Starting the Osmosis repair on this Contessa 32 refit (Project Lottie Ep5)

Het moeilijkste van al deze projecten is ,motivatie.
Zie jezelf op zee en je blijft zin houden.
En wat je aanpakt doe het goed,anders zit je er zo weer mee🎉

well done so helpful I am just doing the same I have lots of voids

Buenos días, para acelerar el proceso, hay unas mantas de vacío y con resistencia térmica ,
Con el vacío, estrae la humedad interior entre las capas de fibra
Y al calentarse evapora más rápido esa humedad

Never do this to your boat! Fiberglass is only so thick and plaining away 98% of the glass to get to the small 2% of the blisters will weaken the hull . No boat has ever sank because of blisters. Paint the bottom and go sailing!

Boats are built with wholesale materials. Repairs buy retail. This is what nightmares are about.

❤ thank you for your reply can I still ask you for tips? As I am an amateur I trying to understand as much as I can about restoring the boat from a bit of osmosis

Fancy a rebuilt in la Graciosa Canaria? I have a project that may be interesting to do in a magic island

Very good video. I plan to do mine in Tunisia next winter. The osmosis is around the same stage as yours. Can I ask please how long the work will take 2 people roughly? I plan to lift the boat and peel the hull, cut out the blisters ect. Then leave the boat out of the water for a few months and return to finish the job. I'm just wondering how long the peel takes and how long to fill and fiberglass. My boat is 36 feet so a similar size to the contessa

Many thanks

Sounds expensive. It would be helpfull for new guys looking to buy a boat to know aproxamate prices for this kind of repair.

WOW! I didn't know about osmosis issues on boats. Does the resin in the hull age and deteriorate?

Very well done video! Subscribed.

Hi
I’ve just started watching your site. So far so good, and I hear the volume levels and your choice of background music do get better😂
Love the idea of the Gelpeel planer. How many layers of new glass will you be putting back on the hull and can you explain how you blend the new glass into the upper hull; stepped edge or taper?

George.....In looking at the GelPlane I noticed that they are using carbide inserts now whereas I thought they used straight planer blades at one time. Is that an actual GelPlane brand peeler or something else from the US?

This is great stuff, you certainly know your stuff. Mads at Sail Life on YT has a fair few detailed videos on how he tackled a similar osmosis treatment involving stripping, heating, vacuum etc al. Enjoying your videos.😀👍⛵️

Great job George! Have a Little Harbor 44 which supposedly previously had a blister job. 6+ years later after sitting in southern waters, more/same blisters back with a vengeance @ 4-5” each and hundreds of them. Is peel and thru-hulls absolutely necessary? What’s cost over in UK? Thanks!

Hi George could you let me know what media the blaster used to do the hull with after you stripped it please , im doing a similar job ,and I’m getting conflicting advise on what media to use some are saying use jblast (iron silicate) and other saying I must use crushed glass ??? Thanks Nick

George, i have a fairly serious blister problem too (on my CAL 34) but i am in Panama so too far from you to ask for help! My big concern is how to dry out the hull (after peeling or sanding)? I was concerned that the average annual humidity here is 75% but i note that the equivalent figure for the Solent is 80%. Has humidity proved to be an issue for you, in drying out the hull? I note that you use heat pads to dry out the Contessa but there is zero chance of me finding a yard here with such facilities plus we have higher temperatures, anyway. I should add that i notice that my boat is sitting lower in the water since a yard in Mexico supposedly fixed my blisters three years back - i now know they used polyester resin for the filler and no barrier coat, so i fear some significant water penetration.

Never viewed one of your vids before, you need to seriously sort out your audio editing going from whispering explanations to overly loud annoying music gets you a dislike and a reluctance to visit again, I think my nieghbours deserve better!

I hate plastic boats

Great videos. I think I’ve been in that marina this Sunday. as I’m thinking about making an offer on the other old boat sitting at the same boatyard (you even got her in one of the frames;) I think I will be looking at more videos in the coming days or would even need to get in touch ;)

I don't know if it's my phone or the way the video was edited that I can barely hear you speaking but then you blast the music. otherwise are enjoy your videos.

