Foam under floor

[agdrew68]

So I bought an older fiberglass boat as my first boat restoration project. Floor and transom need to be replaced. When I pulled the old floor out there were no stringers under it. The floor had been laid directly on a bed of foam about 2" thick on the fiberglass bottom.Is this proper ? Is this foam structural or only for flotation.

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard.

What boat? Some of us may have rehabbed a boat like yours.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Welcome arboard,

As GA mentioned.....whatchaworkin'on

if its a boston whaler / whaler clone / carolina skiff style boat, there are no stringers. just two fiberglass tubs that come together and get foam injected between

the foam in those styles of boats is both structural and flotation.

 

[agdrew68]

Not sure on type of boat. It is 14 ' od green and cost 70.00 all bonuses,,lol, I will try to get a pic uploaded and maybe someone can identify it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

do you have proper title/registration to make sure its yours?

 

[agdrew68]

Yes.

 

[gm280]

Okay, post those pictures and let us see what you are dealing with....

 

[agdrew68]

The foam was 2 to 3' thick and quite porous. It had soaked up water like a sponge. Not the best option for a boat floor I'm thinking. Is there a better modern variant ?

 

[agdrew68]

ok I'll try to post these pics. I make no claim at being an IT exoert.

 

[gm280]

Okay, the first thing you need to do is totally remove the soaked foam. All of it has to come out.

Then you can measure for new flooring to be cut to go in. And if this were my boat, I would install some larger PVC pipe in the center of the boat from bow to transom to allow water to move to the bilge area to be pumped out via a bilge pump. And then I would buy some 2 pound per cubic foot type of mix and pour flotation foam and fill up everything to the new floor. That would make it like it was originally and ready for the water.

But before pouring in the new foam, make sure you have all the electrical wiring run, if any of it will be below the new floor. Never a better time to do that then before everything is sealed back up. And install any wires in some PVC pipe as well so you can pull new wires, or remove older wires, if need be now and in the future. JMHO

 

[GSPLures]

I just removed a bunch of foam from my build. After you have a majority of it out a cup wire wheel on an angle grinder works great to get all of it off the hull. Just be careful and wear everything you would if you were grinding fiberglass as the wire wheel turns the foam to dust