Boat Bottom Blisters look exactly like a blister or pimple on the bottom or side of a boat. It usually occurs when water gets absorbed through the paint or water passes through the gel coat of the boat bottom surface. And even creates air pockets in the paint through the water evaporation. Usually, most of the boats, whether it is a sailboat or a powerboat will get affected by the blisters with some too many around the rim of the water level ranging from small size to softball size.
Maintaining a boat from the blister formation is necessary to ensure to keep the boat exterior looks good and polished from further damage as well. And one such step to keep blisters away is to keep your boat dry and clean from water. If you are a boat owner in the Northern side of America you won’t be seeing many blisters since these people get their boat hauled out during winters to dry out. And if you are a boat owner in Florida, then you might be facing boat bottom blister issues very often. Cleaning and repairing these blisters is easy when compared to other problems in the boat bottom repair.
If you just have a small area of them or a few here and there, this is one way to repair them. For more extensive areas or real large blisters that ooze with gooey liquid, I’ll have to do another article to step you thru those with really no problem.
First, examine the boat bottom surface of all forms of blisters and make them with chalk or crayon. And also make sure to carefully inspect the boat since some of them can be disappeared or even appear after some time. And then start popping the blisters to let out the water or air. One can do this with any kind of tool that helps to pop like a screwdriver. And then wipe up the water from the blisters completely from the part with a cloth. And then sand the surface to make it better. But be make sure not to be rough enough to damage the surface, just sand the surface level.
And then now the next is too drying out the blister. This is crucial since water absorption is the main culprit behind the blisters. To make it better you need to dry out the boat bottom for months or even use heating tools to speed up the process. Now the last part is to make up the sanded blister with paint. Wipe the areas with a moistened rag with acetone, clean the areas well. To fill in any irregularities, make up a filler using resin and those micro fillers which can be found at most Marine Supply stores. Thicken your resin to almost a paste, remember to use the hardener and apply with a putty knife.
These steps will help to repair the boat bottom blisters. If you have bigger areas of blisters in your boat then divide them into parts and try the above steps until you clear the blisters off. Or else one can hire a professional boat bottom repair service to clean and repair blisters.
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