Thread subject: Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos :: Wet Foam - what to do?

Posted by kamie on 09/01/13 - 4:12 PM
#81

To completely remove all the wet foam, you would have to remove all the foam. While that is a great goal, i am not sure it's a realistic one, unless i had the shop and the skills Metan has and the clients with the $$ to keep them restoring Whalers. Here is how far this project has come and what I have learned so far
1. Learned to do structural repairs involving foam and resin (starboard hole)
2. Learned to fill and fair the hull (need more practice on this)
3. Learned to spray gelcoat (will get more practice on this later)
4. Learned several techniques for removing floatation foam

The boat was so heavy when I got it that two of us could not really roll it onto the trailer for the outside work. I am sure the friend that helped me roll her over the first time, still has back trouble from the effort. I can now roll the boat onto it's side and back solo. For the record, i have not taken up weight lifting during the time I have owned the boat. I am going to assume since I can brace the boat and successfully grab supports and position them to keep the boat stable, i will be able to roll the boat over and onto the trailer solo when the time comes to regelcoat the outside of the hull.

Once I have removed as much foam as I plan to remove, i will learn more about the following

1. using pourable Urethane foam to fill a large shape
2. More fiberglass work as I secure the deck section back in place
3. gelcoat techniques for replacing the non-skid pattern on Whalers.
4. I will gain more practice spraying gelcoat, as I complete the outside.
5. I am sure I will learn other things, not mentioned here because i don't know I need to learn them yet :)

So far it's been a great journey and it's far from over.

I was grinding out some foam to access about 3 inches of the existing deck so I could attach the two deck pieces together and guess what I found. You got it, more wet foam. I reviewed the project album and I realized this was not only where the huge crack was in the non-skid, but it is also where the opening was in the keel. Sure enough as i was grinding out wet foam, i found the repair I had made to the keel, there should another one forward of that spot. I am now trying to determine if cutting up the remaining deck is the next step. I probably would have done it today but i didn't have a cutoff blade for my Dremel Multimax so it is still attached. It did make me realize that not all the water is located in the stern. Just because the bow is moveable, doesn't mean it's free of water. I also drilled through the cap so i could access the starboard side. There is no way to get a brush down all the way as the hull curves in and the space is too tight. I did realize that I have most of the wet foam out in the stern as there was only 2 or 3 inches of wet foam at the bottom of the hole. The rest of the side was dry as was the port side where i drilled a simular access hole. I will refoam them when i refoam the rest of the boat.

New photo's on the project album.