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Can we discuss floatation foam please

starsh1p

Regular Contributor
"Hi guys, my boat is a 19 foot

"Hi guys, my boat is a 19 foot fiberglass Galaxy Classic with a Mercruiser 140 i/o. I am in the process of rebuilding the floor and transom. After removing the mulch like plywood floor I discovered that my floatation foam is water logged. My questions are these:

If left exposed to the sun for the rest of the summer will the foam dry out? I suspect not.

I have found links to new foam on the net but the price is out of my range, so does anyone have a less expensive solution to replacing the foam?

If I remove the wet foam and not replace it what problems will I be creating and is this a horribly bad idea?

Thanks for any input, I am kind of at a standstill untill I decide what to do with this problem."
 
"Mike,
I am rebuilding a


"Mike,
I am rebuilding a 1967 v-hull. This Spring we replaced all the stringers and filled the voids with pourable flotation foam. I got what I thought to be a resonable price at JGreer.com. My 2cw."
 
"Foam won't dry 100%.

L


"Foam won't dry 100%.

Leave it out? A little rougher/noisier ride, violation of CG rules, insurance won't cover it if it sinks to the bottom if they find out. I left mine out. You could use blocks of blue stryrofoam and cut it to fit then drop in place.

Are you sealing the new/old wood w/CPES? Google it."
 
guy is correct foam will not d

guy is correct foam will not dry 100% i know this is different but same cenario me and my brother use to do some serius duck hunting on lake wappapella and we would pull our blind for the winter and store it in a dry building and the foam was almost just as soaked the next season
 
"Get a few cans of the expanda

"Get a few cans of the expandable insulation foam from the hardware store. Works awesome! and it's cheap, and fills in any void or gaps you may have. $5 a can"
 
Foam needs to be closed cell t

Foam needs to be closed cell type or it will soak up any moisture like a sponge.
 
"Thanks for all the comments g

"Thanks for all the comments guys. I decided if I am going to do it I may as well do it rite. So I am getting some floatation foam billets and cutting them in and then getting some pour or spray foam to fill the small voids around the blocks I put in. Guy you are big on the CPES treatment for the wood but a suggestion was made that I just coat the wood in fiberglass resin, will this do the job o.k.? Resin is much cheaper I think."
 
"Mike:

FG resin (polyes


"Mike:

FG resin (polyesther) will work but not penetrate the wood like CPES. May not be a critical issue on side boards and seat backs. Epoxy sticks to polyesther but not vice/versa.

Stringers, transom and floors are water sponges if not well sealed. I trust the CPES since it wicks deep into the open pores of the wood. Any hole drilled into them needs to be treated for water penetration. The result of poor sealing was the mulch you removed.

Seat bases are easily loosened when wood screws are used. I used a 1/4" X 12" X 12" SS plate; drilled and tapped to the seat base pattern. I located it and epoxy glued it to the bottom side of the floor using SS bolts w/neversieze added to the threads so the glue wouldn't stick."
 
"Guy, just to clearify. I am g

"Guy, just to clearify. I am going to use cpes to treast my transom wood then going to fiberglass the transom in. Are you saying that the reguler fiberglass resin wont stick to the cpes treated wood? Thanks in advance"
 
Poly resin WILL NOT stick to a

Poly resin WILL NOT stick to any type of epoxy; BTDT. You'll have to use epoxy resin if you CPES treat the wood.
 
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