just picked up a small 12' fiberglass fishing boat, nothing special.

anyway the body is good etc

problem is the benches etc are closed solid with no foam, my guess is air is suppose to keep it from sinking to the bottom of the lake. they have holes in them so even though it will probably float the boat. it going to at some point sink.. i mean the guys drilled seats on top on the benches and everything id probably give it 10 min till the air is gone and boat is down.

i first wanted to cut em all open and make those fancy storage and etc that you see allot of people do... allot of times you don't see them add anything to float the boat if it was to fill, never mind float all the plywood and etc the stuff in them..

so as i was playing around cleaning it watching the benches leak like a siv and i more or less hit a wall when i tough whats going to keep this from hitting the bottom of the lake. and its going to be registered to me so if that was to happen pretending it didn't would only last till someone finds it..

so i take it the idea of turning them all into storage is bust.. but now my question is is it worth paying for and getting that pour in foam and filling all the benches with that.. that will run me $100 est for 10 cu feet and that will give me a 600lbs float ratio and that will float it.. boat est 100 plus electric motor etc everything in the boat that will stay in the boat if it sinking will total maybe 400 tops

or next option is save the money and patch it up and let air float the thing and that im thinking is allot better than the foam? but also thinking the foam is more or less going to stay there and you wont have to worry about hole and air leaking out of all the benches someday?

i dunno maybe thinking to much into it.. but more or less im going to do 1 or the other patch em and leave it be or foam em..

any ideas or suggestions on how to keep this off the bottom of the lake.. other options or which of the 2 options i thought of are better. pros cons etc...

ok on a better look, there is some foam in there...lol looks like its seen better days though..

the things are plywood coated in fiberglass and the plywood of course is rotted only thing holdn the bench together is the fiberglass

So whats wrong with your boat that would make it sink in the first place?

id say nothing, Im just thinking worst case scenario.. some reason or another it takes on water, flips over.. etc..

just the last thing i want is to see a bill on what it would cost to hall it off the bottom of a lake.

right now it probably wouldn't, looks like there is enough foam in there to float it when filled.. but as for the integrty of the frame of the benches seem a little ehhh now, granted ehh means i can still probally sit on em for 5 years till i have to do something about it..

so more or less i got time to use it and think about it..

If the existing foam is a concern, you can get a two part mix that turns from liquid to foam. Don't know how much work time you have before it "fizzes", but the info should be readily available by searching the internet. (two part foam floatation)

Here's one.

http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html

Here's one.

http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html

thats the exact one i found when i searched.. thats what gave me the idea... i was like i can just cut a hole or two pour it in and then patch it back up but now getting a sneak peek at the plywood frame all rotting in there it seems like a waist to go pouring that stuff in there without cutting it out and re-doing it all... the foam seems to be the most expensive part of it all.

Sometimes the old flotation will hold water, and weigh down the boat. My first rig had that problem. Previous owner had cracked the bottom, then repaired it witout drying out the inside. I had to take it all out and replace it. I used some blocks of waterproof foam to replace it rather than use the spray-in stuff, since that was what was holding water in the first place. Maybe the spray-in stuff is better now, but I would find out first.

Sometimes the old flotation will hold water, and weigh down the boat. My first rig had that problem. Previous owner had cracked the bottom, then repaired it witout drying out the inside. I had to take it all out and replace it. I used some blocks of waterproof foam to replace it rather than use the spray-in stuff, since that was what was holding water in the first place. Maybe the spray-in stuff is better now, but I would find out first.

yea the stuff that in there looks beat up.. i only got a peak in threw a little finger size hole.. the inner plywood frame is all water logged and peeling apart and the foam i saw looks like a mouse ate the out of it..

Tie a 100ft rope with a floater incase she sinks ahhhahah

Try and sink it in the shallows. As kids we used to have a 10' jon with a big hole in it that we played in the lake we grew up on. We called it "the sinking boat" lol. All it had were a couple of stro blocks under the seats and it floated just fine.

Tie a 100ft rope with a floater incase she sinks ahhhahah

that's a good idea..

Try and sink it in the shallows. As kids we used to have a 10' jon with a big hole in it that we played in the lake we grew up on. We called it "the sinking boat" lol. All it had were a couple of stro blocks under the seats and it floated just fine.

going to have to wait for a good day but i guess thats the best way to find out.

still looking at either having to re-do the whole seats and everything or cheap out patch up and use... the middle seat is the worse the rear and the front is still solid.. yet i drilled a hole in em all for a peak and i seem to cant find foam in them, just the middle one has a small chunk o foam in there in there ..

Nothing funnier than a dude fishing the banks from a swamped boat. Somewhere there's a picture of me "floating" around, LOL