The new owners of S/Y Tokerau, a beautiful Oceanis 45 from Beneteau, asked us to check their hull against osmosis, change all seacocks, and to get her prepared for an ambitious Atlantic crossing at the end of the summer season.
So it all started by an early morning short and peaceful journey from Marina Cala del Sole to the yards.
After hauling her out with the 300 tons travel lift we have here in Licata, the hull was cleaned, and we started the preparation for the work: hull polishing, antifouling, change of anodes and seacocks and finally osmosis analysis.
Hull polishing is always very satisfying, as you bring back the boat to its pristine condition.
Finally, we checked that the hull was sound from osmosis by measuring humidity in various locations.
Why is it important ?
Measuring positive humidity in a fiberglass hull means one of two things: (i) starting of osmosis or (ii) exiting potential osmosis. It implies loss of fatigue strength and decreasing tensile stress.
Fiberglass has replaced many materials for it is malleable, cheap and low servicing benefits. It has lead to the worldwide yachting industry as we know it. But these benefits need to come with technical skills (respect of mixing and lamination phases and temperatures for instance). In the end of the day, it must contain no humidity at all.
Humidity is the cause of osmosis: through the gelcoat, it dissolves the defective residues of a bad polyester catalysis and creates a viscous liquid with a strong acetic smell. Volume increases and triggers the well-known swells on the hull.
In case you’re interested, we use “Cecci’s Skinder Moisture detector for wood and fibreglass“. It’s kind of pricey, but you have all the necessary tech at the palm of your hand.
We didn’t detect any osmosis issue there, and we were able to complete all the work swiftly. The happy owners could resume their season’s sailing preparation after only a few days on the hard.
We’re never more happy than when we feel like contributing to someone’s dream. And dealing with sailboats gives us many opportunities to do so, this is what we love most about our work 🙂
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