if you get me... Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, I appreciate the comment. It's hard to know how much or how little detail to go into as I have a mixed feedback on this. You also have to remember that I have limited time and my primary job is the boat works and I try to film as I go, the videos are a secondary concern as they don't pay the bills!
I bumped into “oh glorious sanding” on their boat a few weeks back, a very pleasant couple.
great video, thanks
thanks for watching
Excellent video. I rather liked the stern tube boring rig.👍 I was just thinking about the wet skeg interior around the shaft log ‘thingy’ - I wonder if you could rig the vacuum pump up to that area via a custom connection to the shaft log (before the stern tube is fitted) and a blank on the inboard end? (Academic question - as clearly you have moved on from this.😉).
Keep up the good work.😀👍⛵️
Thanks 👍
thank you for sharing your indepth knowledge, really interesting.
So much great information thank you.
Thanks Bryn!
Learning heaps. Will be interested to see how you glass the hull
Excellent work, great video and nice length of time
Thanks, I could have easily made this two shorter videos as I struggled to cut it down to a manageable length. Pleased you liked it.
What an amazing professional you are, it’s been an education watching how you do it! Which brand of boats suffer osmosis least?
Thanks for the kind comment, I tend to work mostly on older boats, particularly contessa 32’s but not exclusively. That question would probably be better put to a surveyor who has a much wider view of boats inspected. It certainly feels like all the boats that were built in the 70’s and 80’s seem to suffer from it to some degree so it’s just a case of looking at the overall condition of a particular boat you may wish to buy and the bottom would be part of that.
Absolutely amazing information George. About to do the transducer fitting myself. I am interested to know what type electronic unit you are fitting into the bronze tube you got from JR. Super stuff.
Airmar dst800 triducer if memory is not failing.
I've never seen anyone fix holes with gel coat.. I seen people vee the hole and then take epoxy and fill them .. I really would like to find someone here in the midwest of America who did your type of work cause I've already got mechanical skills and carpentry skills but would really love to work on and do a restoration job on sailboats.. you really picked a great private business to start especially with boating looking like it's on a major growth spirt with loads of people buying older well built classics that just need a little attention and money.. without your vacuum heat bags doesn't it take like 9 months to a year to dry out the hull and boat completely
The holes were already mostly filled with a thickened resin and it was just colour matched gelcoat being put on top to finish it. And yes, without using heat and vac pads it can take some hulls a very long time to dry out and even when they have dried you have not necessarily removed the hygroscopic elements that were pulling water into the laminate and form blisters.
Als je toch bezig bent, kun je het net zo goed beter maken dan het was.
Zelfde inspanning 🎉
I really am hoping that you get many other different sailboats to do a restore or remodel of so that I can continue to learn
Me too, a lot of what I do is co32’s but I hope to get some other boats in next year.
What number would you recommend to go for on the tramex? I know it can vary but on my boat we have it showing 20-30 on most spots. I was thinking around 10 would be safe to put on epoxy. Also, how many times did you pressure wash? Is one to two times enough in the beginning? Or should you wash regularly when drying outside without the pads?
Could using compressed air initially to clean out the pockets of moisture be of any use or would this be counter productive.
Which vac pumps do you use?
Why not use vacuum bagging for some of the patching and on the keel?
I could have done, it potentially would have helped ensure correct resin/glass ratio but this is not a high performance boat where weight is super critical and you are trying to maximise strength with minimal laminate and I’m pretty good at glass layup without needing to vacuum bag it. I know that there are some YT “boat builders” that like to vac bag every bit of laminate but frankly it’s unnecessary a lot of the time.
Is lifting a boat out over winter, when it’s cold and wet, going to have much drying effect? Maybe to a point because it’s not sitting in water, but ambient humidity must limit it.
Yes, exactly that. Obviously it depends what part of the world you are in but in the uk it does help reduce moisture content in a hull if lifted ashore for a period of time over winter but the effect is not as great as lifting out in the summer when it’s warmer and dry r but it helps non the less. Remembering that if you have an epoxy coated hull that helps stop water absorption but if the epoxy barrier is applied to a wet hull it also traps it so hugely reduces its ability to dry and can even promote the blistering of a hull.
Very informative videos, and I am learning a lot. However, I am having problems with your audio, with the volume on max I can hear you but very low. This does not happen with other channels. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
thanks, I am struggling with getting the audio decent and at a constant level. I'm better at fixing boats than making videos!
