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Was hoping to get some opinions on a questions that is eating at me!

I've got a 1969 16' currituck that i am in the process of working on. one of the issues is water in the hull. i have managed to remove a fair bit of water using a shop vac, but also by removing water saturated foam.

after a season of use (i'm not orig. owner) i noticed water coming up through the deck in two places, one aft port one aft starbord. turns out these were holes (1.5" dia) filled with body filler, the filler jiggled free.

pulled the boat for winter work etc, decided to cut the deck up around the holes so i ended up cutting 2- 18"x18" holes around the original problematic holes. this gave me great access to removing old soggy foam which i have done. however i was only able to reach up and dig out only so far so there is still water and soggy foam.

the holes have since been framed so that after foaming i can place plywood in, glass over the ply and the holes will be flush with the deck. however this leaves me with no access to water that has dripped from the foam and collected in the voids.

my thinking is i will wait on the foam. seal it with ply and glass then cut small round holes in the ply to accept those round access ports. this would allow me to empty water as it collected for one or two seasons.

am i crazy to expect that the nearly 2'x2' sections of hull will be ok without the support of the foam?

any thoughts or ideas would be great. let me know if i need to clarify.

thanks dana

attached is a pic of the holes before i framed them in and before some of the foam was removed.

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ok here is the pic

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sorry picture is not happening.

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A lot depends how you use the boat, I you are in situations that your lif depended on it I would re-foam the hole and re-seal the deck. Dig out as much wet foam a you can before you re foam. The extra bouyancy may keep you alfoat longer.

I had a boat that had a cracked hull and water intrusion in the foam. When I got around to fixing it the foam core was hollowed out by the action of the water that I hac a space of about one foot by three feet of missing foam in my hull. The action of the water can break the foam down once the foam core has problems. This was on a 1979 outrage.

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Hope I'm not too late in my reply. Don't reseal your deck until you know that you have every last bit of the water out of that foam. Over time water will dissolve the resins and will begin to delaminate any fiberglass surface that it comes in contact with, resulting in a larger job in the future. Tent the boat with plastic, stick in a fan and dehumidifier or just keep in a dry area and give it a lot of time to dry. As for the foam still being saturated, take a half inch wooden dowel and put a point on the end of it, and stick it as far as you can into the foam and let it sit for awhile. This will give you a wicking effect and when you remove it, it will tell you how far the water intrusion has gone. Before you put the plywood into place, (exterior grade or marine grade, never pressure treated) be sure to encapsule it with glass and resin. If you intend to regel coat this area, there is a caution about epoxys you should know. There are some epoxys made in which the gel coat will not cure or adhere to, usually the cheaper ones. You're best off using polyester based resins and Formula 27 for final filling and fairing. When you redrill new holes for fasteners, be sure your drill is in the reverse position. This will prevent the bit from binding and chipping the gel coat and giving you a cleaner hole. Before reinstalling any fasteners into the fiberglass, always lubricate the threads with 3-M 4000 and put a dab in the hole as well to prevent any future water intrusion. Never use 5200. Chances are, if you try to remove any screws the heads will break off (from experience, they will all break off). Go ahead and reseal every last fastener that goes into the fiberglass with the 4000. Any squeeze-out or excess can very easily be removed with denatured alcohol or mineral spirits before its cured
Good luck.