Drying out foam
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2355
Printed Date: May-05-2024 at 4:16am
Topic: Drying out foam
Posted By: Lazarus II
Subject: Drying out foam
Date Posted: August-29-2005 at 12:09pm
I am currently restoring a 79 SN which was swamped for some years and finally sunk for about a year. I have done all the checks that i can think of and have read to determine the health of the stringers and floor boards, all seems to be hunky dory. I have read a few posts regarding the foam under the outer floor and am unsure how concerned i need be about the foam being a bit soggy and how to dry it out since i dont plan on pulling up the floor at this point. Im relatively sure that this is the factory open cell foam so in theory i should be able to put a hole in either stringer in the stern and jack up the front of the trailer to let the water drain out then re-glass holes. any thoughts on this concept would be greatly appreciated.
Zack
-------------
Going fast never hurt a soul, its the sudden stops that get ya!!!!!!
79 Ski Nautique
|
Replies:
Posted By: David F
Date Posted: August-29-2005 at 1:27pm
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: August-29-2005 at 1:43pm
Yup, your theory is in err.
-------------
"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing."
River Rat to Mole
|
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: August-29-2005 at 2:58pm
|
yeah man, sorry to report the bad news but I'm in the same "boat" as you (pardon the horrible irony) with my 78 ski nautique. The thing is this, if your foam is "water logged", so too are all of your stringers and floor. If you think that just because it feels solid, it will be ok, you will probably wake up someday in the future regretting that. I purchased my boat as a project and knew it would probably come to this and it has. I had to remove every single inch of foam to get out the moisture. There is simply no other way to "extract" the moisture from the foam. Now that your boat has water in the bilge/foam, it MUST be removed for a complete and dry bilge safe from stringer rot and water damage. If you "go fast" past this part, your floor will eventually fail and/or your stringers will rot and give way on the bottom of the boat. Since the stringers aren't just there to hold up the floor, this could cause the very worst to happen. That being, your floor might colapse under way (on the water) due to rotten stringers where they meet the hull. I saw a post about that happening here on this site once and it would be bad news to find out,... good luck man, but do it right.
|
Posted By: Bill336
Date Posted: August-29-2005 at 10:20pm
|
My foam was waterlogged too. I dug it out with a small flat shovel, but still have some in the bow of the boat. I dug out below it though and the water did eventually drain out of the bow foam, so it's dry now. I don't think it would work by drilling the stringer at the back though since the foam is solid through the whole boat. I removed the stringers also and they were suprisingly in good condition, especially where they were fully glassed (bilge area). They were a little wet up front and had a little rot on one behind the rear engine mount, but they came out in one piece.
|
Posted By: stang72
Date Posted: August-30-2005 at 12:27am
You need to pull the floor up and remove the foam...check stringers every where and replace anything that has rotted.Use new closed cell foam if you wish to replace.Rotted stringers can appear to feel solid but will only get worse!If only portions are rotted you can mate new in.If you let it go...only bad things will come! About the time your engine mount gives up , you will be replacing other stuff! Good luck!
-------------
stang
Face plants are not that funny when it's you face!
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/images/3720/photo1.jpg" rel="nofollow - The Super Air
|
Posted By: 64 Skier
Date Posted: August-30-2005 at 6:42am
I let mine dry out for 8 months....didn't work. I removed the foam (you could press down with your finger and water popped up) and also placed a few perpindicular dams in the boat to keep water from running to the front of the boat.
Right under tha fiberglass was 3/4" plywood that was also soaked...more weight!
I have a new 2005 SN 196 and I'm curious to see which of the boats is faster/stronger now that the hundreds of pounds of foam has been removed!
-------------
64 Skier
66" HO VTX and 67" HO Triumph
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1071&sort=&pagenum=3&yrstart=1971&yrend=1975 - 71CC
|
Posted By: neal.west
Date Posted: December-20-2005 at 1:33pm
|
Would be interested in ya'll detailing how you did foam/stringer replacement as I will begin work on my '80 SN next weekend. Any helpful hints?
|
Posted By: stang72
Date Posted: December-20-2005 at 4:57pm
JJ...should have that covered...pics and all!
quite a floor you have!I am thinking of partially using your method!
Jared...give us the srep by step and what products you used....awsome job!
-------------
stang
Face plants are not that funny when it's you face!
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/images/3720/photo1.jpg" rel="nofollow - The Super Air
|
Posted By: Rick
Date Posted: December-27-2005 at 8:10pm
The only way to dry out your foam is to remove the floorboards, remove the faom and dry it in the nearest dumpster. There have been several good writeups here and on PlanetNautique regarding the how-to. Good luck.
-------------
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=250&yrstart=1996&yrend=2000%20" rel="nofollow - 2000 Ski
|
Posted By: David F
Date Posted: January-04-2006 at 8:33am
Since this post is back and I am bored...
The original foam will dry out eventually if you remove the floor and then the boat in the sun for several weeks. But why not just go ahead and remove it. If you do remove it, I suggest it be replaced with pourable closed cell foam. the foam really does provide an importand sound deadening and anti-oil canning benefit to the bottom of the boat as well as floatation to make the boat unsinkable.
Now, one or two of the above posts mentions that your floor could buckle due to rotten stringers. This scenario is highly unlikely as the fiberglass around the stringers is more than enough to keep the boat structurally sound. The main problem with a rotten main stringer is the loss of engine mount integrity. The other secondary stringers main purposes is to prevent the bottom of the boat from oil canning as fiberglass composites are very flexible.
So given the above, if you replace rotten sections of the stringers you are fine as the weak plan of the joint is not critical for keeping the engine in place. However, it is important that the fiberglass shell around the stringer be repaired properly (since this is where the strength is).
Maybe I can put it this way: A fiberglass boat is a stressed skin type of craft, not a body on frame type.
|
|