[Public-List] Surveying older boats? Determining if they are seaworthy...

Gordon Laco mainstay at csolve.net
Fri Aug 28 09:30:28 PDT 2020


Haha - yup!


Gordon Laco
www.gordonlaco.com
426 Surprise



> On Aug 28, 2020, at 12:21 PM, George Dinwiddie via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> Randy,
> 
> You want a surveyor who remembers the dread polyestermite. Newer resins are not susceptible to this boring pest, and newer surveyors may not be aware of it.
> 
> There's an article about the problem in http://archive.cyca.com.au/media/3437938/offshore-june-1973.pdf in case your surveyor needs an education.
> 
> - George
> 
> On 8/28/20 10:53 AM, Randy Katz via Public-List wrote:
>> Greetings, Fellow A-30 Owners,
>> I've written recently because an interested party is having an
>> insurance person inspect the bottom of my 1967 A-30 next Wednesday to
>> determine if it's insurable. If not, no sale.
>> Someone during the insurance discussion mentioned being sure the inspector
>> has experience with older boats. What about that? What difference, I
>> wonder, would one allow for a boat being older?
>> I know of two methods of hull assessment. One is tapping the entire surface
>> with a plastic hammer to listen to the sound and being sure there are no
>> "soft spots." The other method could be the dreaded moisture meter, which
>> seems to offer wildly varying outcomes depending on the type of instrument
>> and experience of the user.
>> While the boat had around 10 blisters 20 years ago, since ground out and
>> epoxied, I know the hull to be sound and the survey back then confirmed it.
>> I guess no one knows this for sure, but what will be the ultimate fate of
>> 50+ yr. old fiberglass? Does it eventually develop soft spots & at some
>> point fail? Does that make it wise to check each year in order to avoid
>> surprises? Or does the stuff simply last and last and last?
>> Alberg owners, who possess some of the oldest fiberglass hulls around, are
>> among the pioneers with regard to this experience. I suppose some of us
>> will be around to witness and learn from the final outcome.
>> Thanks,
>> Randy Katz
>> #249 Simple Gifts
>> Bellingham/Seattle
> 
> -- 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>  When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
>  I think how evening follows morn;            gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
>  So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
>  So many I love were not yet born.                          also see:
>               'The Middle' by Ogden Nash     http://idiacomputing.com
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> 
> 
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