Got back to work on the boat friday and today. The starboard stinger top was cut off, and the old foam was dug out. As a whole, the foam was wet, but it was only fully saturated at most, the bottom inch or so a few feet from the stern. Its very misleading when you open up the stringers and start to dig because the top portion is very dry. I would estimate total amount of weight removed was 50-80lbs. I used a sharpened putty knife to cut out the foam located where the stringer meets the hull. Then I drilled some drain holes as close as I could to the bottom of the stringers and lifted the trailer hitch 40" or so off the ground and washed the stringers out. Let it dry overnight and cleaned the inside with acetone before pouring the foam. Side note:the tank cleaned up great.
My plan to compensate for a raised deck (1/2" -5/8") goes as follows. The foam poured in was 3/4" less than the top of the existing deck height. Glass 1708 over the foam, place 3/4" mg ply on top and glass 1708 on top of that. The final height should be right at the existing deck height. The foam was poured in once I created a "shell" for the foam to form to. The shell was made out of 3/4" melamine and screwed into the sides of the stringer. Once the foam was poured in, I screwed the cap of the shell on. NOTE: all of the melamine had PVA release film rolled onto it so it popped off easily. MAKE SURE TO GRIND THE FOAM TO REMOVE THE PVA WHEN FINISHED. Seems like a no brainer, but NOTHING will stick to the PVA, so it needs to be removed. The neon colored string was used as a template for the 3/4" melamine shell. Once the foam was all set, I popped the shell off and ground the foam where it needed it.
I only did one stringer at a time, because I was concerned with excess hull flex. As the picture shows, I poured the foam, not leaving any area for a pipe chase. Im going to cut the pipe chase in and it will be at a 45* instead of running the length of the stringer. Seems like a lot of lost support area for the deck having the chase run down the length of the stringer. I plan on having the other stringer done by this week so I can get started on tank bulkheads/supports next weekend.
