Wet stringer foam question

oldbluesplayer · #1 01-26-2007, 02:11 PM

John - I did a mapquest thing, looks like an easy 1.5 hr ride - I'll definitely have to drop down this spring.

all I'm gonna say, and you won't grasp it till you get out on the water, is that your friend was right - I'd had 5 boats before, and was intimately familiar with several more boats that my brother has had - when I was shopping this time, and encountered my Seafari as a possibility, several people I talked to, knowledgeable boaters, when I said, "70's SeaCraft" simply replied... "Buy It !" It was such an abrupt and overt reaction, repeated several times, I found it very hard to believe.

2 years later... I Believe. And I know, after gathering with the SeaCraft clan herein, last summer in Cape Cod Bay, that my 20' Seafari has nowhere near the capability, that your 23' Sceptre has.

I know you're useage thinking is headed towards the Great Lakes for salmon, but you're gonna have to join us this summer in the Bay, as I expect there will be another CSC Gathering.

Bill

Ed · #2 01-26-2007, 05:41 PM

OldBluesPlayer-

Don't be so fast to underestimate your 20' Seafari. I've been out with CSICKNICK on his Seafari in large seas during November and the boat was fine. I wish I could say the same for me....I was so nervous, I made him head back in.

dcobbett · #3 01-26-2007, 10:34 PM

John123,

Bonefish's comments about the cuts in the stringer for the fuel hoses letting in water made me think about the hull I'm working on. Have you ever crawled under your hull when it was thawed out and tapped on the bottom along the panel under the stringers? If so, was the sound different than what you heard when you tapped on the adjacent panels?

Bigshrimpin · #4 01-27-2007, 01:19 AM

Quote:

OldBluesPlayer-

Don't be so fast to underestimate your 20' Seafari. I've been out with CSICKNICK on his Seafari in large seas during November and the boat was fine. I wish I could say the same for me....I was so nervous, I made him head back in.

Gotta second what ED is saying. 20 is very nimble and seaworthy. The old owner of my 20MA used to fish 70miles offshore at guide and pioneer seamounts in nasty pacific ocean.

BoneFish is probably be right, but I'd still try with the holes first. Hit the stringer with a line of holes every 12" to 18" with a 1" hole saw . . . . save the plugs. It's not going to dry out overnight, but using a fan and heater you could probably get away without pulling the boat apart . . . Especially b/c it's just one side and just the very bottom of that one stringer.

1bayouboy · #5 01-27-2007, 10:50 AM

You can also tape the end of the hose from a small wet vac
to the holes and use a little vacuum to get out standing water....it dries faster when it's down to just damp.

oldbluesplayer · #6 01-27-2007, 07:59 PM

Trident & Big - I don't so much underestimate my Seafari, as I do me -

Last summer I went over to Martha's Vineyard for a couple days, a couple of beautiful days, and fished with my son and my brother on his 23' SeaBird - life was good !!

Sunday morning we set out to come back, life was not so good - so I had the opportunity to push the 20' Seafari thru close coupled 5-8's, stuffing my bow plenty of times, driving that boat over each and every wave, one hand on the wheel, one hand on the throttle - get to the crest, and go forward or drop back off - it had a nasty little cross swell going on, too - I had green water come right up over the foredeck, and up over the windshield several times - and I was running with plugs in the scuppers - adding to the nervousness - I did pause long enough somewhere to pull those out -

I've also learned about running the mouth of the Merrimack, that's a whole nother fun game, with it's frequent standing waves on the outgoing tide/ incoming swell

believe me, after that, 10 ft rollers would be easy - like the stuff commonly seen south of MV on a good day

Bottom Line - the 20' Seafari is a Little Giant - I know what IT can do, just not sure sure how often I want to go there !!!

Bill

bigeasy1 · #7 01-27-2007, 08:38 PM

Thanks for all the replies,if anyone has anymore thoughts,feel free to keep em coming.

I have checked the hull bottom,and it's good,but it's very hard to tell if the noise is different on one side versus the other.The stringer that's wet seems to sound just a bit duller when i tap on it,in the compartment where the fuel tank was.Even there, the difference in sound is almost imperceptable.

I'm wondering if it got wet from the stern area and was working it's way foward,guess i'll find out after i drill a few holes further foward.

dcobbett · #8 01-28-2007, 10:58 AM

JOhn123

Quote:

I'm wondering if it got wet from the stern area and was working it's way foward,guess i'll find out after i drill a few holes further foward.

That's what I think may have happened with my boat. When I pulled the tank, the coffin area was very dry and the openings for the fuel fill and vent hoses were foamed in tight. When I opened the transom up, the inside skin was open along the port side stringer and the bottom of the hull, and I'm wondering if water has ponded in the low spot of the stringer encasement. Bottom of the hull looks good from the outside, but I get a much different noise when I tap on that panel (fore and aft) than I do when I tap on any of the other panels.