@@RefitandSail No worries mate, I connected my laptop to a bluetooth speaker👍.
I use a syringe with out the needle to do small filling like holes
Yep, that can work well, I sometimes do the same.
Question, what is wrong with the idea of the stainless steel plate along the bottom and leadind edge of the keel? Seemed like a good idea
It’s not a terrible idea, a shoe or wear strip can be a good idea if your boat regularly dries out but it is a non-standard fitment and the owner of this boat wants to do a bit of racing so wants a smooth bottom and minimal weight. The fixings for this were leaking water into the keel area and it took an age to get all the water out!
Great videos, I was interested in the hull prep which led me to watching this as we are refreshing a '79 colvic, out of interest would recommend (or not) plastic skin fittings over bronze ones? I only ask as when we bought the boat earlier this year I found a couple of new plastic fittings in the spares and I am contemplating whether to use them or replace the old metal fittings like for like?
Thanks. I have had no issues with the plastic (I prefer the more correct term which is “Composite”) seacocks that I have fitted, are they better that bronze? Only time will tell but bronze seacocks are hard to get and expensive, the vast majority of seacocks/through hull fittings you can but are corrosion resistant/DZR brass and of variable quality. On my boat I have a mix but as and when I need to replace them I will be fitting Trudesign composite skin fittings and seacocks. Take from that what you wish :-)
Great work, well documented. I'm working on a large hull right now and seeking hot vac pads. I've been unable to source any DIY kit. Can you help? East coast US, budget doesn't support hiring the yard. I'm peeled and now just waiting for the numbers to drop before glassing.
Sorry, can’t help on your side of the pond. I designed/specified my pads and had them custom made so it’s not a diy/off the shelf solution. Unlikely to be financially viable for owners to get for their own boat unless able to sell after to recoup the cost.
@@RefitandSail understood and thanks for the response. Any chance you'd be interested in sharing or selling details? I would be able to either sell these or use them again.
Which resin are you using for hull repairs? epoxy or polyester? im asking because i wonder if there may be any bonding issues because of different resins? can you please clarify?
Because the hull repairs were done as part of an osmosis treatment where the final glass layup and barrier coat were epoxy based the repairs were also epoxy.
@@RefitandSail understood, thanks, and what about structural repairs? I'm preparing to buy myself a boat and it's going to need bullhead replacement and chainplates relocation, the hill is grp
One more from me if I may - What I had to do in the past was to keep on glassing the indentations until the surfaces match - how do you determine before hand how many layers of glass you need to laminate to bring the "indent" to match the surrounding surface?
experience I suppose, I will either decide how many layers of glass I want a repair to have and sand out a suitable hollow, or feel the hollow and estimate the amount of glass to get it close to a flush/fair surface.
Great work so far! Am I the only one disturbed by the long sleeves working with what is effectively a lathe at the 22:00 mark?
Thanks very much. Robin is an extremely experienced machinist and engineer, I think the angle of the shot made it look like his sleeves were close to moving parts but it was quite safe. There was nothing loose and flapping around that could get caught. I appreciate the comment and we do try to take safety seriously.
Never seen heat mats before. Is that copper mesh?
Not copper mesh, they are custom made from reinforced silicone.
Fantastic George, thanks a lot once again. What kind of glass do you usually use? Curious to see the depth transducer install!
Thanks, I use a lot of what is called Combimat, its a Biax with CSM that is sewn to it. the Sheathing will just be done with Biax though, easier to wet out and also easier to work into the curves and creases of the hull.
Hello, loving the quality of workmanship on your channel. I am in the middle of a huge refit on a Nicholson 38 from 1971 so dealing with many similar issues. I would love to know more about the bronze triducer fitting sleeve. I think I may be able to do something similar. Is it sized for a particular transducer or are they a standard size fitting. Thanks again for the great content Jon
The triducer housing is for the airmar DST 800 and similar sized transducers. All the main manufacturers use airmar transducers (apart from nasa but they are cheap rubbish)
Thanks for clarification 👍 All the best Jon
Have you ever had the chance to refit an Albin Ballad?
I know the boat but I have not refitted one.
Great work I’m doing a similar job and would like to know where to purchase the heater mats from please ?
They are not an off the shelf product, have to get them made to a specification I designed (size, wattage, location of holes and temp sensor, type of controller, etc) there are a few companies that can prob make them but they are not cheap so unless you are doing this as a business its probably not worth it for the average boat owner.
