Water foam inside sponson what to do?

[Vinke]

First post...hope i got it in the right area...........

I bought a welded alum baot that sat with the inspection cap off the sponson. They have filled with water and saturated the foam that was installed for a sound reduction.
I was able to make a hole and sucked out the water that i could.
My question is....Is there a way to dry this foam out?
OR.... Do I need to remove it?,,,,,,If it has to be removed is there a chemical` that can be applied?
Thanks Dave

[marshmat]

A lot of the better welded-aluminum builders are of the opinion that foam in such a boat is simply a bad idea. It traps water no matter what you do, makes inspection difficult, and can encourage corrosion. I'd be tempted to get rid of it, if all it's doing is causing trouble. Saturated with water it won't do much for emergency flotation, that's for sure.
Urethane based foams are pretty inert but are brittle and can easily be hacked out by hand. Polystyrene foams dissolve in a lot of organic solvents- acetone, styrene, etc.

[Vinke]

Thanks Matt, I can not get into the area to hack out the foam because it is in an welded clamber with a 2"+ inspection hole.
The only reason the foam got wet is because the boat sat nose down on the trailer and filled with water. The inspection caps we of at that time.
Can i fill the chambered area that contains the foam with Acetone or a like product, and then suck it out with a Vac?

[Pericles]

Vinke,

Think about it. Wet suck vacs have instructions which state "Never use this machine to collect flammable liquids" What you propose is self immolation by fire.

Be warned,

Pericles

[marshmat]

Sucking up organic solvents with a Shop-Vac is a recipe for a nice big explosion.
It's probably best to break it out mechanically, ie. with chisel and crowbar, if it's not in an area where a solvent can easily be drained out.

[fiberglass jack]

i find a cordless drill and a sanding drum the type that have flaps works great, say a 120 grit it will chew away the foam fast a little dusty thou, but u wont break into a sweat , the foam stuck to the sides will remove with a paint scraper easy enough, listen to the boys and dont use a vaccum to suck up acetone or styrene its like seeing how much gas is in the tank with a candle

[Ike]

On the Metal Boat Society forum there have been many discussions about applying foam to metal boats. here's a link to the list after I did a search on the site, on foam. http://www.metalboatsociety.org/phpb...p?mode=results

There is a procedure for preparing metal to accept foam, without a lot of hassles. Whether or not it will get soaked again is a matter of much argument. Supposedly 2 part urethane foam, it applied right should never soak up water. Unfortunately it does. I am working on a research project to find out why. Any way, take a look through these threads. You may find the answer.

[A Fn Noob]

Call me crazy, but I'd make up a fitting to go on that inspection hole and run my vacuum pump til it got down to 500 microns or so. Lowering the pressure lowers the boiling point of water. Putting a heater under the boat while in a vacuum would speed up the process. Could take a day or three to do.

Doing that would leave your flotation intact, and get ALL the water out.

You'd need a vacuum pump, refrigeration gauge manifold, micron gauge (optional). And the fitting.

Im assuming this area is airtight other than the inspection hole you mentioned.