Water Logged Foam... What are my options?

Thanks for the advice, Sam!
BTW, nice job on your boat - where did you get those speedo faces? Are they Airguide or something else?

The guy I bought the boat from did the platform - stripped it, stained it, coated with marine spar varnish. It was immaculate when I bought the boat 5 years ago. The edges are wearing and so it's time to refinish it again. That can be another part of this winter's fun!

As far as the foam under the floor goes - that's mainly for flotation, but doubles as floor support, right? If I rebuild the floor, can I put the foam up under the gunnels instead to get the flotation? I like the idea of allowing water to get out of places it shouldn't be... :-)

Hah, hah, 74SkiNautique, that's a real laugher. I'm not making fun of you, but that's the way I've treated my boat the last 3 years. Mostly. Bilge coming into the dock, pull the plug out of the water, no water in the bottom by the time I get 25 miles home.

However...

I haven't had inside storage and I've never had a cover over the boat.

But I doubt that's the real problem. These boats are designed to keep water out of the chambers on the outboard side of the stringers. They have a layer of fiberglass under the floor that attaches to the side walls and top of the stringers. It's supposed to channel water that comes in and passes through the plywood floor to the bilge where it can be pumped out.

However, over time, leaks develop and water makes its way into the outboard chambers below the floor. There, it is absorbed by the flotation foam, which, again over time, becomes porous and acts more like a sponge. Once the foam "sponge" becomes waterlogged, it holds the water forever. The chamber now works in reverse of the design. Since there was no good way for the water to get in, there's no good way for the water to get out. There aren't any drain holes through the stringers to channel water back into the bilge. Any holes in the stringers become avenues for rot to develop.

I'm spelling this all out for a couple of reasons. One is to second the notion that it's impossible to be too careful about storing the boat and keeping water out. Another is to nuke the idea that keeping large amounts of water out will forever forestall rot, because the real problem is that once water gets in, it NEVER gets out. Of course, I'm sure frequently adding more water to the stored water can't be helpful.

Comment anybody?

just to add to the comments, i cut up a boat Friday and the last time it was tagged was 1995, i hit a spot on the transom and about a gallon of water poured out, the top was solid but once i got near the gimble it was wet, probably that way for years. keeping these and all boats dry as possible is key to the longevity of the boat, inside storage, pull the plug everytime out, leave off the cover on sunny days etc..

Hi All-
Back from the lake with pics of my boat.
I also noticed that water is starting to seep out of the foam area, which makes me thing the leak is coming from the outside instead of the inside (since it's below waterline while sitting there). If there is a chip in the gel coat under water, will that let water into the hull? It's possible the outer layers of fiberglass are exposed to the water in a couple small spots - I have to check it out again...
Thanks.
Chris

I used coated deck screws and then I completely covered them in resin. No metal was left exposed unless it was SS or aluminum.

They were drops, so yes, I must have used polyester.

Yes, I really need to load some pics up. Too bad this summer was shot with my home buying experience.

I still have yet to get up to the cottage and get the timing on the boat right. I hope to get up there in 3 weeks. I kinda made it my vow to get it running as it should before I put it away so that it is 100% ready to roll next spring.

This may be the first summer I have not waterskied in like 27 years if I don't get it rolling pretty soon.

I can say that in the 6 or 7 years since I have done the job, that there is no sign of rot in any of the wood.

Poly or epoxy I have no clue as to what I really used. My guess is that it was poly. I do know that it worked quite well.

Kevin, I will get a picture of that front seat to you. I will find my 35mm pics and scan it at work this week.

Alan, I find that using the metering pumps with the epoxy is more precise than guessing how many drops of catalyst needs to go into a batch of polyester. I've inadvertently made some real HOT mixes of poly!!!!

BuffaloBFN wrote: Expanding a bit on what Pete said, I found epoxy to be much easier to work with! Thanks Pete!

Just curious guys, what is easier about the epoxy over poly resin?

Expanding a bit on what Pete said, I found epoxy to be much easier to work with!

Thanks Pete!   

kevin,

Here is a shot mostly of my navigator, Farley, but you can see a little of what I did.


The rear seat was completely new, replicated in new wood, foam and tri color vinyl. The wood was all fiberglass resined to ensure waterproofness.   The floor was a crazy job, all ply now, resined to keep it good for genererations to come. But the real engineering feat was getting rid of the bench style seat with no back on the passenger side for a spotter's seat. I hated that idea, so we tried to replicate the newer type nautique's bench, with my own spin on it.   I used a captains seat from a Mariah that was new, so I saw no need to recover it, and the passenger corner wraparound bench was nearly the biggest single feat on the redesign of the bait. 2 normal sized people (usually a couple) can fit there.

I know I have film pictures of the redo, before, during and after the restomod, but not on my digital camera right now.

Chris73SkiNauti wrote: I'll have it out on the lake this weekend - I'll snap some more pics of it and post them for you all :-) Sounds like I'm in for a good time over the winter! Chris

It took me 250 man hours to replace the floor and re engineer the interior. I had soaked foam, but no rot on my stringers. I was lucky. I think I dodged a bullet by only having like 200 hours on the boat when I bought it in like 01. Otherwise, had my boat had more hours on it, I bet I would have needed to replace all the stringers.

I'll have it out on the lake this weekend - I'll snap some more pics of it and post them for you all :-)

Sounds like I'm in for a good time over the winter!

Chris

Chris,

Nice boat!!

My 73 had wet foam and bad stringers. The project was alot of work but well worth it. You will also notice that the wet foam is heavy. So by removing it the boats performance will increase. I had a 30 gal. trash container when I first filled it with wet smelly foam I could't lift it. Very Heavy. There was about 8 of these containers full total. Also when you remove your foam make sure you remove it all even the stuf way upfront. A 6" drywall trowel worked great for me. I could cut the foam using the trowel into sections then use the trowel to pop out the sections. Try to remove your stringers in one piece if posible to use as templates.

Use a diamond wheel on that angle grinder, cuts like butter and doesnt wear down best 16 bucks I spent on the project...