Wet stringer foam question

[oldbluesplayer]

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]

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]

JOhn123

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.