Osmosis is that terrible “disease” that attacks the fiberglass of the boat, but don’t panic, because there are remedies and definitive solutions that allow you to eradicate this evil that afflicts the hulls with extreme ease. It is always important to carry out annual maintenance but it is equally important to observe the “symptoms” of osmosis, which offer unequivocal signals to which we must react promptly. Let us try, first of all, to understand what this phenomenon of boat osmosis, feared by every good sailor, consists of. All materials of organic origin absorb water and, unfortunately, this phenomenon can be slowed down but not eliminated. An effect that can be verified in a simple way, even with a home experiment. If you have a microwave oven, a very old dish (20/40 years old) and a new dish, making it is child’s play. Insert one dish at a time into the microwave and set the same “cooking” time and power for both. You will notice that the new dish will come out almost cold while the old one will always be hotter, in proportion to its age. This happens because the microwave oven acts on the water molecules. For its part, the old plate, washed and rewashed thousands of times, has retained moisture and heats up more than a new plate. The same thing happens to the hull of the boat which, over time, absorbs water. But let’s get back to the thread of the discussion on osmosis.

The origin of boat osmosis

The Gelcoat, in jargon, is a polyester resin which is used to protect the hull from atmospheric and chemical agents, as well as from water and is also used to guarantee an appreciable aesthetic finish. The Gelcoat behaves like a semi-permeable membrane promoting the phenomenon of osmosis in the boat: the name of which derives from the Greek ὠσμός which means “push, impulse”. It therefore happens that the water gradually passes through the Gelcoat layer, occupying those interstitial voids that are created during the processing of the fiberglass. Bubbles slowly form and increase in volume as they continue to absorb the humidity which slowly infiltrates. The pressure, on the internal side of the Gelcoat, in contact with the fibreglass, can reach different atmospheres and cause the characteristic de-lamination of the surface with the formation of a rough layer, which is commonly called “orange peel” and, subsequently, it causes a real explosion, followed by the formation of craters ranging in size from a few millimeters to a few centimetres.

Osmosis is that terrible “disease” that attacks the fiberglass of the boat, but don’t panic, because there are remedies and definitive solutions that allow you to eradicate this evil that afflicts the hulls with extreme ease. It is always important to carry out annual maintenance but it is equally important to observe the “symptoms” of osmosis, which offer unequivocal signals to which we must react promptly. Let us try, first of all, to understand what this phenomenon of boat osmosis, feared by every good sailor, consists of. All materials of organic origin absorb water and, unfortunately, this phenomenon can be slowed down but not eliminated. An effect that can be verified in a simple way, even with a home experiment. If you have a microwave oven, a very old dish (20/40 years old) and a new dish, making it is child’s play. Insert one dish at a time into the microwave and set the same “cooking” time and power for both. You will notice that the new dish will come out almost cold while the old one will always be hotter, in proportion to its age. This happens because the microwave oven acts on the water molecules. For its part, the old plate, washed and rewashed thousands of times, has retained moisture and heats up more than a new plate. The same thing happens to the hull of the boat which, over time, absorbs water. But let’s get back to the thread of the discussion on osmosis.

The origin of boat osmosis

The Gelcoat, in jargon, is a polyester resin which is used to protect the hull from atmospheric and chemical agents, as well as from water and is also used to guarantee an appreciable aesthetic finish. The Gelcoat behaves like a semi-permeable membrane promoting the phenomenon of osmosis in the boat: the name of which derives from the Greek ὠσμός which means “push, impulse”. It therefore happens that the water gradually passes through the Gelcoat layer, occupying those interstitial voids that are created during the processing of the fiberglass. Bubbles slowly form and increase in volume as they continue to absorb the humidity which slowly infiltrates. The pressure, on the internal side of the Gelcoat, in contact with the fibreglass, can reach different atmospheres and cause the characteristic de-lamination of the surface with the formation of a rough layer, which is commonly called “orange peel” and, subsequently, it causes a real explosion, followed by the formation of craters ranging in size from a few millimeters to a few centimetres.

Only after having completed all these works, to conclude the cycle and put your convalescent “creature” back in the water safely, can the normal treatment with antifouling be carried out. There are about ten recommendable paint factory brands on the market, but personally, we recommend those that distribute, together with the product, extensive and above all comprehensible information material. It goes without saying that those who are capable of providing comprehensive information on what they do , certainly has the clearest ideas about the product he produces. And then, if this were not the case, how could we pass on all this science to you to combat osmosis on your boat?