CONTINUOUSWAVE

From the look of the foam that is under the cover of my unused internal splashwell, I suspect water has been living in there for decades. Well I guess LHG was right. Larry always said to get rid of that stupid cover and dig out the wet foam out.

I will use this as a bit of an experiment. I am going to let the surface of the foam dry out (very hot here this week) and after the surface is fully dry I am going to drill a core through the foam and how far the moisture traveled. I will be good test of never disturbed c.1980 foam.

I have a Boston Whaler 22-foot hull with a Whaler Drive. The hull has the unusually deep engine splash well that was used on the 22-footers until c.1990. There is no sign of water intrusion into the foam-filled splash well. I suspect that the tendency for water to accumulate in the foam that has filled the deep splashwell is related to the integrity of the seal and the amount of water that has been splashing into the area. Accordingly, for many years I have been ignoring the advice offered by LHG to disturb the cover and seal and to remove the foam.

A further argument against removing the foam: there is no through-hull drain for the now-exposed splash well, and water WILL accumulate in the open and deep well. This will require installation of some sort of pump to lift water out of the well and push it overboard. Typically such a pump will never remove all the water in the well, so there will be a tendency to always have some water in the exposed splash well.

Based on the pictures you show, it looks like there has been some mildew or other discoloration in the region of the splash well. I think it is fairly typical for some foam to cure and then age with a dark brown color. I see that same coloration in the foam that surrounds the fuel tank on my boat.

The other Boston Whaler boats typically seen with a Whaler Drive are the 20-foot and 25-foot hulls. Those hulls do not have a deep splashwell like the 22-foot hull. I am not familiar with how the well is handled on those hulls.

ASIDE: Regarding LHG, he never owned a boat with a Whaler Drive, and generally always spoke negatively about boats with a Whaler Drive. I don't know how he formed his view of the imperative to modify the construction of Boston Whaler boats with Whaler Drive. Perhaps from second-hand information or dock talk.

Good points Jim,

I too agree that the real problem here is the sealing of the StarBoard cap. If water never got under the cover it would be dry right now.

I think the flaw here is that the factory did not seal the cover well. The floor scuppers do drain into this zone the factory should have treated this area as critical to protect. The caulking is minimal at best. Also they put the sealant over the foam is a few spots (vs the well edge).

My real interest now it to see if foam is soggy all the way to the bottom of the well or just surface moisture.

[The foam-filled deep splashwell on the 25-foot hull with Whaler Drive] cleaned up easily with a scrub brush and the foam is now that nice yellowish color.

My current thinking is to just glass over the well after I confirm the foam is not soaked through. The original starboard cap is scalloped on the front and really can't be reused (no way to bed it down). Clearly the bad sealing in the factory let water flow under the starboard and over the foam. There was a coating of black "organic" sludge on all the foam's surface.

By glassing-in the splash well, I can be sure that no water will enter, and [the boat will] keep the [amount] of flotation the original design intended. As Jim points out, just washing down the deck would flood the old well (if I removed the foam) since the scuppers just flow into that enclosed area and I would have to pump it out after each outing.

Not the best photo...

I agree - glass it over.

That is what I did on my Outrage 25 when I installed a Hermco bracket.

I removed the foam [from the covered and unused splash well] on my 1988 Revenge W-T WD [which was later suggested by another user to be a 22-foot hull; see below]. I fabricated a diamond place cover for the area and installed a BOMAR deck access plate for access. I use a hand pump to occasionally pump water that accumulates there. No problem and works fine. I would not glass it. --Hutch

EEL-what hull do you have? 22 or 25?

Here are pictures of [my OUTRAGE 25 with added Hermco engine bracket] before and after [the original engine splashwell was] glassed over.

Existing splashwell with new transom built up: http://continuouswave.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1076

Fitting Coosa board to the area: http://continuouswave.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1077

Glassed over but not yet finished: http://continuouswave.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1078

We walk through there all the time, so it was very useful getting the deck flat. And [the unused splashwell ] now sealed just like the rest of the boat, so no more water intrusion.

Russell--how thick was the Coosa Board you installed?

[The COOSA board thickness was] about 3/4-inch.

EEL--the splash well [on the 25-foot hull with Whaler Drive] does not seem large enough to make use of a hatch.

What do you keep in there?

Is yours a 25?

Also, thanks Russell.

I'll answer for Slippery Eel since he has not answered Jim's first question. SLIPPERY EEL owns a 22' Revenge WT Whaler Drive.

Regarding Peteinsf's question to SLIPPERY EEL: SLIPPERY EEL does not keep anything [in the unused splashwell that is in the Whaler Drive on his 22-foot hull]. He utilizes the deck [access] plate [to insert a hose so he can pump out] water.

I also have a 1989 22' Revenge WT WD. A previous owner did what Slippery Eel did [that is, he removed all the foam from the seep splash well on the 22-foot hull that was covered over by Boston WHaler], however, only used plywood instead of the diamond plate [to make the new cover over the now empty splash well with removed foam]. I can attest that water does somehow collect in the splash well and occasionally needs to be pumped out.

I ended up glassing over [the unused open splash well on the 25-foot hull with Whaler Drive] so the [former open] space [of the splash well] now has a flat [surface]. I’ll post some photos in the future.

I found reading this thread to be very confusing, so I emended several articles to replace pronouns like "it" and "he" with actual nouns, as best as I could figure out what was intended to be the antecedent nouns for the pronouns.