Finishing off the Aft Well

In an attempt to complete the Aft Well restoration (forward bulkhead, drain hole, etc.) I wanted to glass cloth over the entire well to seal it off once and for all. Upon closer inspection I found 2 stingers running from the bulkhead to the transom either side of the center of the well. These caused a small compartment to exist and no drain was provided so water (when washing out the well of dust, etc.) collected there. I had a choice of filling in the space or drilling a drain through the stringers. Even a drain hole would have taken a long time to be effective so I decided to fill in the space. 


I decided to use foam to fill the space and then to seal it off with glass cloth, effectively creating a floatation space. I am only talking about 1' x 1' x 3" tapering back to flush with the hull. I decided to use "Great Stuff" from Home Depot to fill in the space so as to support the glass cloth. The "Great Stuff" web site states that it is closed cell foam but I have read many Sailing blogs warning not to use it but rather to use proper expanding foam from a fiberglass supplier. Since I was going to seal it all off anyway, I thought "Great Stuff" would be much more convenient (to get and to use from the can). 


Since this is a blog of how I am doing this restoration, I cannot spare myself the embarrassment of error. I shop vacuumed the area, first sucking up all the debris and then blowing air to dry the area. Then I got my can and began spraying into the area. One can Starboard and one can Port. I am learning to be patient but apparently not patient enough on this chore as I didn't think it was expanding enough so I opened another can and applied half to Starboard and half to Port. When I came back the following day with my newly acquired electric serrated carving knife ($10 on Craigslist), the foam had overwhelmed the space. No Problem I thought, I would just trim it back flat as planed. First, the knife lasted about half way through the first trim before heating up and frying itself. So I had to continue with a hand held serrated kitchen bread knife. Then, because there was so much foam, the middle (the first can) had not cured and was a gooey mess, like bread that was not baked all the way through. I managed to get most of the top of the foam off the Starboard side and, running out of time, I just cut a gaping hole in the port side foam to expose the interior foam. I left that overnight and the next day the middle was also cured enough to trim. I didn't get a real clean job of it but as it will be all sealed with glass cloth anyway, it will be fine when I am done. 

                                                                         Starboard

Port

 

My final product should look something like the illustration below. I will then glass over the entire well. Don't know if I will paint or not. I am not concerned about that just yet as another boat has appeared in my yard and my attention has been directed toward that boat for the time being.