Foam removal

SweeperForce

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Feb 7, 2010
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Hello, I'm currently trying to remove all the foam since it is waterlogged. With a putty knife and a crow bar it's coming out slowly in small chunks. I wish there was some kind of chemical to dissolve the foam but not harm the fiberglass bottom. To me the stingers look to be in good shade.
Thanks for any input,
Tom
 

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Woodonglass

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Looks can be deceiving. You should drill into them down low and see what the shavings tell you!;)
 

Grub54891

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If the foam is wet,the stringers will be also. As stated,drill into them,even with a small hole saw and inspect different areas. They can be patched if they are ok. As far as the foam,cutting/grinding is the way I did it,coverd the boat with a tarp,suited up,a good light,good heavy duty vacume and went to work.
 

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bonz_d

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Though you look to be well past this point I find a drywall saw works very well. I use it like a fillet knife.
 

GWPSR

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Jul 25, 2012
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A roofing shovel works nicely for foam removal.

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Rickmerrill

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Like bonz_d said it looks like you may be past this stage but I liked the 6" wide spade. Tried the wire wheel on a grinder with a vacuum and that worked great too. But some of it's just tedious.

 

kcassells

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based on the pics looks like most of the bigger foam is removed already. Best bet would be a grinder with a sanding pad . They come in different grits. Also get a pair of those there dang "anti-cut" gloves from home deblow. Typical grinder is 4.5" and you can accessorize with different sanding pads or metal cutting pade.

Not sure {never thought about it} but acetone might melt your foam out when you get close to the hull.. Oh yea wear PPE { gloves, fullbody paint suit with hood, mask--a real good one, googles.
Look around on the site some more there is alot of what your doing in progress already by others.
Pretty sure that once the foam gets wet more than likely so are the stringers and transom. More investigation and more pics
And like the others already said above.
 

SweeperForce

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Feb 7, 2010
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Hey fellows,
Thanks for all the great advice. however I have another question, sorry if I'm a pain but this is my first boat and my first big repair. Here's goes, in my bilge area I found a crack which I thought was the bottom of the boat. I come to find out it is a type of honeycomb material with a fabric netting under it. Has anyone ever seen this? The honeycomb part was down and so wet it basically disintegrated. Do I need to repace it or just leave it out, under the honeycomb and netting is the fiberglass bottom of the boat. I wish I had a picture but we'll have to wait til morning . It gets cold and dark here in PA at this time of evening.

Thanks again,
Tom
 

SweeperForce

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Sea Stomper

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Nov 9, 2010
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Looks like it wasn't doing anything good for the last decade or more, except it was just going along for the ride. You might just follow some of the rebuilding techniques on this board and use a little imagination. I would think that whatever you do will be stouter and will last indefinately longer than that honeycomb fabric deal right there did. The honeycomb fabric configuration did not stand the test of time for sure.
 

Rickmerrill

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Mar 13, 2014
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Nope, never seen that before. Where exactly did you find this and how large an area does it cover? I guess this has something to do with drainage. Maybe they created a channel for water to flow thru to the rear and this false bottom kept the foam out of the channel?
 

archbuilder

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I haven't dealt with it before, but I'm guessing that is some kind of core reinforcing. I have seen some here and there made with balsa wood. The idea is to use the core as a spacer between two fiberglass skins, basically a stress skin panel. The idea is to make the overall hull lighter and retain the strength. I would research that, its my best guess.
 

jbcurt00

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I agree w/ archbuilder, some sort of hull core material for lightweight strength.

For sure dont simply remove it and not replace it in some way.

What boat make model and year?
 

GWPSR

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That is rotted balsa core. Many boats had a layer of this sandwiched between fiberglass laminations to add thickness and some strength. You really need to remove the inner layer of fiberglass til you find the end of the rot. There are a variety of alternative core materials available to replace it with.
 

Woodonglass

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Dec 29, 2009
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Yup ^^^ you have a "Cored Hull" and it must be rebuilt as it was before. As stated there are various materials that can be used to do the job but it must be re-cored in order to make it structurally sound again. Do some research on cored hull restorations and you'll see what needs to be done.;)
 
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