Father in law's boat is fiberglass with self bailing deck. Has leaked water
under that deck for years and now the boat is carrying substantial extra
weight. I have pumped all the water I can out of the built in fuel tank
well, but there seems to be no easy way to get to the foamed under deck
area. There are access plates (6" round) , but these are located to give
access ot the fuel connections and gauge.

The boat's weight is so great now that it has bent the 5/8" roller axles on
the trailer and poked a hole in the hull bottom with the broken roller. I
left that open for a time until the ooze of dirty water stopped, but did not
get much out.

There is no bilge plug or drain, because the bilge area is totally filled
with foam.

Any ideas about getting this water out? I have a few, but would like to
hear from others.

Thanks,
Richard

Pull up the floor and re-foam. Or go in where you can and de-foam.

-W

"Rich" wrote in message
.net...
Father in law's boat is fiberglass with self bailing deck. Has leaked
water
under that deck for years and now the boat is carrying substantial extra
weight. I have pumped all the water I can out of the built in fuel tank
well, but there seems to be no easy way to get to the foamed under deck
area. There are access plates (6" round) , but these are located to give
access ot the fuel connections and gauge.

The boat's weight is so great now that it has bent the 5/8" roller axles
on
the trailer and poked a hole in the hull bottom with the broken roller. I
left that open for a time until the ooze of dirty water stopped, but did
not
get much out.

There is no bilge plug or drain, because the bilge area is totally filled
with foam.

Any ideas about getting this water out? I have a few, but would like to
hear from others.

Thanks,
Richard

Reminds me of when I was a Johnson outboard dealer. A guy brought a whaler in
with a 40 Johnson, for a tune up, saying it lacked power. I tuned it up and
ran it in the tank & it was fine. He brought it back saying it still wouldn't
plane the boat. You guessed it. The foam was totally full of water. Had to
remove the floor and tear it all out. A good indication of this problem )
also when your trailer tires are flat & still have plenty of pressure.g
Greg Sefton

You could try a wet-vac and pull a vacuum on the foam. Lydia did
something like that with her old boat and it worked. She was using a 5hp
wet-dry vac with a 10 gallon tank.

She tilted the boat up, nose high. Used a hole saw to cut into the back
of the foam chamber. The sealed a vacuum hose to it. Drilled a "tiny"
1/32 hole in the front of the chamber to allow a bit of airflow. Turned
the vac on and let it run. The low pressure, and heat from the sun
caused the water to evaporate. It took several weeks to dry it out. Make
sure to check the vac often during the first few days because it will
fill up quickly.

Capt. Frank

www.home.earthlink.net/~aartworks

Rich wrote:

Father in law's boat is fiberglass with self bailing deck. Has leaked water
under that deck for years and now the boat is carrying substantial extra
weight. I have pumped all the water I can out of the built in fuel tank
well, but there seems to be no easy way to get to the foamed under deck
area. There are access plates (6" round) , but these are located to give
access ot the fuel connections and gauge.

The boat's weight is so great now that it has bent the 5/8" roller axles on
the trailer and poked a hole in the hull bottom with the broken roller. I
left that open for a time until the ooze of dirty water stopped, but did not
get much out.

There is no bilge plug or drain, because the bilge area is totally filled
with foam.

Any ideas about getting this water out? I have a few, but would like to
hear from others.

Thanks,
Richard

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.

If one could assume that the stringers are fiberglass, and not wood ( which
would probably be rotted away by now)...it sounds like you have little to
lose no matter what method you try.

If she were mine, I'd drill a number of smallish holes at the lowest
point(s) of the bottom and see if water drains out while on the trailer. I
wouldn't hesitate to add a SMALL amount of air pressure with a small
compressor..however I doubt that you could keep the pressure on for long
without burning up your compressor machine. The prevous post describing
using a wet/dry vacuum adds another method of drawing the water out. It may
well take months, but heck, it IS Winter in most places.

What brand of hull is it???

RichG

It is a Sunbird Seacore 173. It has served him well for several years, but
his lack of maintenance skills, my lack of salt water experience, and the
design have not helped. I would not be surprised to find fiberglass
stringers and deck without ply.
He is 82 and not likely to use it much anymore. I said I would try to make
it work again. He does NOT like to spend money on it. That doesn't help.

Another OMC product from a defunct unionized company.

No offense. This is my second "politcal" post today (and this year). Hopefully
my last....

Dan


Rich wrote:

It is a Sunbird Seacore 173. It has served him well for several years, but
his lack of maintenance skills, my lack of salt water experience, and the
design have not helped. I would not be surprised to find fiberglass
stringers and deck without ply.
He is 82 and not likely to use it much anymore. I said I would try to make
it work again. He does NOT like to spend money on it. That doesn't help.