Speedwell of Rhu was 21 years old when we bought her, so when our surveyor reported evidence of osmosis we weren’t completely surprised. There are lots of scare stories about “boat pox” and it’s true that for a small old boat the cost of treatment may be more than the boat is worth, but for a boat the size of Speedwell professional osmosis treatment is a viable option so we agreed a suitable reduction in the sale price and went ahead with the purchase.
Here’s a description of osmosis and its treatment .
To a certain extent having osmosis diagnosed in the survey was a relief. With a hull of this age it’s always a possibility so if the survey had turned up no blisters but high moisture readings we’d always be wondering what we’d be finding at the next haul out. Getting the hull treated as part of our initial re-fit had a number of advantages:
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Gelcoat technology has moved on over the past 20 years. We’ve now got a boat with an up to date gelcoat system and a guarantee against future osmosis.
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We would have wanted to remove the old anti-foul anyway, that’s a job that wasn’t necessary (it came off with the old gellcoat).
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We’ve had Coppercoatanti-fouling applied. This is an epoxy based system that is claimed to last for over 10 years. Putting a layer of epoxy on an old damp hull may well have lead to problems in a few years time, epoxy on brand new gelcoat should be absolutely fine.
We had the boat professionally treated for osmosis by Fox’s boatyard . Because the work was done in the summer (a quiet time for boat yards) they gave us a better quote than we’d have had for a winter job. Treatment took some time, much of which involved the boat lying ashore and drying out, so the yard were able to get on with other items of re-fit work at the same time.
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| Hull with old gelcoat stripped | |
