tpenfield

I did send Scott Smith (at Formula) a note regarding the cockpit sole & stringer grid bonding question. so, we shall see what becomes of it.

I am thinking I might just tab the contact areas to the stringers and then fill the space between the hull and the stringer grid with foam to make the boat stiffer and give it more flotation.

88242LS

Nope, they will treat you as new

Chart

It is a wonderful tour, and they are top notch hosts.

tpenfield

I got word back from Formula Tech Support today. They were aware of this thread that I have going on. . .

Anyway, they indicated that I could stiffen the boat up, but it really was not necessary. Bonding the cockpit sole to the stringer grid may cause the cockpit liner to flex in some areas that it normally would not. So, I will take their advice into consideration in anything that I do as part of the bulkhead repair.

buckknekkid

Great manufacturer involvement, now if they could only tell me how to turn mine into a 38 for under 10K

Audiofn

Something like that I would leave as is. It has lasted how long the way it is? Unless you see anything that would cause you to think there is damage happening then your "fix" could cause other problems. I think that is what Formula was saying as well.

When you cut out your bulkhead were you able to check the stringers as well? Often times the water can go from the bulkhead to the stringers and on and on and on. That is what happened in my boat. When I did the new stuff I was able to compartmentalize things. So if I do get one area wet it can not travel to another spot on the boat.

tpenfield

The only thing that I see as a possible issue with the cockpit floor is some crazing of the gelcoat near the step that leads to the cabin.The surveyor indicated that it is usually caused by something 'hard' below it. So, that may be the effect of the stringer grid contact point and any 'pounding ' effect when the floor & grid quickly separate and come back together as the boat flexes. That is the only area that I see a negative effect f the current configuration. I will have to take a closer look at the contact point and the crazing, etc.

I did not get a chance (yet) to inspect the lower portion of the main stringers. That will be part of my next steps, once I remove some of the foam from the rear of the fuel tank. The upper portion of the main stringers look fine . . . nice blond encapsulated wood. Once I open things up a bit in the fuel bay, I can probably drill a couple of test holes in the stringers to get a direct moisture reading on my meter.

Port Stringer (upper portion)




Starboard stringer (upper portion )



I will definitely isolate the new bulkhead section (by encapsulating it in fiberglass) from the rest of the structure, just so moisture can not propagate to other structural members. I did that sort of thing when I replaced the bulkhead on my 242SS.

I'm also hoping that the exposed wood edges from the bulkhead cut will dry the remaining portions of the bulkhead out a bit. however, I may have to put a heat gun to the edges for a while, since the boat is out in the cold of winter and not much will evaporate in those conditions. I probably won't get to work on the boat again until the first weekend of 2014, so we will see how things look at that point. It will have been about 4 weeks since I cut the bulkhead section out.

tpenfield

Winter Update:

I removed the foam from the rear of the fuel tank today. The weather had been quite cold over the past few days, so some of the foam that was holding water was actually frozen. I found that the water seemed to have penetrated parts of the foam, in "veins", rather than spreading evenly across the lower portions of the foam.

Here is a picture of a fairly isolated water 'vein' the I found on the starboard side.


It took a few hours to pry most of the foam loose from the rear portion of the fuel bay, exposing the butt end of the fuel tank and the last few inches of the main stringers. The fuel tank looked pretty good . . . As expected, I did see some darkness (i.e. moisture, etc) penetrating the main stringers, but it looks like it is in a fairly early stage. So, I may try some 'chemotherapy' to the stringers. Pictures below . . .

Starboard side:


Port Side:


I also made a video of the day . . .
http://youtu.be/BUFlkiYYIc4 Next steps will be to clean up the cuts and to apply some treatment to the main stringers. I probably won't be able to do too much more for a few months, unless there is a winter thaw . . .

tpenfield

A couple of follow-up questions from what I found when I removed the foam . . . just looking for any thoughts or ideas on a couple of things.

1) The darkness that is starting in the main stringers: My plan is to let things dry out a bit, then 'inject' some rot preventative liquid into the stringer at the darkened areas. Two types for rot deterrent liquids come to mind; Bleach or Ethylene Glycol (Green antifreeze) . . . any preferences or rationale of one versus the other. Any additional thoughts?

2) The separation of the foam from the sides of the fuel tank: I'm thinking that this should be remedied in order to prevent water from being trapped between the foam and the fuel tank. I was thinking that I could inject either more foam into those areas or perhaps inject an epoxy of some sort to re-bond the foam and fuel tank. Worst case is that I would have to remove the tank and re-foam it. Any thoughts or ideas on the fuel tank/foam bonding?

Thanks for any thoughts or ideas on these items.

RT930turbo

This is one of the many, many reasons we stuck with Formula when we upgraded. The factory support has been absolutely top notch. When I had my 20 year old 303, they treated me like I was a brand new 382 customer. Their enthusiasm for the brand as a whole, not just the latest and greatest is awesome.

We have visited them and the Miami show, and will again this year. Although a new build was out of budget this go around, I honestly think if we ever build a new boat it will be a Formula.

It would be kind of cool to get a small group together for a tour. Every time I speak with them they always extend the invitation to visit.

Sorry to de-rail your thread... great work, and I'm enjoying all the pics!