Rich wrote:

Father in law's boat is fiberglass with self bailing deck. Has leaked water
under that deck for years ... (snip for brevity) ...
There is no bilge plug or drain, because the bilge area is totally filled
with foam.
Any ideas about getting this water out?

A couple. None that are quick or easy. If there is truly no way circulate air in
there, your best bet is to take off the deck and rip out all the old foam. Or
you could start at the transom, and drill a hole forward thru the transom and
into the foam as far as you can, and put in a sealed hot dry environment, and
stand it bow vertical. That might take a good while.

I have lightened up several sailboats with waterlogged foam, but all of them had
a way to circulate warm dry air under the deck inside the hull. And it still
took a few months.

This is not entirely a joking answer, the best way to solve the problem is to
haul it to the landfill and buy another boat.

Fair Skies
Doug King

Just make sure you know where your gas tank is.


"DSK" wrote in message
...

snipped
you could start at the transom, and drill a hole forward thru the transom
and
into the foam as far as you can, and put in a sealed hot dry environment,
and
stand it bow vertical. That might take a good while.
snipped

"DSK" wrote in message
...

This is not entirely a joking answer, the best way to solve the problem is
to
haul it to the landfill and buy another boat.


It is, in fact, the only pragmatic solution, assuming he values his time and
is concerned about the general seaworthiness and safety of the boat. In
good condition, the boat has a very modest value. Sunbird was always at the
bottom of the OMC food chain, similar to Brunswick's Bayliner, and it likely
has an OMC stern drive power package, further lowering its value. In its
current condition, the value is close to zero, perhaps less when disposal
costs are factored. If it's an outboard, the motor could have some economic
value. Either way, there is no way it would ever make economic sense to
restore that boat to seaworthy condition. He would be better off purchasing
a used 17' runabout of just about any manufacturer, including Bayliner, in
decent condition. Get out on the water and have some fun. That Sunbird
only offers grief and misery, both in the short term and long term.