Hey, there's no Foam in here! and other amateur restoration questions

[pantaloonz]

Good Morning !

Last night while troubleshooting my bogging issue (working around the tank) I peaked around best I could along the underside of my boat. What I'm seeing is sort of surprising and would like to know if others have seen this same thing.

This is 24 year old boat. I would have expected to find some trouble under the decking. But that's not what I'm encountering, or at least think I'm encountering. The structure that the engine mounts are attached to appears to be in great shape and still extremely rugged. The color of the bottom of the boat is this light greenish/gray color. It's not like what I've seen in other restorations projects here.

The drain holes in the stringers are clogging with debris and I tried my best to clear them out.. The debris is coming from the underlying of the deck boards. So this is a temporary issue as I'll be redoing the decking in the fall

It does feel like solid fiberglass fabrication, but it looks like it's laid out over the entire bottom. I'm not seeing any compartments filled with foam or any other substrcuture besides what the deck is built on. It appears that there my be one or two plyboards laid right on the hull to provide the material structure to create the compartment for the skis and tank enclosure and that's it.

The compartments in the bow have no lining, just space between the fiberglass cap/moldings and the hull.

Now I'm kind of encouraged by this as I want to do some different things in the lower section of this boat..

1. I'd like to replace the fuel tank.
2. I want to redesign/enlarge the compartments for the skis and stuff
3. I want to add and additional hatch or two for emergency items like the first aid kit, and my minn kota trolling engine
4. carpet needs to be redone.


Question:

if there is no foam on this boat and I gut it.. am I required to add the buoyancy? -- should I?
**Assuming I'm right and there is no foam... that means if this boat does have a major incident.. she's going down ...

When I've got her gutted out.. are there items that I should rethink/add/subtract.. those of you who said oh darn "I should have done that!"

-- Make the batttery/engine compartments more accessible.. verify/update the wiring harness, add more drainage, run some other electric to the helm?
I know my boat has like 6 inch deep side pockets all along the sides.. that's a foot of internal space that maybe I can reclaim?
I don't really like seeing the wiring runnign through these passages I'd like to get that in conduit and tuck it away.

This won't happen until winter/fall but I'll take any suggestions!

thanks, -Pantz

 

[g0nef1sshn]

:director:You dont own a boat unless we can see pictures of it.

And im assuming the boat in question is the one in your sig? Id be no help there, but there are plenty here who can.