The water riddle
Just for fun, yesterday afternoon I posted what I thought was a bit of a riddle on Facebook and Instagram. As it turned out, the answer eluded just about everyone, which, to tell the truth, surprised me. While I wouldn’t have guessed the answer, I was pretty sure that at least a few other people would. Anyway, here is my riddle:
- What dries faster the more you spray it with water?
The answer is below the image. Can you solve it without checking though?
The answer is…
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…the fiberglass hull of a boat, or more specifically, blisters on the hull. Why do I know this? Because it’s something that we’re dealing with right now.
When we purchased our Amel, we knew that there were some hull blisters that we’d have to deal with. On a 30+ year old boat, I don’t think that it’s all that uncommon. We decided to use our time away to address it so, after hauling at Peake’s yard, we contracted them to sand the boat to the bare fiberglass, a job that has been ongoing all week.
Not me!
Before we can seal the hull again, it first needs to dry out, and in order to help that along, we have been told to keep spraying it with water. That sounds counterintuitive but the reasoning is all explained here.
For the past several days, Rebecca and I have been diligently spraying down the boat every couple of hours. When we are away sailing to the Galapagos, we have been assured that someone will continue to wash it down. Our fingers are crossed that we’ll see positive results in the time that we are away!
Been following your blog for ages. I have learned a great deal from following your exploits. This a great example. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, David. We learn something new every day.
Very interesting!! When we were looking at purchasing a boat last year, our broker in Oriental said “to the best of his knowledge, blisters have never sunk a boat”. What color are you painting the hull?
Of course he said that, he was trying to sell you a boat! We’ve heard it before too, and it may be true. That doesn’t mean that it should be ignored though.
Sounds expensive, i.e. – the grinding, time ‘on-the-hard’, resealing & new bottom paint. Did your pre-purchase survey pick up on this and get it computed into the purchase price?
Basically, yes.
That is a super interesting article (and site) that you linked to Mike. Thanks!!
You’re welcome!