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The results of a Million$$
An offshore powerboat racer (Offshore2 world speed record holder 1969-93 together with his wife Heidi), active in the marine repair and boat building business for over four decades, Mr. Blomberg became familiar with the problem in the early 1970 ies. During the following 20 years his yard performed hundreds of so called osmosis repairs.
Over the years, he actively tested and recorded the performance of just about every known "osmosis" repair method; from propane burners, to grinding, sandblasting, peeling and infrared heat.
Mr. Blomberg was the first to use high pressure (350 bars) wet-slurry blasting systems for gel coat and blister removal, but the long -term results continued to be disappointing. The "osmosis" recurred to a greater or lesser degree and no method seemed to permanently cure the problem.
Initially, he accepted the explanations of the "osmosis"; problem provided by resin and coatings manufacturers, surveyors and other "experts"; and followed their recommended repair procedures.
Soon finding these methods and their associated theories to be inadequate and illogical, Mr. Blomberg set out to find the true reasons for and the chemical facts behind the problem.
A closer survey of all the many circulating different and confusing explanations of the problem revealed more of an industry that was anxious not to frighten presumptive boat buyers, than presenting the truth of it.
1953-64 Mr Blomberg was director of a major automotive chemical factory where he among else developed the first water-soluble detergent for removing of silicone contaminates from windscreens and delicate enamels. The formula is still widely used when cars are re-painted. Also a co-founder of the Swedish-German-Polish-US rust prevention research firm Safe Coat, Mr Blomberg had sufficient chemical knowledge and trade connections to be able to scrutinise the confusing information available about "osmosis"; and polyester related research.
number of hulls with different stages of "osmosis";
damages were bought and cut into pieces for laboratory tests and
polyester laminate needs "post curing"; at 80-90ºC in
order to cure completely. Of economical reasons this is, with few
performed at boat construction.
All laminates, perfect or with faults, with or without special "watershield"; coats, will absorb enough water to feed the hydrolysis. It is just a property of the material, which the mighty industry has used all means to hide from the consumers.
this stage the research team became confused: What we had found was
related to practically all produced GRP hulls. Why then were not all
of them affected by the hydrolysis?
Another two years of numerous tests learned us a lot more of the so called "osmosis"; process but not what we were looking for: The trigger.
Mr. Blomberg by sheer coincidence met a retired director of research
at a major British resin manufacturer.
studies at the time led to a better post curing technique, which
remedied the problem.
information gleaned from this study suggested a very important
theory : Normally the uncured enclosures can not be affected by the water.
order for a styrene globule to form around a strand, and create such
a "trigger";, certain specific criteria induced during the
manufacturing process had to be fulfilled.
testing of the "trigger"; theory was performed using
remaining material from the earlier used test hulls. When test pieces
from areas just over the waterline was split up into separate
laminate layers, a few pin-head sized dark spots were found. The
microscope clearly revealed enclosures with both the penetrating
strand and the
considerable time, effort and expense, this extensive research
confirmed the validity of the "trigger"; theory, revealed
the true cause of the problem and worst of all, found that the
process causes not only "cosmetic"; blisters but also very
severe damages deep in the laminate.