wet foam in stringers
 

After grinding the inner sides of the stringers to prepare the area for the new fuel tank slats I'm going to glass in, I noticed water leaking out of a couple of areas where the woven roving was delaminating. My stringers apparently have wet foam. Since I'm not removing the deck I won't have access to the stringer tops. Will it be structurally safe to remove the sides of the stringers to remove the foam then glass those same skins back on?

I might would try to cut out some oval or square holes in the sides then patch over them. if you cut the sides out you will loose the structure and could warp the hull. If you cut the holes you can remove it threw them by digging in out and the material left will keep the shape. Then once done glass over the holes and cut small ones at the top edges to refill the pourable foam threw.

Here is what I am talking about:

Attachment 9280

frizz, you're a smart man,good way to fix that,support, cut ,fix and reglass...really like your illustrations...

I think it might be less work overall if you remove the sole and do it all from the top. :)

Can this wet foam cause hull blisters? I don't know how long this foam has been soaked, but most likely it's been wet for years.

Most hull blisters are from water coming in from the outside and getting in the fibers in the glass and puckering out the gel coat causing the gel coat to blister. I could do it from the inside out I guess but the main troubles with wet foam is the extra weight that you are carrying in the hull. Water logged foam is heavy!

I would hàve to agree with shine , but then again after seeing my build I definitely made a lot more work for myself..lol

Shine dose have a good point,

Looks like a lot more work than I thought. Maybe I'll just drill some holes along the bottom and let the excess drain out. I really don't want to remove the deck as it is in good condition and I'm already tight on work space. If it is really fully soaked how many extra pounds can it be? 200 -400?

If you don't need to replace the decks,and its a lot bigger job that one would think,figure out a way to get that stuff out from the sides.what model and year is the boat?you most definitely could cut some sides out enough to remove the crap ,in say ,3 different spaces per 6 feet.leave about 8" original,solid glass there,, between the cutouts.temporary glass each space back up,when you're cleaned out and move on down the stringers.once its all dry, level everything and reglass the sides ,leaving several 3inch or so pouring spots, up high to pour in expandable foam to refill everything.glass those spots up when you got everything filled.it would be important NOT to cut all the way to the hull bottom.leave at least 4" or so per 2' ,to hold original shape

I don't know what model you have, but I cut a 1" hole in the stern end (stringers) of my 23. Inserted a piece of pvc pipe through hole and was able to pull samples from the foam. After about 1 foot, the foam came out dry. I plugged holes with rubber plugs. If I would have continued to get water, I would have probably kept going.

I have an 89 20sf. I already cut off the last 6" of both stringers to rebuild the transom from the inside. The starboard stringer was soaked but the port was pretty dry. But both stringers are leaking towards the center under the console.

My 1973 20sf was wet too and it has been out of the water for 10 years.

We also found the forward fish box through hull drain was letting water into the starboard stringer.

Check my build thread for pics. My deck is out so we cut the tops off the stringers and removed the foam.

Frizzies solution is a good one, and safe.

FYI, I cut the side out of almost half the length of the main stringer in a Seafari 25. It glassed back together just fine.