BRAIN PICKING - foam

[tengals123]

Ok, am i right to assume. <br />1. I know water has been in my hull before.<br />2. Prolly many time even before i bought the boat<br />3. It's a 68 cruisecraft.<br />4. If it has foam installed ( i think )<br />5. It will be soaked correct?<br />6. Thus the extra weight in the boat at the moment would be quite heavy.<br />7. Question, depending on how much foam is in the hull, let's say it's saturated with water, how much will this foam weigh? a 16ft fiberglass boat, with foam full of water, what, a couple hundred pounds more?<br /><br />The reason i ask is because, flat chat this boat max's out at 30Mph. BTW it has a 68 merc reband 100Hp purrring.....on the rear end.<br />I'm thinking the boat has extra weight in the hull.<br /><br />Am i correct in assuming this???<br /><br />cheers

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

Sorry to continue, one last thing,<br /><br />This puppy should be able to do 40-45Mph shouldnt it???<br /><br />Thanks to all you regulars that know what there talking about.<br /><br />cheers

 

[Bondo]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

There's a Very Good Chance that your assumptions Are Correct.................

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

..... or the motor isn't as good as you think. <br /><br />Or the boat ain't trimmed right. <br /><br />Or the speedo ain't accurate.<br /><br />First thing you need to know is what speed your boat is supposed to do with that motor. If it's doing the right speed measured by an accurate speedo then maybe you don't have a problem. Also check if the motor is doing max rpm. If it can't get near it the motor has a problem.<br /><br />You could drill the floor above the keel and see whether there is foam under it and whether it's wet. Best to use a bit that's a bit shorter than the distance between the floor and hull. Holes in the hull will definitely cause severe damp inside, and slow the boat down even more.

 

[prockvoan]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

One thing that you have to remenber,a 1968 engine was rated at the engine(CID).Engines as for back as 1982,were starting to rate hp at the prop!<br />Tinkerer call this one right,drill that hole thru the floor,use a 1/4" bit or less.Before you do that,take some tape,put it on the bit about 1/2" from the end,this will give you a gauge on how deep you are drilling.From there,take a cloth hanger,poke it down,put it up to see if you have water.

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

ok, the speed was done from a gps. no gauges yet. but the general feeling in the boat is it should go faster. honestly, ive been in a few boats, i think the donk is running quite ok. cracks in the hull. well, let me just say if you have read some of my other posts you'll know i has serios water/crack issues with this girl. one time it took me 45mins to drain her. Once rebuilt i will have a 5 gauge set and have accurate specs, but currently she's not going fast enough. Also, funny as it sounds the boat 'feels ' heavy. ( least im hoping it's it )<br /><br />the more i think about it.......<br /><br />the boats nearly 40 years old, god doesnt look it. it's had a repair job on the hull ( i can see it, dodgy job ), even when ive had it its had 2 --- 2.5inch cracks in the hull. taken water into the hull plenty times. gotta be heavy in the foam doesnt it. 2-300 pounds of soaked foam would take 10mph off this boat, wouldnt it?<br /><br />cheers and thanks for the replies so far.

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

thanks guys. Ive still got a few trips to do in this boat first. it doesnt take on water now and i only do fishing once a week in it. i have 4 trips until in pulling her apart. I dont mind drilling the hull t'morrow, but do what with the hole?? Exopy/resin it up afterwards??? I can't remember if ive got any left? heehehe.

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

just to add.....<br /><br />sorry about the blabbing on......<br /><br />trimming, I don't have power trim, but have tried bottom 3 pin holes. Currently, gets onto plane the fastest 1 pin out from the lowest setting. I have an issue with the skiing factor. Im going to spend a great deal of time and money into this boat over winter. I dont want the quickest boat in town, but need to pull a skier. People have told me it would be no drama's on this boat. I have my doubts. Most people ski at 25-30mph. This boat max's out with 2 people on board at 30mph. You recon it will pull a skier out and do 25mph on the river. Im not so sure. Got to be something more. BTW 13.75 X 17" merc prop. cheers

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

tengals<br /><br />From your various threads I think you'd be best off taking the boat to a professional to see if it's worth the trouble of working on.<br /><br />Cracks in the hull letting water in are not a real good sign of a sound hull. If they've been there long enough they've been letting water into the hull timber as well and they're rotting it.<br /><br />I'm getting a feeling that you're looking at a full floor / stringer / transom / and bits of hull rebuild. <br /><br />Sometimes it's cheaper to let the pretty boat go and start again with a sound one.

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

mmm.....that's hard to swallow. I'm understanding your point. The cracks in the hull are where the dodgy repair job was done. I believe the hull is sound enough. I guess im just being paraniod/picky, a month out from restoration. I could be making too many asumptions. I really like the boat. I don't see to much trouble in pulling the floor, foam and rebuilding stringers. The transom is sound. I understand your point though.

 

[Realgun]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

Tengals 2-300 lbs is 1 or 2 extra people. That doesn't seem like it would slow the boat 10 MPH.<br />That foam could weigh more than 300 lbs but I bet the hull is not as clean as you would like. Read trimed or not straight.

 

[Dryrot]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

If the foam is pouted foam it will be non porous.....so it shouldn't support water. The purpose of the foam is to float your boat in the event of a capsize. Water filled foam would make your boat sink. So chances are if u have foam it will not be full of water.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

I think your best bet would be to get the boat weighed. A boat of that size and vintage can weigh roughly 1100-1200 pounds with engine and rigging. If you weigh it and it weighs 1400 or 1500 pounds (minus trailer weight), then you have trapped water somewhere.<br /><br /> I would be surprised if there is even foam in it at all, but if there is, it can be fully saturated and the boat will still float fine. It will just sit lower in the water and be more difficult to get going. Also, real world speed for a 60s vintage hull and motor of your size and power probably won't do a bunch better than what you are getting. I have 125 horses hanging out back of mine and I am pretty happy if I hit 40-ish mph GPS. If you do have foam, and it is saturated, you easily could have a few hundred pounds of water in it. Mine was saturated, and after my rebuild it sat a good 6-ish inches higher in the water. I could tell this only by past water stains as I never ran it, I bought it and rebuilt it. Anyway, good luck with it, its a neat looking boat...

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

that's some great replies. Thanks heaps guys. I just love my boat. I will work on restoring it no matter what. I'm going out tomorrow fishing, so today i oiled all my reels up. I decided i'd just turn the old girl over quickly before i finished. I starts everytime 1st time. Prime, turn key, appliy choke button for 2 secs and it's away. Idles so nice and is very responsive. Really what more could i want. cheers

 

[tengals123]

Re: BRAIN PICKING - foam

the floor seams sound enough, but im going to pull it anyway. I have 1 soft spot up front. I just want peice of mind and replace whatever is needed before i paint and upholster. cheers