Filling Bracket with foam?
 

I have a Hermco dual bracket on my yacht and I am tired of water filling it up. Has anyone filled their's with foam? Is this a really bad idea? Would it stop the water or just create a different problem?
Thanks,
BA

Talk to Don he will let you know what to look for mine started to leak and I was able to stop it

Where was yours leaking?

I have been chasing leaks in mine since shortly after it was installed. I even filled it with water to determine where water was coming in. Found a couple of spots and the leaks stopped for a short period of time. Now it leaks again. Pissing me off.

BA....where were your leak spots?

Motor bolts and the seam between where the platform meets the tub. That is apprently not glassed together, so as soon as I ran the boat in a nice chop, opened up that joint.

got it.......I think foaming it it a really bad idea.

Brian
Talk to Don.. Mine leaks a little also but I jammed 5200 in the areas I could find.

Bad Idea, DON't fill it with foam :(

Foam seems like very bad idea, especially if you don't address the leak first. It wouldn't be long before you had wet foam

I traded emails and phone calls with Don on the same issue and he was eager to help. I think I've got the problem beat but will know for sure in a few weeks now that its in the water.

I had a conversation a couple of years ago with Don about it. Didn't get very far with him once I expressed my displeasure that tub and platform were not glassed together. I had the same thought about water logged foam, but didn't know if the two part/closed cell foam would absorb water? Guess it would. I will probably fill it with water again and break out the 5200.

If the seam on the outside of the tub were it meets the swim platform is not glassed then it is doomed to leak. At least that's my experience from the ones that I have built. It's an easy fix but you will need to re-paint the glassed area. I would not fill the bracket with foam. You should not get water coming in from the bolt holes either if it was properly sealed. Lots of 5200 around the perimeter of the tub and then around each bolt hole and the body of the tub. Then you have to seal around the joint were the tub meets the hull as well.

strick

BA...mine leeks a little bit too. But its not a Hermco...its a home made ;) Fishing in a slosh water gets in via 3 deckplates, cable clam, rigging tube...you name it.

This year I added a switched bilge pump to it. I was sick of hand pumping it at the end of the day. The boat is moored and it dosnt leak at rest while moored.

I am going to try your fill it with water trick to test my 5200 :)

How old is your bracket? Don has updated the hatches to the Armstrong ones. The old ones that I had on my bracket (built 6+ years ago) were a joke, didn't even being to hold water out!
I would run a couple layers of matt up the inside of the tub and to the underside of the platform if that is in fact where your leak is. There is no gellcoat in there to grind off, so its a pretty easy fix, even to just investigate the leak.

just leak tested my homemade one for kicks. Its the deck plates. They suck. Will be able to pump out as needed this year. ;)