Gel Coat Blisters

quick answer, nope!  That body has likely sat out in the rain before delivery.

moisture in the laminate.  Sandblast, repair, re-gel.  Best answer.

Thanks!

Yep, for starters, I've moved from Seattle to Vegas. Rain is no longer an issue.

not uncommon on boats that are left in the water.

Do not sand fiberglass.... blisters are trapped moisture and we'll assume that in NV the sun is done doing it's thing. You can repair the ones that have popped up and hope,  that there isn't any more . Your other choice is to sand down the entire car  .....this is what I would do.... It's labor intensive but doing that yourself will save you a bundle of money prior to sealer primer and paint.

Dig the Phone Dials. Is that overspray on the tires?

Not overspray, just a little rubber discoloration. I'll be sure to hit'em with armor all before she's on the road. Beautiful flared models, what did you use for the turn signal lenses on the black one?

Hey Alan, glad to hear from ya. I've always planned to paint it black. Are you saying I shouldn't grind and bondo the bumps? They're all mainly in the front.

I've heard from several Hot Rod autobody guys that whenever they got one of those CMC 32 Ford bodies they would let it sit out in the sun for a month or two to let all the blisters surface, then gently bar-sand them to expose the blister craters, then either do several thick primer coats and bar-sand in between or a skim coat of bondo and bar-sand it (depending on how deep the blisters are).  CMC 32 Coupes were notorious for a YUGE! blister in the middle of the roof.

Some CMC Speedsters had a giant blister between the rear top of the rear seat and the top of the engine cover opening - Think 8" tall and 10" - 12" wide.  Mine had that one that bulged slightly after sitting in the sun for just three days.  They ground it out, then filled and bar-sanded the cowl and repeated a few times til the contour was right.

Wish I had better news, but you're not alone.

D. Craig Döring posted:

Hey Alan, glad to hear from ya. I've always planned to paint it black. Are you saying I shouldn't grind and bondo the bumps? They're all mainly in the front.

It's a toss up, assuming that all the bubbles have surfaced....IMHO and experience I would go the more difficult route and sand the entire car down.

D. Craig Döring posted:

Not overspray, just a little rubber discoloration. I'll be sure to hit'em with armor all before she's on the road. Beautiful flared models, what did you use for the turn signal lenses on the black one?

Craig, they're the bee-hive lenses that came with the car. I have something that might work for you as I sold the red one before changing them. I'll dig them out and send a picture to you.

@Alan Merklin  Would the blister elimination be helped by heat treating or curing the fiberglass at the initial building of the car?

  @chines Out of the mold the fiberglass needs to "off gas:   I recall Factory Five ( Cobra) would let them set fora month before beginning sand and prep for paint. Carey Hines would be able to provided a better answer .

FYI, I know the IM bodies are heat treated must be why they do it. 

Yeah Ray, Greg at Vintage Motorsports lets them sit in the California sun for a while, sometimes months. I'd say that they are heat-treated.

For a long time (could be still) Factory five didn't make their bodies.  They were made at a boat company in Bristol, RI.  You could drive by the place and see a bunch of bodies sitting out back til they cured and out-gassed and then (a month or two later) you might see them on a 4-up trailer heading up RT 24 to the Factory Five facility in Mansfield, MA.  I know that several of the boat builders (we're talking fiberglass, not wood, here) have facilities to heat cure things from small parts up to whole hulls - it's a pretty common practice, along with vacuum bagging and heat curing carbon fiber parts and structures.  It's an amazing process and they need the heat cure facilities here in cold New England.

We left there in 2006 so FFR may have moved that part of the operation in-house, but I'm sure that the process is the same.  Resin out-gasses as it cures and you have to manage that.  I seriously doubt that CMC ever did.  My car body sat in a semi-heated garage for 6 years before paint/prep so it cured slowly with no blisters, other than that big one at the rear.

My CMC has 30 years "out gassing" in both VA and FL unheated garages/barns.  No blisters just the few OEM from factory stress cracks at rear bottom of door openings and some visible thru the gel coat fiberglass fiber thread pattern on hood.  I've seen several older CMC with spider cracks in gel coat - looks like they were stored on a golf driving range.  Eventually dirt gets in the cracks and they are quite evident.  Schu had them on his red MGTD and also the CMC wide body.  He laboriously grinds the crack from start to finish with a Dremel bit and then use West Marine products to fill in the gouge left.  Simply painting with high build epoxy primer is not a lasting fix.  I know of boats exposed fiberglass mat will suck in water and leave large blisters on sail boat bottoms.  There are boat articles that say any drill hole in fiberglass should have the edges sealed with epoxy or even superglue.  I have seen expensive paint jobs (a Corvette) where there are many small water blisters appearing after maybe a month due to moist air put out by the paint compressor.

DannyP posted:

Yeah Ray, Greg at Vintage Motorsports lets them sit in the California sun for a while, sometimes months. I'd say that they are heat-treated.

Oh, on the beach, tanning  

When I drilled the holes for the top fasteners, originally snaps then Tenax, I thought it would be good to line the holes with epoxy.  That made it very difficult to get the screws in and they sometimes broke off.

Mike I coat the male screw with epoxy as I install it..Some day, some where, someone is going to curse me out big time. 

I have used Alan's trick with epoxy on the screw, too.  Even Super Glue works well, used the same way, if you're quick and yes, someone in the future will curse us both out when they try to get the screw out and take a chunk of the body with it.

Neither of us will be there, though.....   

The marine way is to drill the hole oversized, fill it with epoxy, then drill it again the correct size. Fair amount of work that is.

On my first Spyder I drilled the hole and coated it with THIN super glue, when using sheet metal screws. Let it set up first, then put the screw in. I did this for Tenax and regular snaps. Thin super glue doesn't take long to set, but DON'T GET IT ON THE PAINT! 

If the hole is for a bolt or maybe a taillight, just use clear nail polish. Seals the edges nicely.

edsnova posted:

The marine way is to drill the hole oversized, fill it with epoxy, then drill it again the correct size. Fair amount of work that is.

Actually the Marine way way would be to shoot holes in it with an M4 or similar assault rifle..........oh wait, wrong Marine. Sorry, a moment of deja vu.

Carry on......

I guess if you had many different calibers, that might work LOL!