boat rot...wet foam prevention.

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

i wished poly cleaned up that easy.......i bath in aceitone every night......


and btw erik.......if you dont lay your hair in the glass when wetting out....you get to keep your hair ! (i been watching your sig. i know what you mean )

 

[i386]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

So far I like working with epoxy. I wear disposable gloves and have the luxury of only needing to mix small batches. I don't get much on me. The only downside for me (besides the cost) is that I don't have as much control over the kick/cure time like you would with poly and mekp. It doesn't stink either.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

i wished poly cleaned up that easy.......i bath in aceitone every night......


and btw erik.......if you dont lay your hair in the glass when wetting out....you get to keep your hair ! (i been watching your sig. i know what you mean )

I wish I had HALF as much hair as you do... plus yours is curly, you must really get the girls

I'm down to a quarter inch of hair all over for my "summer" cut... easier to fit into a wetsuit hood....

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Just wanted to throw an idea into this thread..

What if you took some real big pvc pipes and sealed them up (you could also put foam inside if you desired) and put those in there. Besides the weight of the pvc itself, they may not be all that heavy.. wouldn't provide you anything structurally, but they'd float and water couldn't get in them.

And on another note, when are you going to be putting in the floor? I loked the life jacket idea, but that would require you to make an access hatch... How would you make an access hatch that was easy on the eyes?

 

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Just wanted to throw an idea into this thread..

What if you took some real big pvc pipes and sealed them up (you could also put foam inside if you desired) and put those in there. Besides the weight of the pvc itself, they may not be all that heavy.. wouldn't provide you anything structurally, but they'd float and water couldn't get in them.

And on another note, when are you going to be putting in the floor? I loked the life jacket idea, but that would require you to make an access hatch... How would you make an access hatch that was easy on the eyes?

the only problem with your idea. is that the pvc would roll around....fasten it....and your good to go......

as far as the acess hatch......under a seat. ......in my craft, im butting in long bench seats down the gunwhales. the acess will be one under each side.

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I really like the access hatch idea... plus, with the ability for you to check on your floatation by having an access, then you can experiment with different ideas. Like -- if you put the floatation PFD's in garbage bags, would it prevent them from getting any water in them at all?

Do you have any photos of your boat? I'm curious about your idea to put the bench seats down the gunwhales (I don't know what your boat looks like or if it's similar to mine, but I've thought about taking out my port side seat, dash, windshield, and running a bench seat down the entire port side - kinda make mine more like a deck boat)

 

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I really like the access hatch idea... plus, with the ability for you to check on your floatation by having an access, then you can experiment with different ideas. Like -- if you put the floatation PFD's in garbage bags, would it prevent them from getting any water in them at all?

Do you have any photos of your boat? I'm curious about your idea to put the bench seats down the gunwhales (I don't know what your boat looks like or if it's similar to mine, but I've thought about taking out my port side seat, dash, windshield, and running a bench seat down the entire port side - kinda make mine more like a deck boat)

if you use the life belt thinggies. you wont need plastic......the are impervious to water.......

and my boat.....uh....well.....um......its not in the water yet .......its .....uh...."under repair"........

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=234392

the long bench seats arent built yet....ill be fabbing them this month.

 

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

btw.......a bench seat down the port isnt that hard to do, and you dont need as much room as you think......you can have a 3 foot bench....that will give you lots of stoage under the cushions and more walk space down the center....

fabbing is easy......ply or glass....im going to fab three outta glass....(one each side, one across the back).

ill be posting pics on that whole process in a short time....(and a swim grid)...mabe sooner if i cant find a shop

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Plywood may be pretty easy to make the seats... you could put a coat of resin on them and then wrap them in whatever material you are using for the rest of the seats... at least that may be the easiest and cheapest way to go about it..

 

[Titanium48]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I've found myself reading this thread after unintentionally getting into a deck repair project. Bought an old boat with a seemingly solid floor - because someone had put a layer of 3/4 plywood over top of the rotting deck. Should have weighed it before buying.

Anyways, I noticed some enthusiasm over the idea of using PFDs for boat flotation. Remember that the 200 lb or 300 lb rating for a PFD refers to their ability to keep the head of a person that size out of the water - and most 300 lb people can do that all on their own with no effort and no added flotation (they have their own flotation, 100 lb of fat displaces about 115 lb of water). The actual buoyancy of a PFD is around 70 N, or about 15 lb, equivalent to 1/4 cubic foot of dry polyurethane foam. Tie a PFD to 20 lb of lead and it's going to the bottom.

