San Diego Yacht Management

Windarra at MBGW. Showing numerous blisters ground away. Fortunately these blisters are limited to the depth of the polyester fairing compound used to fair the hull. No damage to the laminate is noted. Little wet streaks can be seen on the edges of some blisters as the water was pushed away from the hole, left to gather dust. With the hull dry, the ground spots were inspected, any wet edges further ground back and left to dry another day. After the blisters have dried, they were wiped with acetone to remove any remaining moisture and dust residue. Following the acetone bath, the cavities are sealed with two coats of vinylester resin, to promote adhesion of the fairing compound by preventing the dry laminate from drawing any resin from the fairing mixture. The blisters are then filled with vinyl ester based fairing compound in two applications, to sufficiently fill the cavity and help material waste (and sanding) to a minimum. With the filled areas sanded, two coats of Proline Barrier Coat Primer is applied to seal them up. With the bottom painted, our atention turned to cleaning and lubricating the rebuildable thru-hull valves. After the thru-hull valves were rebuilt, and one replaced, we 3 step polished and teflon'd the hull, got the prop shaft back in place, installed the rudder, and got the boat back in the water.