Drying out interior foam (got oily or wet under table pedestal?)

Hello,

My boat ('98 sea ray sundancer 250) seems to have a wood floor covering foam-type of construction. There is a pedestal for the table that is not flush mount, there's like a protrusion under where it mounts to the floor for the pole to sit in. This is not my exact pedestal but it shows the kind of protrusion I'm talking about, how it protrudes below mounting level:



So basically there's a little round cut out in the floor that got cut into the foam. I just removed the pedestal and the foam right under there looks very... I want to say wet, but it's almost more oily. It's thick and feels like canola oil or like melted crisco or something. At least some of this was mine, I sprayed a good amount of penetrating lubricant down there trying to get the pole out of the base. But A lot of it must have been there before. In any event, there's some combination of water or oil or some other unknown substance that has soaked into the foam. When I push paper towels down in there, it doesn't soak up a ton because most of it is actually in the foam. But when I press on the foam, actual globs of this liquid seems out, the foam is pretty saturated with whatever this is.

So I guess I'm not sure how to proceed. Can I just dry the foam out somehow? Should I start ripping up the floor and cutting the bad foam out? My new pedestal doesn't need the cutout as it just mounts flush, should I just cover it and leave it, since it seems oily and presumably won't rot anything? I'm just so confused about what to do. Has anyone experienced this and how should I proceed?

Thank you!

Your boat has wood stringers attached to the hull, a wood floor, and floatation foam filling the hollow space under the floor.

The foam is wet because water got under the pedestal, and any other opening it could find. The foam is saturated and holding water. It's letting mold grow and causing the wood to rot. The only way to dry it at this point would be to remove the floor and all of the foam. For the amount of work you would have to put in, you would want to replace the stringers and floor too, because you're already about half way there just to get the foam out.

If the floor is still solid, I say just don't worry about it. Enjoy it while you have it.

MikeSchinlaub said:

Your boat has wood stringers attached to the hull, a wood floor, and floatation foam filling the hollow space under the floor.

The foam is wet because water got under the pedestal, and any other opening it could find. The foam is saturated and holding water. It's letting mold grow and causing the wood to rot. The only way to dry it at this point would be to remove the floor and all of the foam. For the amount of work you would have to put in, you would want to replace the stringers and floor too, because you're already about half way there just to get the foam out.

If the floor is still solid, I say just don't worry about it. Enjoy it while you have it.

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Thanks for your response, Mike. I have to admit, I'm not sure exactly how to interpret this. I can't tell if you're saying:

1) Enjoy your boat.... while you still can. Your stringers are rotted out and the floor is rotted out and there's nothing you can do so just have fun until your boat snaps in half at some indeterminate time in the future.

or

2) Water got into the foam, but if your floor is still solid, don't worry about it. Just enjoy the boat while you have it.

or

3) Something else?

If it helps, I don't see any mold. The foam is still pretty white and the liquid that comes out seems like oil instead of water. I don't see mold. Thanks in advance for any clarification!

Beyond this, I guess my instinct now is to go in and dig out at least some of the foam just to see what's what. Like, maybe it's dry even a few inches in (but, realistically, maybe not), in which case I would just dig out the wet foam and I guess spray like great stuff or something in there? Like if the soaking wet part is the size of a basketball or smaller? Reasonable idea or bad idea?

Thanks!!

If the floor is solid, don't worry. Maybe a previous owner did actually por something oily down there.

It would be good to take a core sample of the foam. A thin wall pipe could be used for such. Without any pictures, we cannot see what you are seeing and descriptions only go so far.

What folks here are saying is that if (if) the foam is saturated with water, then it is a good chance that the boat's structure (wood) may be wet, rotting, or rotted. Usually at the stern of the boat (engine bay) you can get better access to the structure of the boat (stringers, bulkheads, etc.) Poke around and see if anything is soft or mushy.

Are the any soft spots on the floor?

In general, boats tend to rot from the keel upwards and the transom forward.

#2 is what I was meaning. It will rot eventually, but you can prolong it's life for a long time.

Keep a cover on it, but open it up after every use and after rains to dry. Canvas isn't waterproof. It sheds most of the water, but it can still drip through after it saturates. Open every compartment and get some air flow through it.

redneck joe said:

If the floor is solid, don't worry. Maybe a previous owner did actually por something oily down there.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Makes sense.

MikeSchinlaub said:

#2 is what I was meaning. It will rot eventually, but you can prolong it's life for a long time.

Keep a cover on it, but open it up after every use and after rains to dry. Canvas isn't waterproof. It sheds most of the water, but it can still drip through after it saturates. Open every compartment and get some air flow through it.

Click to expand...

Yep, good advice. Thanks

tpenfield said:

Are the any soft spots on the floor?

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Luckily no soft spots on the floor, nothing else really seems to be mushy. I'll take a foam sample and see what we're working with. Thanks

I use a piece of PVC pipe with the edges sharpened for taking foam samples

However if your foam is wet that high up, that is not a good sign. Most likely the "oily" feeling is the bacteria colony

It is ruined Replace it.