Most older CC’s have soaked foam!

I think it would be fair to assume most 60's- early 80's Correct Crafts have some amount of soaked foam.

Easy to sample...make a small cut into the factory fiberglasses flooring(between stringers)about 6" long or so.Dig it out and see how wet!Sample both sides in a few spots. If you don't have it you can glass it back in.Don't forget to sample the area above the bilge toward the bow.It can hold a bunch.

Much has been posted about the subject....I wonder how many guys who think the motor is tired...are dragging an extra 400 - 600 pounds!
Put two 200lb adults in your boat and see how much performance drops...add two more adults and things are getting sluggish!
I removed about 400lbs in a 72... at first , it did not appear that there was much wet foam...as I got further into it...the 30-40 lb bags of removed foam began to add up!

The boat was performing well enough that I thought all was just fine(top end @47)....now that I got rid of the two immaginary fat ass riders.... I should be now be hitting 50mph !!!!

Brad...Everything was glassed in(stringers etc) before they added foam...over time, the wet foam can cause the glass to separate...wood can then rot. After removing foam , one needs to check stringers, primary and secondary(cross sections),for soft wood....replace if needed...allow to dry and glass in any areas that could be exposed to water.

With my 72...the wood was all solid!It just depends how soaked and for how long.

Other than that....performance becomes an issue...wet foam can add a serious amount of unwanted wieght... also, the boat may sit deeper in the water.I have read where people have removed up to 800lbs.Thats a boat load of bodies!Add a couple people and you reach the wieght capacity real fast!

Worth checking!

The tast of removable does suck... as it is labor intesive(removal add redoing the floor)...but it's a one time job if done right!
Not hard to do as a "do it your self job"...just takes some hours!

trikeaholic wrote: stop it! stop it! I have soaked foam paranoia! Im not going to check either. Ignorance is bliss!

i dont know and i dont want to know. im scared to put a wrench on the stringers too. i have no intentions on doing that project. if the boat brakes in half, then so be it.......

what I am going to do before the carpet goes in, is "git rot" the stringers every 4 to 6 inches. That should make me feel better! I will admit it though, when the motor finally goes, or I have an extra couple grand laying around, I will tear up the floor and see whats what. It can wait.

Wakeboarders dream...

Trike...if I had not taken that first sample, I would be buffing a waxing... ready to drop it back in ths next nice day! But i won't mind leaving the wieght behind...I know what 400 bls of fat sacks does...at least I can drain them!

Stang
I could not and would not spend time or money on cosmetics, new paint or graphics...if I thought I had a rotten floor,stringers,and hundreds of pounds of water trapped inside my boat...But I'm so anal,I drive myself crazy most of the time..and my wife allmost all the time

The problem is ...that it's not always obvious...I pulled the plywood floor up (it was in good shape)and the glass that is factory spayed looked just fine...however over the years little by little water finds it's way in(small cracks and screw holes)...once there , always there ....until we probe!
Two things for sure...
1.It wont get any better on it's own
2.will only get worse when left alone

And yes...graghics and interior went on hold!
Anyway....now I am waiting for the temp to go up so I can pour the closed cell stuff in , seal it back up and put the floor back! seats soon go to the local shop!

BTW...the wet foam is some nasty ass smelling stuff! About as bad as a hamper full of pissy baby diapers!

My floor was solid and you would never know the foam was soaked. I had spent considerable time and effort planning a rebuild and doing same only to be somewhat dissapointed by the boats overall performance.

Without the foam, the boat has a different feel in the water. The wake at 32 mph is much smaller and I'm able to slalom at speeds as low as 28 mph without throwing a monster wake. No porpoising either. At about 2800 rpm the nose goes down and the wake goes flat and it's pure heaven to lean over the buoy, get on edge and only feel a small bump crossing the wakes...pure heaven when it's 30 plus years old!

The boat tracks even when I'm out to the side on edge and making a turn... I'm only 165 lbs, but with the soaked foam, the boats nose stayed up and not only was the wake an eye opener at high speed crossings but the boat did not track worth a damn.

The gasoline consumption is about half of what it was when running all that soaked foam.

I did have to buy a $50 fat sac because the boat has no wake at all for a boarding!

Without the extra weight the CC's do exactly what they were originally designed for (Slalom Skiing) and with a fat sac, can throw a monster wake. Gotta love Em'

You are the magic man...that is a great way to test...so much easier to patch back up!
Oh...and the flippin Giligans pad is cool!

Jeff...that is where it is...just about every where you have floor. and it is full all the way up the bow...if really soaked it can hold 700-800pounds...if that was the case the boat would be sitting real low and stuggling to get out of the hole....real poor performance.You could have 300-400pounds and performance would be like having the weight of two or three adults...a loss of 3 or 4 mph on the top end and slower hole shot...not quite so noticable.Notice the diff when it's just you driving...start adding bodies!
If you think you should be going faster....maybe check it out!

Alan; Wherever did Mrs81 find that gizmo?. Gotta be a better idea that ripping up the floor "just to check".

john

Jbear, I think she got from one of her gardening magazines or a gardening center. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

Ps. I tease her about our living room the way she teases me about my boat. She is a fanatic about her plants and it shows. She's made a really cool place to come home to and unwind. We have a three trunk palm tree that is close to 12 ' tall with an 8' spread, the rest of the room is full of all kinds of plants. Pretty cool.

And another thought...removing 400-500 pounds is sure a lot less load on the trailer!
Maybe I should write a mini book..."101 Reasons to remove soaked foam"!!!!
Ya just have to look at the benefits...don't fear the foam...dig in everyone!