SoCal Jet Boats
Tech Talk => Hulls => Topic started by: iloveitloud on April 06, 2011, 07:16:40 PM
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Well, actually I found some ice under the floor, as it is still winter around here. I was crawling under the boat to look at what I needed to replace the trailer bunks, and noticed the hull was "sweating" My boat is an 84 BAJA SPORT 200, that sat outside year round for some time before I got it, and everything in it was saturated when I got it. I replaced the entire interior, including all the wood, and that got rid of a ton of extra water weight. However, BAJA encases the entire floor, and everything else in fiberglass, so there is no way to get under the floor to see if any water is down there. Long story short, I had an extra access hole cover, so I drilled a hole in the floor under the rear seat, and found some water, and ice. I shop vacced out all the water, but the spray in foam they use for floatation is totally soaked, and is actually frozen at this time. I have an old computer fan sitting over the hole I drilled blowing air in to thaw out the ice, and hopefully dry things out. The question I have is... Can the spray in floatation be dried out? or does it hold water forever once it gets wet? It is just barely springtime here, and all the lakes are still frozen, and the boat won't be getting wet for at least another month. Can I just let my fan settup run for a month, and dry out the foam under the floor, or do I need to scrape it all out, and replace it? As I said, I have alot of time to leave the fan on, so I really just need to know if the floatation foam can be saved, or if it will hold water forever?
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well i got bad news, and even more badder news...is the floor spongy? i would probably bet that it is, well when the thaw hits atleast! 9 times out of ten when that flotation foam gets water logged it does some serious damage to many parts of the boat, well the wood ones that is! 9 out of 10 again the stringers fall victim to this whole water situation! we like to call it rot! seems that there is a trend that follows this as 9 times out of 10 the transom is usually shot as well...its time to do some investigating to find all of the damage! that water has probably been trapped in the boat for numerous years, and allowed to get into any wood and completely ruin it! that flotation foam has to be removed so you are going to have to remove the floor anyway to access it! this is when its time to investigate the rest of the wood stuff in the boat such as the transom, and stringers...there is a going trend that seems to go with drilling test holes, or tapping on the stringers and listening to the sound they make! i like the test hole dealio more, if the wood is bad you will get like a moist potting soil coming out of the hole you are drilling, if you have clean dry wood well self explanitory there, it looks like wood! i wish you good luck on this, and if you have a family, and a rotted boat i would consider the obvious, and fix anything that needs fixing to deem the boat structualy sound! the good news is that this stuff can all be fixed! but somewhat pricey...if you really love the hull and it has a setimental value to you then go for it!
once again this is all if it needs the fixings! if all is good then all your really out is a new floor, and all of that water logged foam removed from the boat, that completely adds weight to the boat...also that water logged stuff can hurt performance as well
im really hoping for the best though
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So far, after owning the boat for about a year, I have not found any rotted wood. The floor is solid as a rock,-everyware, and the transom, and at least the rear part of the stringers (around the motor, and motor mount areas) are "DRY", and solid. The area that has the floatation is only about 18 inches wide, down the center of the boat, and the floatation does not even go up to the floor. The wood from the 4 inch hole I drilled out was not rotted, but did have some condensation on the bottom. Also, the area that has water and ice is only about 30 inches long. I can reach in, and chisle out most of the foam, but if it can be dried out, I would rater give that a try first, as I do have plenty of time.
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lucky you!!!! i would probably just remove the foam then!!!! as far as replacing it, well i wouldnt...so i wouldnt know what to do as far as replacing it!!!!
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Yea, the boat does not have a single stress crack anywhere, and it has seen some very rough water on Lake Wisconsin since I have owned it. It is overall "VERY SOLID" and any time I have had to drill into any wood in the boat, it has been "good" and I seal up anything I do with silicone to keep any water from getting into anything I have modifyed. It appears that BAJA makes a pretty solid, well sealed up hull. I have never weighed the boat, but according to the specs, it was pretty heavy when new, -for it's size, so I can only assume that the weight comes from all the extra fiberglass used to seal everything up as well as it is. One question---If I take out the old foam, and don't replace it with something,-Won't the boat sink like a rock if something does swamp it? It is pretty big----for a jet boat, and has high sides, but if it did somehow get swamped, wouldn't it sink much faster witout any foam in it?