Hi George, do you know if it's possible to hire a Gel peeler in the UK alternatively if there are still mobile peeling services (which I seem to remember there were 20 od years ago?)
Great vid wish I'd watched it before doing my boat armed with a 4" grinder and plenty of Greek sun 😎

Thank you, after all these years, I'm still learning tricks of the trade. This is very enlightening, watching how it's professionally correctly done. As a newbie 30 years ago, I attempted the same refits, repairs on a 33 ft sloop. I now know I was very sloppy about my work then, but had no recourse except to use tools at hand. I used a grinder with 80 grit to grind out and away blisters that were as large as grapefruit and hundreds of pea sized ones (when you say media blast, I take it you mean sand blasting which was not available). I also made the mistake of repairing a cracked rudder with (polyester over epoxy) and quickly learned this can't be done. With no haulout facilities I had to pull an old cutlass bearing (shaft was vibrating loose) and install a new one underwater at a mooring. I learned it's quite dangerous to take a prop off underwater without securing it first with tethers and lines to keep it from flying off, missed my head by inches, and lost the prop in 50 ft of mud and muck. The prop does not slip off, it springs off with incredible force and speed. I also learned never to leave the mast on top of barrels along the edge of a wharf with no lines securing it properly so it doesn't fall into the water when a strong wind knocks the barrells. It took an entire year, but I eventually got my boat back in the water with the help of slings and a 30ton construction crane. That was my introduction to sailboat ownership. I'd do it all over again to be back on the water. The Contessa 32 has been an obsession of mine for as long as I can remember, so I'm living vicariously thru Lottie's refit. Please post all episodes.

So you can use SS studs to attach your anodes, you learn something everyday 🤔

A dream come true for an aspiring Contessa 32 owner: a Contessa 32 gerontolist! Wish we could get rid of our old-age warts the way you clean up that hull, George!

Thank you for this excellent video! I have found very similar grounding damage (repaired with some epoxy putty..) and cracking on the keel of our Sagitta 30, so this is very helpful.

Very informative

Absolutely brilliant video, so interesting and helpful, thanks 🙌🏻

I just found your chanel, great stuff, I will be watch now, where did you get your hull heating/vaccum pads? I would like to get some.

Nice one.. Parts of that stern tube removal time-lapse is just so wrong, so very very wrong.. 😂

Great video George. The peeler does an amazing job but I imagine takes some practice to use. Andy UK

am doing exactly the same job here in Australia, with the same tools, good video , thanks

Fascinating video. Always wondered how it was done. Incidentally, on your westerly you have a really good stackpack/not stackpack idea. With two smaller bags helping to keep the sail together when down. Is this your invention. I really like it, very neat.

This is great, I did mine this summer similar. Ground out each blister to the good fiberglass with my Dremel, and refilled with resin/fiberglass. It took me way longer than I estimated, I was talked out of a peel (huge mistake). Very interested to see more

Great work, but please ditch the dubstep.

That peeler is great! I did barrier coat last year on my new-to-me "78 Nor'West 33 and all the prep was solo sanding with a Festool- which turned into over a month of hell so bad I swore I'd leave boating before I ever did it again! Readers please learn from my folly LOL! (Luckily I didn't have the blisters you're dealing with.)

Great video George. Restoring a CO32 atm so loving it. Cheers.

Loved it ! Thx...

Thank you. It is most informative and interesting watching your work. I am most curious as to how you got into this line of work and built up your knowledge base as I have a nephew who would really like to be doing what you are doing. Opportunities are limited in South Africa without attending some college in Cape Town and spending a fortune on accommodation at the same time. Thank you for the great content.

It physically pained me watching you saw that skeg cap off. 😬 Is that the only way one can drop the rudder on a CO32? The peeler - is that used primarily for removing CopperCoat, or can that be used to take off bottom paint as well?

Excellent George. So interesting & instructive. Thank you.

Interesting, instructive video 👍🏻

Another great video, great to see progress!

Great video George you do make it look easy, I suspect not, but a great explanation of obviously a very professional preparation. I can see why we have poor results from our shop bought slide hammer needs to be much beefier.

Buy a spare rudder for when the orcas chew up the current one. I have the same peeler. Didn't know about the void. Good tips!

Excellent video George- really useful to see the stages of peeling 👍