Floatation question.....

[Shakemsam]

First off, I'm sorry to beat a dead horse with this issue, but I'm in need of some advice from the Starcraft gurus. LOL

I am replacing the floor and transom of my 16' CC. When I ripped out the old floor, ofcourse all the foam was water logged. I plan on replacing it with the Blue or Pink stuff or maybe noodles or a combination of both. My question is how to lay it down? The original foam was mostly layed down length wise.....ok NP! But underneath that, were pieces running between the ribs side to side, laying flat against the bottom. It seems to me, that created a damming effect, not allowing the water to flow to the back. I also have some corrosion and pitting, mainly in the center of the V where these pieces of foam were laying, which I will go over with Gluvit along with the welding sticks that are used with a propane torch. I am considering just laying the new foam length wise on the ribs leaving the bottom open.
Am I correct or should I run side to side as well?

Thanks for the help!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Floatation question.....

I am considering just laying the new foam length wise on the ribs leaving the bottom open.

I'd do this.

 

[Golden Arrow II]

Re: Floatation question.....

Your not going to get those brazing sticks to stick to the aluminum. They will flake off as soon as you get it to melt or the first time the hull flexes. You need to have the spots welded. I did the same thing in my boat trying to save some money but only ended up spending more money in the long run because I bought the supplies for brazing. The welding shop I went to told me that you cannot braze aluminum, you have to weld it. Just clean it up really good and take a sharpie and circle all the spots you want fixed. Then the welder wouldnt have to spend time looking around for the next spot to weld. It will save time and money, also they wont miss any spots you want to have done.

 

[Shakemsam]

Re: Floatation question.....

Thanks for the replies Golden Arrow and EZ....

I have had good luck with the "sticks" in the past.
I used them on my 24' Crestliner Sabre for a few spots and they worked great!
So....I will give them a go.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: Floatation question.....

There are 2 or 3 types of the welding sticks. The ones I bought work good, but are very time consuming to do it right and get a good weld. You have to keep brushing to get it to stick to itself, and if the heat hits the rod it's no good anymore. That's my results with some stuff called durafix. I got it to hold 2 pieces together fairly strong. But time wise wasn't worth it. Use the Gluvit last. Also, I found something called lab metal sold at local welding shops and fasten all whish is a putty, and it seemed to bond real well and I couldn't break it off with a hammer. A jack right on it is a different story. Or, if you just want to seal the corrosion up, Gluvit, straight epoxy will do that. I also remember some members discussing something called coat it that had good results for them.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Floatation question.....

Lab Metal is nearly identical to JB weld in a bigger can. Cost is about the same, it isn't cheap. It does work well. Be very careful applying any heat to that boat. The aluminum is heat treated and you can temper it really easy. The trick with working with this type of aluminum is to first soot it up with pure acetelyne. When you are using Durfix or any other of the Aluminum soldering rods you can watch the soot. If it starts to turn clear you need to back the heat off immediately. If you aren't very careful you can fix the hole but end up with cracking that will result in a bigger problem down the road.

I think I interpreted in your original post that the foam was laid in. I may be wrong but every Starcraft/MonArk that I have ever seen had poured in foam. I think someone else has been in there before you.

 

[Shakemsam]

Re: Floatation question.....

http://www.cabelas.com/boat-care-appearance-cabelas-aluminum-boat-patch-1.shtml

I guess welding was the wrong term. The link above is what I am using.
As to the foam, I believe it is the original based on info from other Starcraft owners.

 

[heyyou325]

Re: Floatation question.....

Let me know how that stuff turns out. I thought about trying it. I still think if corrosion is the only problem, gluvit,or coat it will be as good as anything, and faster. But if you try that cabella's stuff, let us know how it works. I like trying new things sometimes.
Oh, and I ran my foam with the stringers so the ribs held them up, and they gave the decking just a little support. On my 21 ft er, it was 4" between the stringers 23" wide, and then 2" 8" wide under that, tried to fit noodles on the side of the 8" piece, but there wasn't room. Then I put noodles outside the stringers. So far I have 58 noodles under the decking, and 2+ 2"X 4'X8' pieces of blue styrofoam. I am also going to put some in the sides, under the shelves.

 

[Shakemsam]

Re: Floatation question.....

I bought several sticks a while back from JC Whitney when I had an older Mirrocraft.
They work well as long as the metal is bare and clean. I ended up using them for the deeper pits of corrosion and Gluvited the rest.

 

[Jayb123]

Re: Floatation question.....

When you guys say pitting... I have some.. but to what extent and how bad would it need to be in order to be filled with the sticks or welded?

 

[MichaelP]

Re: Floatation question.....

My pitting will be filled with marine tex or JB. Mostly cosmetic stuff tho. Wire brush, vineger/water wash, water rinse, dry and apply.

 

[Shakemsam]

Re: Floatation question.....

I dont think the pitting was that serious. It was more of a precautionary thing for me.