Clean under floorboards- drainage ideas?
Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:34 pm
It's the dreaded under floorboard cleaning!
I have read a few topics on pulling floorboards on a few different brands of boats and have seen them fixed a couple different ways so I thought I would post and ask advice on my specific situation. First off, I have vinyl covered wood floorboards that were saturated when I pulled them so they have been out and drying for about a week. I believe these are marine grade or pressure treated so maybe the chemicals from the wood were leaching into the bilge, foam, etc.? So the question I have for the floorboards is; Do I put them back as is or do I paint the backside or seal them somehow before putting them back in?
I definitely had some corrosion going on down there under the wood floorboards but maybe not quite to extent that a previous post by JStauf had to deal with. The foam was only wet to about 1/2" but once I pulled it, I found that it was damp underneath the foam which was causing some corrosion. The worst corrosion was the metal that was touching the wood.
A couple issues I noticed after doing this:
1) The areas that held the foam were not only wet but will also hold water, as in it will not drain. The water has no where to go if it gets in this space...no wonder it was corroding the metal.
2) There are two boxed stringers running on either side of the bilge (Hewescraft design) that are filled with foam. These beams have holes drilled in the top of them I would assume as a port to insert the foam nozzle during production. The beams do not have continuous weld against the hull as there is foam that expanded out of several spots along the hull in the bilge. What really worries me is that there must be water int there too right? How to I get enough oxygen to this space to slow down the corrosion because it looks like there is no way to pull the foam out? The other foam areas were not corroding the hull directly but I believe this is a definite possibility inside those beams.
3) I have a drainage issue: When the washdown is used, water seeps through the floor seams and gets to the cavities that I mentioned before that will not drain. Most of the water is going to the far corners near the transom boards and draining into the cavities again that will not drain. The newer models have fixed this issue by putting drain holes that direct water into the bilge. Does anyone have an idea how to modify my design to get my water to drain to the center into the bilge?
I've seen members paint the area that I just cleaned or used Nyalic or similar coating. Is this the best idea? I have had issues with corrosion being trapped under Sharkhide in the past so I would really have to be convinced to do this.
Thanks for the help!
Brett
I have read a few topics on pulling floorboards on a few different brands of boats and have seen them fixed a couple different ways so I thought I would post and ask advice on my specific situation. First off, I have vinyl covered wood floorboards that were saturated when I pulled them so they have been out and drying for about a week. I believe these are marine grade or pressure treated so maybe the chemicals from the wood were leaching into the bilge, foam, etc.? So the question I have for the floorboards is; Do I put them back as is or do I paint the backside or seal them somehow before putting them back in?
I definitely had some corrosion going on down there under the wood floorboards but maybe not quite to extent that a previous post by JStauf had to deal with. The foam was only wet to about 1/2" but once I pulled it, I found that it was damp underneath the foam which was causing some corrosion. The worst corrosion was the metal that was touching the wood.
A couple issues I noticed after doing this:
1) The areas that held the foam were not only wet but will also hold water, as in it will not drain. The water has no where to go if it gets in this space...no wonder it was corroding the metal.
2) There are two boxed stringers running on either side of the bilge (Hewescraft design) that are filled with foam. These beams have holes drilled in the top of them I would assume as a port to insert the foam nozzle during production. The beams do not have continuous weld against the hull as there is foam that expanded out of several spots along the hull in the bilge. What really worries me is that there must be water int there too right? How to I get enough oxygen to this space to slow down the corrosion because it looks like there is no way to pull the foam out? The other foam areas were not corroding the hull directly but I believe this is a definite possibility inside those beams.
3) I have a drainage issue: When the washdown is used, water seeps through the floor seams and gets to the cavities that I mentioned before that will not drain. Most of the water is going to the far corners near the transom boards and draining into the cavities again that will not drain. The newer models have fixed this issue by putting drain holes that direct water into the bilge. Does anyone have an idea how to modify my design to get my water to drain to the center into the bilge?
I've seen members paint the area that I just cleaned or used Nyalic or similar coating. Is this the best idea? I have had issues with corrosion being trapped under Sharkhide in the past so I would really have to be convinced to do this.
Thanks for the help!
Brett