Add flotation material or not?

[tbird175]

I am removing some soft (rotten) spots in the deck of my late 60s model Thunderbird Seminole (17.5') trihull runabout. Cracks in the fiberglass coating around the seat support boxes allowed water to penetrate the plywood. There is no foam below the deck. The stringers appear to be sound. Shoud I remove the entire deck and add a flotation material or leave the space void as it is now?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Add flotation material or not?

Safety was not thought about much in the 1960's so it's your call as to whether you want this added safety or not. It all depends on how bad you will feel if the boat goes to Davey Jone's locker or not if it takes on a fair amount of water. You will never have a better chance than right now to add it. About 10 years ago I witnessed an old I/O going down on the Mississippi River. No foam and it went down like a rock. We assisted the people and then spent a fair amount of time picking up the debris. A Patrol boat was able to tie onto a line attached to the bow and tug it to shore. A broken transom flooded the boat in a heartbeat.