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In the maiden voyage last weekend I couldn't help but notice water entering the boat at the transom drain. Upon further inspection, the flared end on the outside of the boat was pretty well corroded. (a picture is posted on my personal page - not sure if I can embed one here)
Following the enormously helpful postings on this site, I ordered the tubing and o-rings from McMaster Carr and I picked up the flaring tool. I removed the old drain tube this evening, and now I'm going to let things dry out a bit before I replace it. Which brings me to my questions...
The foam inside is pretty wet. How long will it take to dry - or will it ever dry enough?
Poking around inside the hull there appears to be about a half-inch or so gap in the foam above the hole. Should I inject something like great-stuff foam insulation in there or just leave it and forget about it?
I truly appreciate the resources on this site - Thanks!
- Art
I am presently restoring an 11' whaler 1974. This boat has one drain in the deck and one in the transom. I do not trust myself or the new drain flaring tools to make a water tight fitting. I removed the old brass and smeared 5200 around the existing foam then put in new foam in the hole and then use marine-tex. I will then fiberglass over the top and bottom of the hole. i realize this relegates me to using a coffee can and sponge to get the rain h2o out but I will not be worring about salt h2o intruding into the hull. JIM
Art,
Great looking boat. If the gap is only 1/2 inch, I don't think you need to be concerned with filling it. I am not sure, but I think that I have seen others reccomend not using foam such as great Stuff. Hopefully one of the pros at restoring and drying out the foam will give you a reply
Tom - Thanks!
After looking at it some more, I decided fill the gap around the tube with foam insulation - the tube had no support in the hull and the condition of the gelcoat and fiberglass at the entry/exit points was pretty rough for a good seal.
I ground off the gelcoat on both sides and wrapped the replacement tube in waxed paper and inserted into the hull
Making sure to use lots of masking tape around the drain hole inside the boat, I injected a foam insulation (I used the Lowe's equivalent to GreatStuff - a product from Dow) and let it expand and cure. I realize the foam is not the preferred material to use, but I think I read that its use as a structural filler, like under the deck, is not recommended. It expands and flows everywhere, and the stuff is impossible to remove if it goes where you don't want it to go. Here's the inside after removing the excess foam and masking tape:
I then filled the hole with West Marine Structural Filler, and brushed on gelcoat (not taking the time to match the color...).
Then I used a dremel tool to restore the hole diameter:
