Skagit 20' Restoration

[aguynamedchris]

Those are legitimate concerns so maybe i should explain the reasons I chose this method and why I think it's a good one for me. Extruded polystyrene foam is what the stuff I've used us called. It is a form of closed cell foam used as insulation and is very easy to shape and very stiff. The pourable foam comes with a a risk of becoming waterlogged over time because it fills every void under the floor giving water nowhere to go but in between the cells or into cells that are ruptured by impact or vibration. The foam boards on the otherhand are not a 100% perfect fit. They leave natural channels for water to escApe down to the hull and then drain to the bilge much like your drainage pipe idea. I liked your drainage idea when you mentioned it to me before but I couldn't figure out how it would effectively work. If you put the pipe down the middle of the boat for drainage I'd imagine that you'd also need to drill holes in the pipe to allow for water to pass through from the surrounding foam but how then would you stop the pourable foam from flowing into the holes and filling the drainpipe? I'd like to know how you solved that problem because I just couldn't figure it out. Anyways, I decided instead to use this stuff because it really only fills about 90% of the space under the floor. Because it is so stiff it doesn't mate fully to the hull and leaves essentially dozens of very small channels for moisture to run down to the bilge area. I left 6 opening (one at the low point next to each floor joist) for that water to escape. In my mind this gives me the benefit of displacing most of the water in the event of a breach as well as much of the benefits of improved noise reduction but it still allows for easy evacuation of any water since the path of least resistance will always be the spaces between the foam and the floor. In this way I think it will be more resistant to water logging then pourable foam in that environment. However - I guess we'll just have to see!

[Helmar]

I had to pull a floor that was foamed with the Fiberlay expandable closed cell foam. Because I pressure washed the hull and stringers with dawn dish soap, a heavy brush, the foam not only stuck to the underside of the floor (sealed with MorXite) but stuck to Everything !!.
I did see a few voids but if I had to put a percent on it, I would have to say I had, Maybe 2 percent void....
I mean the floor was destroyed by the time I got it up. I had to saw between the stringers and then Next to the stringers to get it up and out. It was a job I never will do again.
So, so much for the voids as I jacked up the bow of the boat and drilled the pour holes just behind the frames and middle of the stringers.

Yours on the other hand if someone Ever wanted to get that floor up, could which makes that a real plus.
Even if the foams they claim are Not really water proof, we will never know it in our life time, nor our kids...

The pipe down the middle (standard water pipe, no holes) was just to relieve the water from the cabin as the floor was sealed and fiberglassed down on the edges. Fiberglass taped the seams, then fiberglass matting to cover the whole thing..
Foaming the floor does make them a Lot quieter for sure.
Hell, I have seen one that once opened up to replace the floor, had plastic 1 quart milk jugs packed in between the stringers. They were out of the sun so still holding air when squeezed !!! Its Floatation...
Even if the boat was to try sinking, you have enough floatation that once she turtled over, you still got something to crawl up on.
I foamed mine solid like that because I can remember those rock outcroppings that people were running over in the Columbia river and stabbing a rock up though the hull. Solid foam stuck to the hull and the bottom of the floor only means that if I hit something sharp, the only way she would take on water would be that rock or something sharp was going to have to come up Through the floor.. Also, it takes the Flex out of the hull. I have seen some of the Bell Boys were you could flex the hull with torque from hanging on a Big over powered engine.

If you glass that floor down and still have the cross weep holes in the stringers, you have done accomplished what you were wanting. Its going to be quiet, plus have floatation. If you get any water from the cabin to the cockpit, it will flow back to the bilge with no problems.

That Skagit you have will not flex as those hulls are built More than stout !!

So I guess what I am saying is, Good Job, there are more ways than one way to skin a cat...( who in the hell ever came up with that saying, geez)

Here is a thought. Lets say the boat is finished and ready to put gear aboard and take out. Take that boat to any Truckers Weight Scale and get her weight.
Wright that down, some place, put it on a plaque or something that is permanent.
Then water weights what, 8 lbs per gallon?.
If the boat starts gaining a Lot of weight, then we might have something to worry about.

[Helmar]

Oh, forgot to tell you, Super good idea you have on that clamp !!!
You can put a Lot of pressure on with that setup. Great Idea !!