 

[Coors]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Google uscg; they have a formula for flotation in a homemade boat that explains it well.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

well... in the process of swapping engines, I found a large foam box full of water... and only about 10% of the foam was wet... i thought I had drilled into most of the voide but found a big one I hand't got into all the way...

anyway, I went ahead and tore up the back half the deck and am waiting for the first coat of resin to dry on the bottom of the new deck... On the flotation box, I'm going with ping pong balls.... no two ways about it...

enjoy... back to the grinder and mess I go...

Cheers! Tim R

 

[Coors]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

To actually keep you awash, if you swamp,
The ping pong balls need to be in the top of the gunnels.

 

[salty87]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

i already posted this in a thread, didn't feel like searching for this one. i didn't get any comments in my thread, maybe you guys have some...the way i see it, the fact that the foam glues itself to everything and doesn't allow drainage is the biggest problem....

i'm guessing i kept somewhere around 65-75% of the flotation and kept my drainage. it's not locked into the stringers and hull like it normally would, the blocks all pull out.

test run...50 ml part a + 50ml part b...made well over 3 liters (86 degrees today)

i used trash bags to line the area and some shims of wood that could be removed to make pulling the foam out easier

poured the foam, let it set for about 15 mins, pulled the shims...bags came off easily

some areas need to be trimmed but that's pretty easy with a hand saw

the deck fits pretty tight on most of the foam, it's locked together better than i thought it would be. i going to pour some 2-3" sections in bags to put on top of the exhaust pipes to help muffle it some.

 

[oops!]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

lots more foam questions ....bump

 

[Coors]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

It looks like a real good idea, but:
No more foam for me, USCG not required. I can't see how foam in the bottom, will keep you awash, except in a smooth water situation; waves? foam want to go up(it floats better than the boat), and turns over the boat?

Extra life jackets for anybody that can't swim 1/2 mile inshore; only good swimmers off shore, and always with a buddy in another boat=buddy system.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

For me, foam is sort of silly... if you end up in the water uninsulated where I boat, you're dead in about 15 minutes. Depending on wind direction, Superior is about 45 degrees year round just under the surface.

Erik

 

[fire7882]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Is foam required if it was removed by the owner and the boat is less than 20 feet? I know the origional boat manufacture is required to use foam but I'm not sure if I want to put any back in my boat project.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=265171

 

[Riv]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

Ayuh,...... No jest there,.... I'm as Serious as a Heart Attack........

Some of you are familiar with the Wellcraft 50' Scarab I'm helping with,......
That boat has Absolutely No Foam in it,.. Anywhere.......

Those Crazy flatbottom V-drives,+ Jets that are pretty popular down in Havasu,..??
No Foam in them boats either,... Maybe an old trucktire innertube stuffed up under the bow,...
But that's just to find a place to tie the rope when it sinks....

The way I'll get around putting Any foam in My boats is,......

Start with a hull that is Solid enough, or Make it that way,...
Then make Sure that there are limber holes thru all the subframing of the hull, so it can Drain down to the transom for pumping,......
Make sure there's enough Venting of the bilge areas. so they can Dry after they Drain....
There has to be a Quality bilge pumping system built,... I run 2 or more redundent self contained bilge pumping systems.....

And of course,... Make sure the PFDs are where they belong,+ are in good condition......

There's No Such Thing, as a Waterproof Compartment in a Boat,.....Period.....
Foam or Not......

If, by chance that you are Run Over by a much larger boat, or Hit something, Hard,.....
If you survive the Impact,..........
Break out the PFDs,+ Do what ya gotta Do,.......

Btw,.......
Duct taping a Cooler shut will float a pretty good sized load..............

I agree. Talked to a guy who did the same thing to his boat. What he also did to seal the inside of the hull was to spray in truck bed liner. Not too thick, and made sure that where any fasteners are used, are completely sealed as well. He said that it added about 75 lbs to the boat. Also said that the liner would be extreamily hard to tear or break. (U.S. Gov is using it on buildings after 911 attacks.) As a test they dropped two cinder blocks. One with and one without. The one with, only had a small dent in the corner. The one without...well, broke into many pieces. Blocks I beleive were dropped from a 5 story building. Not a soloution, just a suggestion. Also, this stuff is extreamily hard to remove from anything that it's put on.

 

[109jb]

Re: boat rot...wet foam prevention.

I'm going to be replacing everything (floors, stringers, foam, etc) in my 1988 Sea Ray once the season is over. First off, I will be fiberglassing all of the wood that I put in on all sides and also going back in with expanding foam through holes in the floor. But it seems to me and many others that there needs to be a way to keep the foam and thus trapped water off the wood. I have been toying with the idea of using something like this between the stringers and the foam and on the underside of the floor. Maybe not that exact product, but it gives you the idea. You could just use some dabs of glue to hold it in place and then once the foam is poured there will be an air space next to the wood.

Do you guys think this has any merit??