13' Boston Whaler Restoration
fredf...@verizon.net
A neighbor of mine on the pond I live has offered me a free use of a
13' Boston Whaler, if I can fix it up... I dinna know a lot about
those things, but free is free. It's got a couple of cracks in the
fiberglass, and gel coat, and water has seeped into the foam. Is there
a way to dry them out quickly? A quick wick? I can deal with patching
the fiberglass, but getting dry is the first step.
Any thoughts?
Ecnerwal
fredf...@verizon.net wrote:
Truck it to Tuscon, or some other hot dry location. Short of that, get
it in a building, crank up the heat, crank down the humidity, and if
confident in your glass repair skills, drill some big holes in the glass
to expose more foam to air. Would have thought they'd use closed cell
foam that would not soak up water (perhaps they did, but it aged into
open cells? Not really sure if that's plausible.)
Or try this...which indicates that cutting away and then replacing
fiberglass around the cracked area is a good thing, and perhaps the
water is really trapped between delaminated skin and foam, rather than
in the foam.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html
--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Ed Huntress
"Ecnerwal" <MyName...@ReplaceWithMyVices.Com.invalid> wrote in message
news:MyNameForward-FEA...@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <k652s5dleppm4ch7o...@4ax.com>,
> fredf...@verizon.net wrote:
>
>> Hey All:
>>
>> A neighbor of mine on the pond I live has offered me a free use of a
>> 13' Boston Whaler, if I can fix it up... I dinna know a lot about
>> those things, but free is free. It's got a couple of cracks in the
>> fiberglass, and gel coat, and water has seeped into the foam. Is there
>> a way to dry them out quickly? A quick wick? I can deal with patching
>> the fiberglass, but getting dry is the first step.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>
> Truck it to Tuscon, or some other hot dry location. Short of that, get
> it in a building, crank up the heat, crank down the humidity, and if
> confident in your glass repair skills, drill some big holes in the glass
> to expose more foam to air. Would have thought they'd use closed cell
> foam that would not soak up water (perhaps they did, but it aged into
> open cells? Not really sure if that's plausible.)
They did. We had a 17' Boston Whaler Nausett for 20 years. It may be that
it's breaking down. I don't know what foam they used.
Gunner Asch
Sounds like an easy repair as long as cosmetics are not an issue.
Couple ways to dry out the foam..one of which is heat. You may wish to
put a 100 watt bulb in a big box and cut the box to fit the area around
the cracks where the water came in. It will dry it out over a week or
two. The other way is to drill through the wet section and go ahead
and patch the cracks properly. Over time the water will vent out through
the holes you drilled above the new glass. Having wet foam in small
areas is not all that big a deal, though it may grow fungus over time.
You may wish to read the following....
The Official Boston Whaler way to repair hulls...
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html
A very good source for Whaler info
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/
Gunner
"First Law of Leftist Debate
The more you present a leftist with factual evidence
that is counter to his preconceived world view and the
more difficult it becomes for him to refute it without
losing face the chance of him calling you a racist, bigot,
homophobe approaches infinity.
This is despite the thread you are in having not mentioned
race or sexual preference in any way that is relevant to
the subject." Grey Ghost
John
I've had good luck drying out wet foam cores by sealing around the
cracks and using a vacuum pump. If you try this either use some sort
of catch bottle in the vacuum line or plan on changing the pump oil
several times.
Depends on the volume you are drying but start with 24 hours of vacuum
and then check.
Cheers,
John D. Slocomb
(jdslocombatgmail)
Phred
scribed:
>On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:22:02 -0400, fredf...@verizon.net wrote:
>
>>Hey All:
>>
>>A neighbor of mine on the pond I live has offered me a free use of a
>>13' Boston Whaler, if I can fix it up... I dinna know a lot about
>>those things, but free is free. It's got a couple of cracks in the
>>fiberglass, and gel coat, and water has seeped into the foam. Is there
>>a way to dry them out quickly? A quick wick? I can deal with patching
>>the fiberglass, but getting dry is the first step.
>>
>>Any thoughts?
>
>
>Sounds like an easy repair as long as cosmetics are not an issue.
>
>Couple ways to dry out the foam..one of which is heat. You may wish to
>put a 100 watt bulb in a big box and cut the box to fit the area around
>the cracks where the water came in. It will dry it out over a week or
>two. The other way is to drill through the wet section and go ahead
>and patch the cracks properly. Over time the water will vent out through
>the holes you drilled above the new glass. Having wet foam in small
>areas is not all that big a deal, though it may grow fungus over time.
>
>You may wish to read the following....
>
>The Official Boston Whaler way to repair hulls...
>
>http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html
>
>http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html
>
>A very good source for Whaler info
>
>http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/
>
>
>Gunner
>
Thank you for the ideas and references...
Cosmetics are not an issue, just want it for fishing. Max 8 HP gas on
the pond anyway, but i'll probably just put a trolling motor... I
won't be towing any skiers.
I heard that drilling a couple of holes in the top, and bottom and
blowing out with a shop-vac may egress the water quicker... Any
thoughts on that? I'd like to get it ready for the season (Almost now)
Best,
Freddie
Karl Townsend
> I've had good luck drying out wet foam cores by sealing around the
> cracks and using a vacuum pump. If you try this either use some sort
> of catch bottle in the vacuum line or plan on changing the pump oil
> several times.
>
> Depends on the volume you are drying but start with 24 hours of vacuum
> and then check.
>
> Cheers,
>
> John D. Slocomb
> (jdslocombatgmail)
That sounds like a good idea. just use an old refrigerator compressor for
your pump. Cheap and disposable.
Karl
Gunner Asch
wrote:
It works, but since glass is composed of very small fibres that water
will creep into over time..its not all that easy to get it to creep back
out . Heat will cause it to evaporate out, over time. The more heat,
the faster it works. Too much heat and you start breaking down the
glass itself.
If you review the above links...it may help you understand the best
way..if any way <G> to get the water out.
Gunner
cavelamb
All good suggestions, but none will actually work in this case.
:)
Drying and sealing won't help if the cores have broken loose.
In that case, the inner skin is cut open - large enough to dig
out all the loose foam. Then a new foam core is inserted and
bonded in place.
Then the hole in the skin is replaced and repaired.
If the problem is extensive, free may be all it's worth.
--
Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb/
John D.
I had thought that those boats were mainly just a big hunk of foam
carved to shape and covered with glass? If so there isn't anything to
break loose other then the fiberglass skin.
If this is how these boats were built, I've worked on similar boats
and to be honest all you can do is drill a bunch of holes and vacuum.
or drill a bunch of holes and wait for the water to run out. Whether
the foam is saturated or has separated from the skin and full of water
it doesn't make much difference if the problem has existed for any
length of time as the water is almost everywhere and about all you
can do is get as much water as possible out and seal the holes.
The guy could drill holes at say 1 ft. intervals all over the bottom
of the boat. Some will drain water and some (hopefully) won't. He may
find that the water is confined to a smallish area and then remove the
skin and probably cut out any water soaked foam and re-skin. Or he may
find water everywhere and just drain as best as he can and seal up the
holes.