Very informative video .What is the budget for this extensive refit?
Thanks for watching and the comment, I have agreed with the owner not to discuss the cost of the refit openly but if you are looking for an estimate for a particular job you are welcome to contact me by email.
@@RefitandSail I was curious. I live in the USA, so you doing work for me would be impractical. But what you are doing on the Contesa 32, in the yacht yard in Connecticut where I keep my boat, would result in a bill somewhat larger than the National Debt of Costa Rica. You work is most impressive.
Haha, thanks, pleased it’s only a small country’s national debt 😂
Nice content. But is it even worth to restore such boat? It's kinda small, old and has no value to be honest. What was your reasoning for doing osmosis treatment on it?
Why to we restore anything? If you look at it from purely a financial point of view then maybe it does not make sense IF you could buy an equivalent fully restored boat for less money but people restore these boat because they love the way they look and the way they sail. You can still by new co32’s and they are beautifully built in the UK by Jeremy Rogers ltd, yes they are expensive compared to a modern production 32’ boat but you would be comparing apples and oranges, and a new boat makes a refit look good value.
@@RefitandSail Thanks for the answer. I kinda see it deferently. I would definitely repair/restore my roadster car even if it's probably cheaper to find working one on a marketplace. But I would never try repairing something like a regular Kia no matter what. It's probably about sentimental value, maybe the owner is somehow attached to that particular boat.
@@Dustmadeout agree, but a contessa32 is a Morgan 2 seat sports car, a little cramped and wet but a classic, beautiful and fun. Definitely not a Kia! 😆
Nice one George, how long did the drying process take pls? 👍
If you are just talking about the drying with the heat and vac pads it took 14 days.
I know the theory of why epoxy should be better., in practice have you seen properly done polyester repairs fail?
Assuming you are talking about the osmosis repair rather than the hull/keel repairs, I’m sure you could rebuild the surface and fill/fair with poly but given that the man-hours are the biggest cost then it’s a bit of a false economy to use poly when epoxy has far greater water impermeability.
Re the hull hole/keel repairs, no issue with using polyester at all, very unlikely to fail if done properly but as I’m using epoxy for the osmosis repair it makes sense to use the same resin for all the bottom work. Hope that makes sense and answers your question.
@@RefitandSail Thank you
What temperature do you target with your heat pads?
It varies depending on the location of the pad and what the internal structure of the boat because you don’t want to cause hot spots or damage to the laminate. I normally go for around 85c but it can be more or less. Also have to remember that heat transfer is not 100% and again the internal structure effects heat loss though the inside of the boat. So in sort….. it depends and you have to exercise a degree of judgement and skill so that it does it’s job but no damage is caused.
A hole to be filled should be grinded to I believe 12:1 ie. for every 1mm depth of hole you taper 12mm grind out, so your seacock repairs are really not sufficient.
The grinding and glass work done on the outside is insufficient if left like that, in a later video you see me compete the repair by grinding a 12:1 taper repair internally and laying up a larger repair patch. I tend to lay up glass on both sides of a seacock repair so that there are definitely no strength issues. In this video I only did the external side because I was concentrating on getting the hull finished externally. Hope that makes sense.
@@RefitandSail I must admit I haven't watched the following video yet, I look forward to being corrected ( It's good for ones ego to be corrected every now and then:)
@@christopher-bj8de no worries, I thought I explained why I was doing it in this way in this episode but easy to miss perhaps if you are skipped my forward though or maybe my explanation wasn’t very good. Thanks for watching.
Did you intend to deliver a masterclass?
What do you think it should be on? I think I have a lot to learn about video production but only have so much free time to film and edit.
sorry I misread your comment (I read did as do). Many thanks for the comment
Move over Boatworks Today!
Haha thanks John. I have seen some of his and they are well made videos
+
It does seem to my (very ignorant) mind weird the first thing you do with something you want to dry out is soak it with a power washer.🤔🤔
It’s necessary to wash away the salts and other hydrophilic compounds on and in the laminate as the laminate drys
🙃 I did get that from the video thanks. You're explanation of the process was excellent. I'm enjoying working through the series. I was being facetious sorry.😏
@@RefitandSail I did get that from the video thanks. You're explanation of the process was excellent. I'm enjoying working through the series. I was being facetious😏
You do good work Sir so i can only assume you are in high demand and must be very busy all the time
Thanks for the kind comment, yes I have plenty to keep me busy thanks, hoping I can find some time to work on my own boat at some point!