Duck Boats

[Robert McDonald]

I have a duck boat with a double hull in the bottom of the boat. Between to boat bottom and the floor it has about 4 inches of foam. Some of this foam I think is holding water. At the end of the season I pull the plugs and it drips water in my garage for the rest of the year. Does any one know how to get the water out of the foam from between the two floors?
Rob
robert.mcdonald222@gmail.com

 

[Carl]

Yep, that sounds like the foam is saturated. You could easily have a couple hundred pounds of water under that floor.
Only reliable way I know of is to remove the floor, then remove the foam. Re-pour with closed cell two-part, replace the floor and make sure to fix where the water is getting under the floor.
You might want to consider not putting the foam back under the floor, so long as it is not structural and you place the floatation somewhere else in the boat.

 

[Huntindave McCann]

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Does any one know how to get the water out of the foam from between the two floors?

Short answer is to remove the foam. That may not be what you wanted to hear but that is the answer.
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[Huntindave McCann]

Carl,

You type faster than I do. :>)

 

[Carl]

I get lots of practice at work when I am not in the field!

 

[David Robinson]

Robert,

One of the members here did a rebuild of an aluminum boat that had the same foam problem. His "best practice" method for removing the foam was to use a high pressure water gun to dissolve the foam and blast the hull clean. He said it was a lot faster and easier than scraping it out with a knife.

Good luck with the repairs and post some progress pics.

 

[Layne]

This scares me. I have been thinking of a foam core laminate ==> http://duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=143689;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Please, is your boat aluminum? Age? How much time is spent in the water? How do you think the water migrated between the layers?

 

[Rick Atwood]

Hi Robert - You are getting sound advise from the members. You really have to cut the floor out and get that old waterlogged foam out. It will add alot of weight if you don't. I know it's a rotten job but do it and then after you have made sure there are no leaks-(fill the hull with colored water to check)reglass the floor back in. If you are covering with marine plyboard - hot coat the plyboard by "painting it with resin and allow it to soak in. Then glass it in. Remember to seal any screw holes etc. as water can get in. If you like the boat then it's well worth the trouble and cost and you should get years of good hunting out of it. Hope this helps.

 

[Wispete]

Robert, This depends how the boat is constructed.. If there is a way that the upper layer and the bottom can be sealed so the only opening is the drain hole. Some boats this can be done. In the summer time or a warm building you could reduce or eliminate the water using a vacuum. If the two layers can not be sealed then you will have to do what was suggested tear out the foam. It would be a lot easier with a vacuum for a few days. You can rent a vacuum pump or use a wet dry vac.

 

[GaryRI]

State of the art foam core laminate is different than the old product they used to use between layers of aluminum on boat floors.

My buddy & I have an old Lund that had water soaked foam. After ripping out the floopr & removing the ol;d foam the hull became very flexible. The old foam/aluminum floor obviously acted as a stiffiner. We replaced the flotation by building boxes under the seats filled with foam blocks.

 

[Davey W]

I am no boat builder, but based on my experience in the Coast Guard, I'd say you need to get that water logged foam out before using the boat again. You really could have a disaster waiting to happen with water logged foam (and possibly a leaking hull). Water inside a boat = very very bad thing (unless of course its small residual from dog, decoys, waders etc.). Water and/or the added weight of water soaked foam can dramatically affect the way the boat will react in rough water.