Dart 15 Forums

Simon Pothecary wrote:

I?m new to sailing and have recently rescued a Dart 15 from a long period of storage in a barn. Unfortunately, it appears to have the first signs of osmosis. Any advice on what is the best way to deal with this, or recommendations as to who can fix it in the Stokes Bay area ?

Simon

Keith in Hong Kong replied:

To be honest, if the boat has been stored in the dry I doubt if it's osmosis in the recognised sense.

Thats caused by wicking of moisture through the gelcoat through prolonged (or not so prolonged on certain boats) immersion in water.

I'm no expert, but my boat has a few blisters and ripples (No. 1073)but I think they stem from poor gelcoat curing and/or duff release from the mould.

If they are only cosmetics blips..ignore them, the boat won't die......treat them as 'speed bumps'.....failing that it's easy enough on a dinghy to lightly grind them out (very lightly....the hulls are pretty thin in places), let them fully dry, then gelcoat back in....a sunny afternoons job!

tim replied:

First time for everything. Are you sure??? Must have been kept in long grass.