finally got the deck off

[rockyrude]

Started lookind deeper at the thunderbird cathedral hull I got, lo and behold, what appeared to be a solid deck turned out to be a second layer over a totally mushy first. Just a couple of questions since this is my first rebuild. Is it normal for the stringers to be totally glassed in? Should I just presume they are rotted inside from the mushy deck? I have noticed a hard line away from pressure treated. Thanks in advance

 

[salty87]

Re: finally got the deck off

yes, the stringers should be totally encased. everything should be completely sealed. they might not be rotted, mine are in sections. common design is to notch cross braces across the stringers, that seems to be a common failure spot.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: finally got the deck off

Thanks, I will look closer there. I just figured that since the first layer was soggy that water might have run down the screws into the stringers guess I'll have to poke around.There isn't any foam in this thing, would it be a good idea to add it ?

 

[maxum247]

Re: finally got the deck off

Foam can make the difference weather your on the water or in the water if you strike an object. Depending on the syle of your boat, your speed and what penatrates your hull , if it did get thru hull and the floor you would probably be able to plug it with a rag or something to get back to the dock, but if it's a larger hole it would be good to have the foam in there.

 

[SgtMaj]

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[rockyrude]

Re: finally got the deck off

You will find two schools of thought here, one is the pour in expanding foam that fills every available space, the problem is it also blocks off any chance any chance of any water that gets under the floor finding its way to the drain hole. The other school, which is the one I'm choosing is use the closed cell sheets you can get at most "box" stores and glueing it to the under side of the new deck as it goes in. It comes as thick as 2" and if you want more just glue layers together. It gives me the flotation and water channels under it.
Hope this helps

 

[SgtMaj]

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[SHEP#1]

Re: finally got the deck off

I have a curiousity question about the foam - the little boat I am building appeared to have the expanding foam in it as well. If I have a closed aread (lets say a box for this example) and I drill a hole in the top and pour in the expanding foam will it:

a) expand and break the box from the pressure
b) expand and the excess will come only out of the hole where poured into.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: finally got the deck off

"Theoretically" if you have mixed up slightly more than the volume you need it should squirt out the hole you poured into, if you mix up way more than you need it'll expand too fast ( it gets full volume in under two minutes ) to get out the hole and start blowing the sides out of your box.
If I'm not mistaken packing peanuts are open cell and will absorb water, you also need to be carefull as most of the new packing peanuts are made to disolve in water. I've heard of some guys using empty one and two liter pop bottles with the caps sealed.