Issues with Boston whalers foam
- Thread starter Steveo
- Start date
windsurfer
Member
25 years is a long time. Hopefully no one ever drilled any holes in it to install anything. If water got in, it's not coming out.
tubber
Well-Known Member
Depends how well screws and old screw holes were sealed and whether thru hulls and drains have failed.
Most will have some water, but not enough to worry about unless they were badly abused, which should be easy enough to spot.
search function here will keep you reading for many days.
http://continuouswave.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
Most will have some water, but not enough to worry about unless they were badly abused, which should be easy enough to spot.
search function here will keep you reading for many days.
http://continuouswave.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
gungadin
Well-Known Member
If the boat is trailered, and used rollers along the sides for support rather then keel rollers to support the weight of the boat, there is a good likelyhood that the foam has separated from the hull and may even be broken into small pieces. Look along the bottom of the hull where the rollers would run and check for stress cracks. If there is water in the hull you can drill a couple of 3/8ths holes the transom and allow the water to drain out over a few months with the bow raised up 4-8 ft. higher then the stern. Epoxy the holes when finished. If the boat has fresh water in the hull, a d the water may have frozen, there is a good chance that the foam is broken up.
If the boat is in the water, it should sit fairly level, if the stern is down, there is l7kely water in the hull.
If the boat is in the water, it should sit fairly level, if the stern is down, there is l7kely water in the hull.
eriks
Active Member
Boston Whalers foam has been closed cell for many, many years now. However, it can break down, and become a sponge/open cell in some areas.
The only true way to figure out if the boat has absorbed water is by weighing it and comparing results to known dry hulls.
This subject has been covered at length by the site Tubber referred to.
The only true way to figure out if the boat has absorbed water is by weighing it and comparing results to known dry hulls.
This subject has been covered at length by the site Tubber referred to.
cracked_ribs
Well-Known Member
A good friend of mine sells a lot of Whalers - in fact I think he personally sold more than anyone else in the PNW region last year. So he always has one knocking around, and there's the shop boat which was an old 18 or 20' Outrage that had hull delamination issues, so they took it back on warranty, fixed it, and just used it as a beater for the next twenty years. So it's seen some hard, hard use.
Anyway, she's sucked up a couple hundred pounds of water according to my buddy, and when we put it in the water a couple of years ago, sure enough, she sat pretty low in the stern and water was sloshing over the transom into the baitwell a bit.
We used it to run from Steveston to Nanaimo and back, and then, the next year, we did it again. In between, he's run the thing back and forth from Sewell's to the Sunshine Coast a bunch of times, dropping people off and picking them up, doing all kinds of stuff. No repairs have ever been done.
So I guess my point is...even a really beat up one may be pretty functional. Knowing me, if I had one I'd probably core 1" holes in near the keel and drive in eight feet of perforated pipe and leave it tilted up over a whole winter. But I get really obsessed with wet foam.
Anyway, she's sucked up a couple hundred pounds of water according to my buddy, and when we put it in the water a couple of years ago, sure enough, she sat pretty low in the stern and water was sloshing over the transom into the baitwell a bit.
We used it to run from Steveston to Nanaimo and back, and then, the next year, we did it again. In between, he's run the thing back and forth from Sewell's to the Sunshine Coast a bunch of times, dropping people off and picking them up, doing all kinds of stuff. No repairs have ever been done.
So I guess my point is...even a really beat up one may be pretty functional. Knowing me, if I had one I'd probably core 1" holes in near the keel and drive in eight feet of perforated pipe and leave it tilted up over a whole winter. But I get really obsessed with wet foam.
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