A friend of mine has a 2016 Z18 Nitro for sale that looks li!e new except the same previous owner left it sitting in the water do some period of time so it blistered all over the bottom. Will these normally get worse?
A friend of mine has a 2016 Z18 Nitro for sale that looks li!e new except the same previous owner left it sitting in the water do some period of time so it blistered all over the bottom. Will these normally get worse?
Yes it can only get worse. The blisters can open up exposing the fiberglass core allowing water to saturate the fiberglass ultimately leading to delamination. The blisters are caused by water absorption through the gelcoat. I experienced blisters where the bunk boards ride on my Triton that chipped open. I ended up having the bottom of the boat re-gelcoated.
What is an approximate cost to redo the gelcoat on the whole bottom?
I 'll take a look at that. Thanks!
The cost is going to vary quite a bit depending on who can find to do it, I would plan on several thousand.
gorilla hull would be the cheapest fix. It's over 3k just to do bunk blisters and gel. Depending on how far they are in development, they may not get any bigger unless you keep boat in the water for extended periods. I've put gatorbaks on boats with minimal size blisters that didn't get any worse down the road.
I got a quote for $6000 for whole bottom. $3500 if just under bunks. It seems like it would be worse under bunks if it has blisters where it isn't sitting on wet carpet. The man who gave me the quote said he didn't think it would get worse from just going fishing for a day and not leaving it in the water.
These were blisters prior to taking this picture, it can happen so keep an eye on it.