Soft hull repair, Help

[Searay31]

The Boat:
1980 31ft searay SRV


The soft spot:
Its a 1.5' section right at the bottom of the keel. Its about 1' forward
were the bow turns.

The other soft spot:
The floor in the v-berth is soft and has give. There is a small circle hatch in that area, under it seems to be just foam. I think it had a leak in the small windows on both sides of the hull, allowed water to come down and into that hatch, wetted the foam, and froze

What i did:
I cut a small whole right in the middle of the damage. The glass felt damp
and like sawdust. No water came pouring out, and i hope thats a good sign?

What i plan:
I want to find out the whole story now, so im going to cut the floor out
leaving a 3" lip on the outside edge. And remove all the foam to the bare hull.
(from inside) And take a look. Ill go slow and make sure im not cutting through anything but foam.

Is my above plan ok? Is that foam replaceable? What is it there for anyway?
I want to expose the hull from inside the boat to see how much softness is there. Im a Photog, and dont mind doing a photo history of this if it seems there is enough interest. Thanks all!

[marshmat]

Originally Posted by Searay31

The Boat:
1980 31ft searay SRV

There's your first problem....
Old SeaRays aren't exactly renowned for build quality.

The soft spot:
Its a 1.5' section right at the bottom of the keel. Its about 1' forward
were the bow turns.

The other soft spot:
The floor in the v-berth is soft and has give. There is a small circle hatch in that area, under it seems to be just foam. I think it had a leak in the small windows on both sides of the hull, allowed water to come down and into that hatch, wetted the foam, and froze
What i did:
I cut a small whole right in the middle of the damage. The glass felt damp
and like sawdust. No water came pouring out, and i hope thats a good sign?

Well, if the glass is damp and feels like sawdust, that's not a good sign. Similar damage is probably occuring elsewhere in the hull, and just isn't showing enough yet for you to see it. The leaky windows are not the only source of water in there. The soft spot in the keel is likely the result of water leaching right through the crappy resins SeaRay used in that era.

What i plan:
I want to find out the whole story now, so im going to cut the floor out
leaving a 3" lip on the outside edge. And remove all the foam to the bare hull.
(from inside) And take a look. Ill go slow and make sure im not cutting through anything but foam.

Is my above plan ok? Is that foam replaceable? What is it there for anyway?
I want to expose the hull from inside the boat to see how much softness is there. Im a Photog, and dont mind doing a photo history of this if it seems there is enough interest. Thanks all!

Photos would be great. I strongly suggest you contact a surveyor who knows old SeaRays before you start any repairs. The damage probably extends beyond what you can see.

[Searay31]

Thanks for your input. The dampness was from the hole i drilled, glass was damp and dusty feeling. Im not sure how the bottom of the hull
would have a water leaching problem? Its the very lowest point and i doubt water could lay on the outside of the hull in that area. All the interior is out of the boat, i pulled off carpet in major areas to look for other problems
i havent seen anything at all besides that section. All the hull looks solid.
Im about 80% sure at this point its a isolated area. But i sure will have someone look close at it BEFORE i throw any money into it. Now the crappy Searay quality commit is a first to me? I was told by a few people that older searays
were built much better then the new ones. As is true with most boats of today. Alot of people seem to say that the layup on older boats is better and did not have all the cost cutting ideas built in, as the new boats seem to have. I would like some other thoughts on that.
Could someone please let me know if my idea to expose the hull from inside is ok? Thanks again

[fiberglass jack]

do yourself a favour go and get the hull read with a moisture meter it will tell you the water content and will save you time and money any marine surveyer will be able to do this for you ,also any good boat repair shop will carry it out also

[buckknekkid]

If the boat was sitting bow down for a while you could have inherited the problem.. how was it sitting? You will need to get really good with the grinder and do some exploring after the moisture meter check. the meter will point out a lot. The old boats used a lot of material but nothing lasts forever. The culprit is lack of attention on someones part. Ours was sitting for two years after collecting decades of bilge crud. You can now eat off the finish. thats if Jack cooks something.

[fiberglass jack]

sorry cant cook Ray, got burnt to a crisp over the weekend

[Searay31]

Welp'
I got under the floor 6"x6" area and the foam was still tan color and dry
and the hull bottom (from inside the boat) was still good except in the area of the damage.

Question about stringers:

How far do stringers run up a boat? Would the stop about mid ship
or do they run all the way to the v-berth area?

Under the front decking is a hatch, Small circle hatch,
looked to be storage. And under that storge area is what looks to be a rotted
stringer beam. If this is the case i was lied too about the boat(told stringers were fine),

[Searay31]

edit out:

[jimslade]

stringers run all the way to the front. sounds like your boat is cored(balsa) bad news. You should drill out samples and check from there.