boat rot...wet foam prevention.

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

We are re-builders, not engineers, I would not second guess design unless I had the engineering and design background.

this is a very valid point....


and coors....right now its 17.5......was 19...... and its gonna be 24....tee hee.


cheers
oops

 

[Lou C]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

All this talk brings back bad memories....here is some of my project before I put the foam in and trial fitted the new floor, thank goodness it's all done!

 

[Zetman]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Thats like those guys that put the pool noodles in their boats. They are made to absorbe water!! They are made to be semi-boyant. And i saw a guy that had a bass boat with pool noodles under the deck. !!! LOL LOL LOL LOL

How do you know if pool noodles soak up water? or are semi-boyant? I put a pool noodle under water for five days and when I took it out it absorbe no water what so ever..don't need to be an engineer for that.

 

[EJS]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Im about to go buy a few gallons of AB foam for the rebuild. First time working with it. Ill add some pics to my work in progress thread later tonight. Im sealing this boat so well that Im not worried about water getting to the foam. It'll last another 30 years at least.

 

[Lou C]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Im about to go buy a few gallons of AB foam for the rebuild. First time working with it. Ill add some pics to my work in progress thread later tonight. Im sealing this boat so well that Im not worried about water getting to the foam. It'll last another 30 years at least.

You do know that the outside temp should be between 70 and 80 degrees for that stuff to expand right, yes? It's not a cold weather project. And make sure you don't let it get into a closed compartment, it can pop things loose fast. I put mine in the hull, before I screwed down the new floor, and then let it expand, then cut off the excess with a hand saw so it was level with the stringers. I have seen people pour it in thru holes, with exit holes provided for it to escape, but to me that's too risky, in that it may not expand where you want it, or could pop the floor loose. Doing it with the floor out lets you make sure it gets where you want it, sometimes you need to do several pours. Wear a Tyvec suit and make sure you have tons of gloves! MESSY!!!!

 

[Bondo]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Im sealing this boat so well that Im not worried about water getting to the foam.

Ayuh,............ Right,.............

 

[wca_tim]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Wood loves water, most interior materials of construction (ie resin / glass, etc...) are NOT water impervious over time. Boat spends lots of time in the water, and if left out in the rain, holds water like a bathtub. One crack in barrier coatins applied between the water and the wood, and surface tension / capillary forces suck water into the wood until it's mostly all wet (over time... water is patient). I just don't see how using current materials of construction you could keep sealed long enough and well enough to insure that foam would never get wet... Especially after looking at a pile of boats in the past year or so deciding what I really want... have seen some first hand evidence of just how prone things are to getting wet and rotten...

just my 2 cents, probably worth about that much too...

 

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

foam or no foam............bond-o is right........


follow the law........

 

[EJS]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

You do know that the outside temp should be between 70 and 80 degrees for that stuff to expand right, yes? It's not a cold weather project. And make sure you don't let it get into a closed compartment, it can pop things loose fast. I put mine in the hull, before I screwed down the new floor, and then let it expand, then cut off the excess with a hand saw so it was level with the stringers. I have seen people pour it in thru holes, with exit holes provided for it to escape, but to me that's too risky, in that it may not expand where you want it, or could pop the floor loose. Doing it with the floor out lets you make sure it gets where you want it, sometimes you need to do several pours. Wear a Tyvec suit and make sure you have tons of gloves! MESSY!!!!

Yep! Did it in the heated shop. I took pics but havent uploaded them yet. It was def a little messy. I had the floor boards out when i Poured and trimmed the foam down.

Ayuh,............ Right,.............

One can be optimistic.... haha. Ive sealed up everywhere that could possibly be sealed! Even coated the underside of the floor boards with glass before I put them in. The floor was installed today, tomorrow will be the final cloth over all the floor and stringers where the fuel tank lays. That water is gonna have to wait some time to meet my foam...

 

[Lou C]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Well the water is the issue, and foam or no foam, if you let the boat hold water on the floor, the wood will rot ultimately. The worse thing for most open boats, is carpet on top of a thin layer of glass, that holds water, that creeps in thru unsealed holes. That is really what starts it, but once it gets in, the foam makes it worse because it can't dry out. I think if most of the boats we rebuild (older bowriders, wood floor with thin layer of glass, carpet) rot for mainly that reason. When I finished mine, I had the floor gelcoated with non skid, no carpet at all on the floor, only were it was on the gunnels, so I woudn't have to have the whole thing gelcoated. All holes were sealed with 4200. Keep it covered, let it vent to dry out. Best you can do.

 

[Zetman]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Shoot me..thats why I used pool noodles...if water gets under my floor it still will travel to the bottom and eventually to the bilge. I made sure any water has a path to the bilge, which also means under my floor air can circulate so no condisation there.

 

[Zetman]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Can't remember if I posted a picture of the noodles so here it is again

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Shoot me..thats why I used pool noodles...if water gets under my floor it still will travel to the bottom and eventually to the bilge. I made sure any water has a path to the bilge, which also means under my floor air can circulate so no condisation there.

I still like the idea myself. I would half to do some figuring though to see how many noodles it would take to float a 1500lb boat. Seriously though I like the concept.

 

[Zetman]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I'm only doing this in a 19' boat with a inline 6 merc. There is atleast 60 or more noodles used. I bought these at the dollar store durning the beginning of the summer. Look pretty funny putting them in my Honda Civic..more like cramming them.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Look pretty funny putting them in my Honda Civic..more like cramming them.

I bet it did lol. It's not like you could of just thrown them in the back of a truck and drive down the road without them blowing out.

 

[BillP]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I like the pool noodle idea too but it takes a lot of noodles. They float about about 15lbs each.

 

[Zetman]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Well at 15lbs each using say 70= aprox 1050lbs...$70 I'm sure this is'nt exactly on the button too.

 

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

ok....we know that high bow storage and water prevention is the best.

about the flotation .... we got...foam......we wanted to get away from that..

we got innertubes...

foam in in ziploc bags...ping pong balls...and pool noodles.

all of these are good ideas....

any one else?

 

[Bondo]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Ayuh,.......

You forgot the PFDs.....

 

[tmh]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I was totally shocked to see no limber holes in my stringer system when I replaced the floor and some stringer sections on my 1985 Mark Twain. Come to find out tat MOST boats of that era had no limber holes! So, I'd say that is the #1 thing to fix when you remove the foam. Inserting perforated PVC pipeing at the low point of the stringer sections has been discussed here and makes a lot of sense to me if you want to put inject foam back in.

btw, I used many different sized soda bottles in mine...filed them with air in winter, capped them tightly and put them in the boat in the spring. I was surprised how tightly you can put them in and although you'll hear all about how they "shift" and squeek, usually that's from folks who never have used them. I did use some spray adhesive sort of randomly between bottle (fast spray every now and then) but I doubt that made much difference. The key is to fill the bottles with cold air so they don't shrink in the cold weather!

I would say that I have seen some other boats with far more meager stringer systems and very tightly filled foam. I would not have put the deck on thise without foam to add rigidity as it was obviously part of the structural support.