Loose foam under deck?

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Clint KY

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Far west Kentucky
I am starting a minor rebuild on an ’85 Monark 1644V Bassfinder. I got the boat very reasonably as the floor is rotted and the OP did not want to attempt the repair. I have removed the front deck and the plywood is nearly nonexistent. I picked up what was left being held together by what was left of the carpet. I intend to replace it with plywood, as I am not able to find any aluminum that I can afford that will work. But the question I have is about the floatation foam under the deck. The deck is about 1/3rd live-well and storage, 1/3rd large chunks of foam and 1/3rd open space. The foam is not secured in any way. Is this normal? The picture below is with the foam removed for cleaning out the remains of the mice nests. The area in the center had the large blocks of foam along with smaller chunks to fill the spaces. There was also chunks on the outer spaces between the live-well, storage area and hull. There was no foam in the front section (to the left) at all. Should the foam be secured in some way, or is the fact that it is captured by the decking sufficient? Can I also assume (always dangerous) that I could add more foam without any ill effects?
Thanks,

Under Front Deck 2.JPG
 
nice clean out Clint . . .
before you go putting foam and stuff back into the boat,
I would suggest putting some water in it to check for leaks.
Much easier now - than later.
Also, put in a PVC pipe to run wires etc later down the road.

you are off to a good start
 
As long as the foam is trapped under the floor the fact that it is not secured is not a problem as long as the floor or deck doesn't come loose. I would put in as much foam as you can get to fit in.
 
You mentioned mouse nest's. Is there any visible corrosion?
You should treat it if there is. It's like rust, it never sleeps.
Good luck with the new boat.

Steve A W

 
Johnny said:
before you go putting foam and stuff back into the boat, I would suggest putting some water in it to check for leaks.
Much easier now - than later.
I got a start on that today figuring out where the live-well, bait well and built in cooler drain. The wells drain to thru hull fittings while the cooler drains to the bilge. <- I am not sure I like that.


Johnny said:
Also, put in a PVC pipe to run wires etc later down the road.

Good idea. I am going to do something a little different in that I have a LARGE gel cell 12V battery meant for back up in a cell phone site that does not make a good trolling motor or starting battery. It was designed to run electronic equipment (low amperage long time draw) so I am going to run my Fish Finder GPS, my depth finder, my marine radio and my 2M VHF Ham radio (W5CPT) off it. So I will run some 1/2" PVC from the rear area to the binnacle for the Depth Finder and radios and to the front area for the FF GPS.




Steve A W said:
Is there any visible corrosion?

Nope - just some gnawed hollows in the top pieces of foam and lots of nesting material. My shop-vac made quick work of all that.

I fight the critters all year long around here. I live out in the woods and it comes with the area.
 
Hey Clint, seen and addressed you post over on the other site as well.

Looks like a nice one you picked up there and should work out well for what you are going to be doing. As I also stated there that 50HP VRO will serve you well also. The weak link in them is in the lower unit and the clutch dog.

For the area that you are looking at in the bow I would try and determine how much area is going to be needed for the wells, battery compartment and storage. Assuming that there will be lift up hatches in that area. For any battery box or storage area I would build plywood boxes from 1/4" material to the size needed and then foam under and all around them as tightly as possible to prevent movement. You can even cut a few pcs to fit and area and then glue them together. And they don't all have to be going in the same direction.

As for re-decking that bow area with a couple of well placed pcs of 1.5"X1.5"X.25" aluminum angle you could get by with using 1/2" or 5/8" plywood and save some weight. Then for the carpet I will suggest the 14oz stuff that Cabelas sells. I've used it before and will be using it again in 2 different boats I have now. It is very easy to work with, holds up very well and dries very quickly. I also can't the difference between it and the heavier 16oz carpet as far as looks goes.

Good luck and keep the pictures coming!
 
bonz_d said:
As I also stated there that 50HP VRO will serve you well also. The weak link in them is in the lower unit and the clutch dog.
In my research I had not heard about any problems in the lower unit. My regular Boat Mech says the early VROs are problematic and is going to bypass the oil injection and set me up to mix my gas and oil. Or maybe he is going to tell me how I can do it myself.

bonz_d said:
For the area that you are looking at in the bow I would try and determine how much area is going to be needed for the wells, battery compartment and storage. Assuming that there will be lift up hatches in that area. For any battery box or storage area I would build plywood boxes from 1/4" material to the size needed and then foam under and all around them as tightly as possible to prevent movement. You can even cut a few pcs to fit and area and then glue them together. And they don't all have to be going in the same direction.
The live well and storage area are already boxed in so no problem there.

bonz_d said:
As for re-decking that bow area with a couple of well placed pcs of 1.5"X1.5"X.25" aluminum angle you could get by with using 1/2" or 5/8" plywood and save some weight. Then for the carpet I will suggest the 14oz stuff that Cabelas sells. I've used it before and will be using it again in 2 different boats I have now. It is very easy to work with, holds up very well and dries very quickly. I also can't the difference between it and the heavier 16oz carpet as far as looks goes.
Thanks for the idea of bracing the deck. I may be able to use aluminum after all, as I have found some aluminum sheet that is reasonably priced but it is too thin to be used alone.

On the other - there will be NO carpet. While I fish primarily crappie and bass I do go out for catfish and hate the slime left in the carpet on boats. I have a few options instead of carpet. Looking at TuffCoat and some similar products. A fishing buddy painted his decks with a good oil based paint and used a grit in the second coat (he did three coats) for traction. It came out very well, is truly non-skid and it easy to hose clean.

And yes I will continue to photograph the project and post here and on the IBoats forum.
 
Sounds like you have a good plan.

Painted decks work very well also or there is always vinyl coverings too. I fish mainly whatever is biting but target bass and pike. Fish much of the time barefoot so the carpet is a little easier on these old feet.

It is just my opinion from reading and using them that I read and have always seemed to find more used OMC's that are missing or have damaged lower units than ones with blown power heads. I also believe that the VRO system gets a bad rap. Most of the VRO 2 cylinder engines that I've seen with blown power heads which people attribute to a failed VRO pump are actually from a failed carb, one that has become fouled and then runs that cylinder lean. From what I have witnessed when a VRO pump fails there is always damage done to both cylinders, same as would be seen on a water pump failure.

As for these 2 cylinder engines I currently have 3 of them and recently sold a 4th one. 2 of those have had the lower replaced, one is missing one is still original. I was running a 1983 Johnson 60hp 2 cylinder on my Alumacraft but recently swapped it out for a 1987 50hp VRO with power tilt.

Will look forward to following your progress!
 

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