Rough 1993 Ski soft floor

Eric, you have done that before? Do you think that would suck the water out of the foam in my boat? How long would it take to dry everything out?

Kevin

Keeganino wrote: Does not take that long to demo the floor and foam.

Granted you've done it once, right?    

I have been following this thread and no doubt the floor layup is different to the one I rebuilt. The floor in my Skier varied in thickness from very thick to barely being thick enough with no rhyme or reason other than inconsistency. Once a cut was made all the way around the perimeter of the floor the entire piece would pop out using a pry bar. It may not be that easy with the new composite system, I don't know. If the floor is bonded to the tops of the stringers you would probably have to cut the floor right up to the edges of the stringers, remove that piece of floor, and then grind the top of the floor on top of the stringer down to the desired height.

I understand your hesitation to go hacking away further, especially since you are taking one for the team digging into a post 92, but the time it would take to remove all the foam and floor will be less than what you have spent so far extracting foam by hand through a small opening in the floor. Keep in mind fiberglass is a really easy medium to work with with regards to putting the floor back in. I spent a couple of weeks digging into the stringers with screwdrivers and after I found that everything was wet, and convinced myself I could tackle the project, removed the floor and all the foam in 2 evenings.

At the very minimum I would remove the floor over the entire cavity you believe to be wet and get after it. Forget the little holes.

These may be of little help in your application but shows the concept.

Before


After cutting perimeter with angle grinder and removing floor

I would think the thick portions you are seeing are the top of the fiberglass "rib structure" in the boat. Someone posted the drawing. It's more like a corregated structure than the traditional ribs we see in the wood boats. Just my guess. BKH

i could possibly snap some pics of that 95 hull I have, the floor is out along with the foam, the complete structure is there, i really dont know if this is the correct structure or not since it was a display boat and has never been in the water.
i also have a 92 hull with a the foam out and there is a piece still up front and you can see the waterline about 6 inches up in the foam, this boat too was soaked and the stringers were completely rotted. im getting ready to cut that one up, I need the forward deck, the rest will get the sawzall....I really was thinking of using the front hull as a man door canopy

I know this has little to do with my wet foam (still digging - had not much spare time lately so progress is slow), but I found a trailer for my boat. Got a great deal (less than $500) I'm excited to get this step behind me. Going to re-carpet the bunks before I slide it under my boat. It's a little rusty here and there, but solid, and will work for the 1 mile trek from my house to the boat launch.







Kevin

OK. Update time for anybody following my wet foam saga. I have dug out the wet foam in the section that was under the crack in my floor. I took some photos.

This is looking forward in the hole. This foam is dry. I've dug in for a few more inches and it's all dry.


This is looking aft. It's a long ways back there. I can't reach it with my hand, even when my shoulder is all the way down in the hole. I had to dig at it with a nail claw and a long screwdriver. It was really slow going.




I was a little surprised tonight to pull the lid off my shop vac and see that I filled it up along with the stuff I pulled out by hand and put in this 5-gallon bucket.


Next, I gotta figure out where to buy foam and then teach myself fiberglass repair.

Or, go look for a sale on pool noodles?