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Air floats better than foam. ;)
You do need to figure out how that water got under the floor though. There has to be a crack or hole somewhere that let the water get in there. Find the problem area that let the water in there and fix the problem. Then you can decide about removing or replacing the foam. Most here will say remove it because of the damage it causes over time (once it gets wet). But sounds like you got lucky and found it before there is major damage. You might be able to dry out most of the foam, but I doubt you will get it completely dry all the way through. And any moisture thats trapped in there will rot the wood over time. You floor might be fine now, but what about the area at the back of that under floor area (front of the bilge) ? There is a bunch of wet foam sitting right against that divider. BTW, thats a good place to look for the tiny little crack that let the water under there.
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I have personally seen the boat full of water over the top of the carpet,---MY FAULT, MASSIVE RAIN STORM-LEFT BOAT OUTSIDE, AND COVER COLLAPSED, so water could have gotten into the front part of the bilge from many places---most likely from around the front seat mounting areas. Luckily, the foam seems to have been poured in, and there is alot of "free air" around the floor, stringers, and bilge divider, and no evidence of any rot. My plan is to open up another hole under the bow, and put my fan over that hole. Then I can force air from the front of the boat out the hole under the rear seat. As the ice melts, and the foam dries out, I will chip out as much of the foam as I can without tearing up any more floor.
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Proppy can show ya how to properly remove the foam! And I hear Nordie's pretty handy with floors......... >:D
Ray
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I know how to fix a bad floor too Ray. Did you forget this one ? >:D
http://www.socaljetboats.com/the-no-wake-zone/floor-repair/msg90308/#msg90308 (http://www.socaljetboats.com/the-no-wake-zone/floor-repair/msg90308/#msg90308)
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So far, I have pulled out about 60+ pounds of damp foam. Luckily, as I chipped out foam, I have found lots of nice hard solid wood, so Hopefully there is not to much damage.
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I know how to fix a bad floor too Ray. Did you forget this one ? >:D
http://www.socaljetboats.com/the-no-wake-zone/floor-repair/msg90308/#msg90308 (http://www.socaljetboats.com/the-no-wake-zone/floor-repair/msg90308/#msg90308)
LMAO! I forgot about that one! I stand corrected........ Let proppy do your floor......... :sly:
Ray
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Have removed ALL of the foam in the boat. It weighed about 150 pounds total. The "bottom" of almost all of the foam was pretty damp, and the "top" of most of it was pretty dry. I suppose the boat will actually launch better, and maybe even go a bit faster after loseing all that weight, but proubly not much. At least now I know that everything is nice and dry under my floor.
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LMAO! I forgot about that one! I stand corrected........ Let proppy do your floor......... :sly:
Ray
Have Sawzall will travel. ;)
Have removed ALL of the foam in the boat. It weighed about 150 pounds total. The "bottom" of almost all of the foam was pretty damp, and the "top" of most of it was pretty dry. I suppose the boat will actually launch better, and maybe even go a bit faster after loseing all that weight, but proubly not much. At least now I know that everything is nice and dry under my floor.
Good to see you got it all out of there, and the wood is still good. 150 lbs, it should work a bit better without all that weight under there, thats almost like haulin around a small dead body down there.
If you think theres a chance the water will collect under there again, heres an idea. I have seen a few people put a drain hole in the divider that separates that area from the bilge, make the same size hole as a transom drain and just stick a transom plug in there. That way if it does get wet under there again you can just drain it.
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Good to see you got it all out of there, and the wood is still good. 150 lbs, it should work a bit better without all that weight under there, thats almost like haulin around a small dead body down there.
If you think theres a chance the water will collect under there again, heres an idea. I have seen a few people put a drain hole in the divider that separates that area from the bilge, make the same size hole as a transom drain and just stick a transom plug in there. That way if it does get wet under there again you can just drain it.
this is yet another good idea, but i like brads idea the most...on his divider/bluckhead he used a j-drain...
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Yea, I suppose that would be about the same weight as a "small" dead body down there!----Or about the same as all 3 of my "living" kids. I had an extra 4" marine access hole cover, so one of the places I put a hole was under the rear seat, right in front of the bilge divider. That way I figured I could always have a hole to inspect for water there, and shop vac it out if any gets in. I plan on leaving it all "open" to dry out more for a few weeks before I seal up the other holes I made. It is 34 degrees here today, and snowing on and off, so it will be at least early to mid May before the boat sees water.
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Started patching the holes in my floor today. I have had fans running for a few weeks now, and the bilge is nice and dry, and the floor itself is drying well too. I wish I could have weighed the boat before and after I got all the wet foam out of it, and again in a few more weeks to see how much more weight it loses from water evaporating out of the floor. It should be ready to go by mid May,--it is still pretty cold around here, so I figure it can only help to leave the fans on for another week or two.