I Need A Shrink !

[Blue_Heron]

Thats along the same lines that I was thinking.

strick

Be careful with the spray can foam for this application. Great Stuff is the brand I'm familiar with. It needs air to cure, and if you inject it into a confined space with no air to set the cure, it will continue to expand with considerable force and may deform your inner or outer shell. May work ok if you inject a little at a time, but I wonder if a two part foam might not work better?

[strick]

Thats a good point and I've been thinking about how I'm going to do that. Simply pouring 2 part expanding foam into the cavity between the two parts would bury the live well and fish box fill/drain fittings in the foam. Also if I poured foam on the bottom of the liner I would have to rasp down the foam as it would no doubt expand more then I would like it to. Probably the easiest way to do it would be to use spray foam and spray the inner liner prior to glassing it in place that way I could control how much foam I apply and then let it air cure prior to setting it in place. Any suggestions as to what kind of spray foam is best for this application would be appreciated because the only kind I can think of at the moment is the stuff that comes in a can you buy at the hardware store which is used for sealing holes in studs and gaps around windows during installation.

My crew came over on Sunday and helped me get the cap back on the hull and we also removed the boat from the trailer and placed it on jacks. I could not have done this alone so I got to thank Bill, Scott, and George for their help. we used the gantry crane to lift the top cap onto the hull but it was not tall enough so we still had to manually lift and carry it forward to set it in place. I was worried that we would gouge up my paint job when replacing the top cap but I'm happy to say that we did not get so much as a scratch on the inner liner paint job. Also the cap fits perfectly and all the bolt holes line up.










sanding the teak swim platform. This thing is going to look really nice when finished.




Working on the seat boxes. The one with the larger hatch will store dead fish and the one with the smaller hatch will have a live well inside.








With some luck I hope to get primer on the outer hull sides and bottom this weekend.

strick

[uncleboo]

I've used alot of Great Stuff in the past. If you have the patience, put it in a little at the time and let it expand. After a couple of times, you should get an idea of the expansion rate. Practice first.

[cdavisdb]

Not sure that this can be used as a generalization, but I just got a close look at a couple of boxes that had been insulated with spray foam, don't know what brand. Bad looking job, lots of gaps, lots of variation in the degree to which the foam expanded. It was obvious that getting the foam to cover evenly was beyond the appliers skill level.

Experimenting sounds like a very good idea and be prepared to go another route.

I've used the sheet foam method, worked very well for me, nice looking too. Spa Creek had a publication "The Perfect Box: 39 Ways to Improve Your Boats Ice Box" that detaile how to do it. I still have my copy if needed.

[76Red18]

I was thinking of the 2 part spray insulation used on the plywood between trusses. A friend of mine is in the business. Problem is the confined space and excess pressure.

[SBD]

I have built lots of things using blue household foam insulation. It is very inexpensive, easy to form using a Surform, and crazy strong with just a few laminations over it. It has been used for many structural applications including all Rutan aircraft. It is only compatible with epoxy however, ester will turn it into napalm.

I would consider bonding it to the inside and skinning it.

[strick]

A little progress this weekend. I was able to get some work done to the seat box molds. The MDF was sanded with 220 and modeling clay was used to make the radius's around the corners. The molds were then waxed with partall paste and 5 coats of PVA was then sprayed onto the mold surface. This was allowed to cure 24 hours and then duratex was applied to the inside of the mold.









I made some patterns of the top and sides of the molds out of heavy construction paper and then pre cut all my glass and core cell to fit.








2 layers of heavy matt were laminated in place



The a layer of 1708 and then the core cell was glued in place



I try to use up as much scrap fiberglass as I can. Using the extra material helps cut costs on glass.



The gaps between the corecell were filled with cabosil and then 2 layers of 1708 are laminated in place. All the corners get a layer of 1708 tape several times during the lamination.












I've been working to get the bottom of the boat ready for primer. There were 3 thru hulls that needed to get filled and now that we have access to the bottom of the boat we were able to finally get that done.




Moving back to the seat boxes. Excessive glass was trimmed with the grinder and my little harbor freight tool that I showed earlier.




The roto zip works well to cut the glass on the out side of the mold.




Some shots showing the part coming out of the mold. It's nice when things turn out good as this seat box did. No alligators or voids in the glass...and the part did not stick to the mold.... all problems I've had at one time or another. I think I'm starting to get better at this.










The clay is removed to be used another day.




The box is strong and light weight. There will be a liner that goes into this when I get a chance to make it.






















Thats it for now

strick

[Titaniumboy]

sanding the teak swim platform. This thing is going to look really nice when finished.

Nice job on the teak swim platform.

You had mentioned earlier in this thread that you were going to build a fiberglass swim platform. You must have changed your mind?

If you had built a fiberglass swim platform, how would you have gone about making the mold and doing the layout schedule on the fiberglass? I'm interested in helping one buddy add a fiberglass swim platform to a 1978 18 foot BeachCraft open-bow runabout. If this works, another buddy would like to add a fiberglass swim platform to his 1996 20 foot Glastron open-bow runabout. The cost from the two swim platform manufacaturers in Arizona would run around $1500-$1600 for a delivered swim platform. Far too expensive of a proposition for these two older boats.

Here are a couple of links that show some [incomplete] pictures on how one marine fabricator makes fiberglass swim platforms.

fiberglass swim platform construction 1

fiberglass swim platform construction 2


Thanks!

Titaniumboy

[strick]

Gil- I never seen any white poppies but I have seen a few yellow poppies. We got tons of the little flowwering weed in my area. I was thinking of glassing in a cleat but now that you mention it I guess I could use some aluminum angle. I need to be able to calk around the bottom of the seat boxes for obvious reasons.


Titaniumboy- I decided for now just to keep the teak swim platform. It is such a nice looking piece of wood and is heavy duty as well. If I were to make a fiberglass swim platform I would have gone about it much like the old gal in the photos on the link you posted. Lay up would have been something like this. One layer Duratec sanding primer, Two layers 1.5 ounce matt, One layer 1708, 3/4 inch core cell and two layers 1708. Pop out of the mold then sand and paint with Awlgrip. Either have some braces welded up or make some fiberglass ones.

Some more photos of the second seat box coming out of the mold. This one will have the livewell inside.













strick

[Islandtrader]

Those boots are getting to look familiar...I now would recognize them anywhere