bertram31.com

Now that the creeks around Annapolis are free of ice, I was able to get the boat hauled earlier this week. I plan to be back in for April rockfish season so just enough time to dry out and get a fresh coat of bottom paint on...I hope.

I was looking at the photos from another member who recently blasted and barrier coated his entire bottom. I had it done 14 years shortly after I purchased the boat. The yard sand blasted, faired, barrier coated, and painted the entire bottom. It seemed to come out great though I now after looking at another board member’s photos, I am suspicious of a few spots - the lowest pint in the “v” of the transom and a two select spots on the port side between the starkest. Specifically a crack that appears to have some water intrusion, a few spots that have flaked off down to what looks like barrier coat, and potentially a few blisters - photos below. Are these things that I should address immediately before repainting the bottom and going back in the water for the season in April. What do you all think? Full bottom job RE-do or just focus on these spots?

After reading the updated procedure to post photos several times, I am not sure why mine is not visible. However, if you click on the word "image" and copy the address, then post to your browser, it comes up. I miss the old photobucket!

Mack - I use Imgur to post pictures, a fairly straightforward, 10 step process

steps below:

1. Go to http://www.imgur.com

2. Click sign up once there.


3. Find the pictures you want to upload to the Betram31 board and put them on your desktop

4. Once you have created your imgur account click "add images" button


5. There is a drag and drop tool. Drag the pictures from your desktop to the drop area on Imgur webpage. Alternatively there is a traditional file search/upload option.


6. The image should now appear in your images, which can be found by clicking on your username in the upper right hand corner and selecting images:


7. Once the image appears click on it a pop-up box of the image with several options to the right of image should appear:


8. The last option "Linked BBCode" is what you want. Click "huge thumbnail"


9. Click the "Copy" next to the generated link found under the "BBCode" option

10. Back on the Bertram31 message board paste the link into your text. Do not add any code before or after the link.

I hope this helps!

2nd not sure what’s there, were there blisters the last time because that looks like maybe they missed a couple
3rd looks like the typical split mold gelcoat cracks

Mack

I can not speak for the bottom but the one on the transom looks exactly like the one that appeared on mine. Ours was sand blasted and barrier coated back in 1986. That crack appeared about two years ago and I got concerned also. I took that area all the way down and guess what, nothing, nada, zilch.

For some reason I guess some of the built up paint at that spot cracked. Go figure, I would guess it is a flex point .

Before I redo the full bottom I would take down the spots you see and look at what you have then decide from there.

I agree with Raybo, looks like they either missed a blister or two or they did not fill all the holes.

Mack,
I have seen that crack on a couple of 31's that I surveyed in the past. Most of the 'Crack" is in the bottom paintand the flaking on the bottom is due to bad adhering of either the bottom paint or the barrier coating. I would take Tony's advise and sand the transom "crack" down until you get to green glass and see if it's still there. I surveyed one boat about 10 years ago that had a crack in the transom and along the very bottom, It turned out that the boat had been dropped when the cable on the travel lift broke and it dropped onto the pavement below. It was a real crack and the tank had to be removed and the transom and the keel area had to be re-glassed, it cost the marina a lot of money for that repair.. Just sand the area and see what appears below the build up of bottom paint, remember that the 31 is a split mold boat and it works all the time, there is no side to side bottom grid system just a couple of tabbed in bulkheads under the door , behind the engine boxes and under the V berth sole forward.. The new 35 Bert has a complete grid system not just the 4 stringers running fore and aft.
Pete Fallon

Thanks Peter. We sanded some of the questiinable areas and followed up with a moisture meter. Most of the areas tested had some pretty high readings. One small spot chipped off down to glass. I am getting bids to do a soda blast during the next few weeks. Looks like what I thought would just be a seasonal bottom paint job will now be a much bigger undertaking. Stay tuned.

Mack,
Most moisture meters will not work when there is anti fouling bottom paint is in place. The metal content in the paint will give false readings. You have to sand all the way to the gel coat to get an accurate reading. If you sanded all the way down to gel coat and still had high readings then you have water into the laminate schedule. Have the bottom blasted with either soda or walnut shells let it dry for at least a month, covered up so no moisture gets into the laminate then take readings with a moisture meter. From the looks of the photos of the bottom you have years of paint build up on the boats bottom.
Pete Fallon