Rebuilding seat bench...old styrofoam???

[2stroke1971]

Ive got an old Steury skiff, its a 1972 fiberglass 15 footer. The front seat in the nose had been sagging, so I rebuilt that one already..the wood under the fiberglass had decayed. That went well.

I planned to do the same to the middle bench...I was going open it up, scoop out the rotted wood, and then build up the insides of the sides with some marine grade plywood, and then I wanted to make a storage area inside the bench and I was going to make part of the top open on a hinge for access...

However...I cut the top off, scraped away the dead wood, and there are 2 large blocks of some sort of styrofoam in there!...something tells me I DONT want to remove that to make a storage area...am I right? Is that for bouyancy? If I remove it, would that damage the boats handling, etc?

I guess if I have to, I will just leave it there, get some new wood between it and the outer fiberglass on the sides, and then replace the top as a solid piece...

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

[Thad]

Re: Rebuilding seat bench...old styrofoam???

It has nothing to do with bouyancy, UNTIL the boat sinks.
Your boat floats because of its shape. It displaced water.
The foam is there to act as a floatation aid if the boat capsizes or is swamped.

I have a 14' flat bottom that I removed the foam from the middle banch to make storage for my batteries. My dad has a 16' alum. vee that he removed the foam from to of the benches for storage.

We boat primarily on a small river with little chance of being swamped or capsizing.
Depending on where you boat and the overall conditions shoud dictate whether or not you remove the foam for added storage.

 

[2stroke1971]

Re: Rebuilding seat bench...old styrofoam???

Thanks!

I will have to think hard about it then. I probably put this thing in situations where the foam might be a good idea. (Chesapeake bay)...Im comfortable with 2 footers, but even on those days sometimes you get a weird random set of high ones from out of nowhere!

 

[Campylobacter]

Re: Rebuilding seat bench...old styrofoam???

If you are boating in the bay, you might want to keep the foam. A skiff will go down like a rock if it takes on water without it. The foam may not keep afloat forever, but quite possibly long enough for a rescue!