drying my first boat - home made dryer

[springbrook]

When I first got this boat the bow had been split and a repair had been attempted with silicone. The boat weighed 155 lbs, (with every thing removed) then after pouring out the water. It went down to 145 llbs. I tipped it up for four days and sponged out at least a pint for every day.

Next was to cut a hole for a drying port

I was not expecting this insulation under the deck

The foam was wet on the top and the bottom ( did I memtion this 78 sat out side for 15 years hull up, so I cut it in half and was happy to find the center dry.

Well then I built this home made forced hot air dryer.
what do ya think of it

Thats were I stand this eveing

How long should I let the dryer run?
The exhaust is runing about 95 degrees
I turned it down it will run 105 on high
at 95 it turns itself on and off every 4-5 mins

I think I will let run all weekend and weigh it on Sunday night

 

[Wayne]

When I first got this boat the bow had been split and a repair had been attempted with silicone.

Ugh ..., that silicone sealer could make re-bonding, even with epoxy, iffy.

I think I once saw a DOW FAQ on how to clean up silicon caulk that got onto a surface that needed to be painted later. You might dig around DOW Chemical info on the Net and see if there are some pointers that will help here. Different from surface treatments, the compounds used for caulks and lubes go deep in some materials so just a light sanding may not remove it all.

The boat weighed 155 lbs, (with every thing removed) then after pouring out the water. It went down to 145 llbs. I tipped it up for four days and sponged out at least a pint for every day.

Dry weight for a '78 is around 135 +/- 10#

I was not expecting this insulation under the deck

That's the 2-part pour foam used as a bedding for the emergency flotation/support blocks. It expands out away from the blocks in some places.

From the KB FAQ at the top of the page:
http://www.sunfishforum.com/content.php?pg=construction

The foam was wet on the top and the bottom

The 2-part foam seems to be a lighter grade than the floatation blocks so it's cell walls are thinner and it osmoses water vapor sooner.

How long should I let the dryer run?
The exhaust is runing about 95 degrees
I turned it down it will run 105 on high
at 95 it turns itself on and off every 4-5 mins

The heat will help re-vaporize moisture that's condensed in the foam's cells. Air flow will put a dryer layer of air outside the foam creating the imbalance needed for the vapor to osmos back through the cell wall membrane.

From the KB FAQ at the top of the page:
http://kb.sunfishforum.com/images/Dried_Sunfish.pdf

 

[beldar boathead]

You have a great setup. I would let it run as you planned, weigh the boat, and try to get it to 130 or so. Just weigh it every day or so as the drying continues, and when it finally stops weighing less, you are done!

That comment on silicone is right. It will be hard to get a bond. The 3M site may have recommendations on it, or you could just trying grinding off the surface layer (maybe 1/32 of an inch) where the silicone was to try to get to fresh glass that the silicone has not gotten to.

Nice work! BB

 

[springbrook]

The boat weighted between 135 and 140 depending on how it sat on the scale.
since I won't have this chance again I hooked up the dryer to the Bow reversing the way the air blows thru the cavity. I will let it go like that a few days and weight it again.

I worry about this sylicone issue now, I will look on DOW 's web site latter. I did use my dremmel to remove most of it. I hope that removed the flim lelt behind so I can get a solid bond.

 

[Wayne]

I worry about this silicone issue now, I will look on DOW 's web site latter. I did use my dremmel to remove most of it. I hope that removed the flim lelt behind so I can get a solid bond.

You can test the lip by laminating some glass mat down, but not closing the deck. When the resin has cured try ripping the mat back off using brute force. If the untrimmed overhang of the mat just shreds away you should be good. If the resined portion peels back up like you are removing tape keep digging for a solution to de-siliconing the flange.

 

[LanceM]

You could just move to Texas... its been +100 degrees everyday for the last month.. Just set it out in the sun and you dont need a heater

 

[Petrel]

Nice work and thanks for sharing the photos and the Open Heart Surgery (exploratory laparoscopy?) of your fish.

Let us know about the silicone issue and I hope you find some painless way of getting it all off so that you can get a good bond, or, as BB suggests, there is always grinding/sanding.

Your heater/dryer reminds me of a clothes dryer accordian vent. Wonder how that would work. We've got one going from our clothes dryer out the window and it appears to be about 5" diameter mylar with a coil skeleton of some sort.

One way I dried out a soggy "cooler" (snark; expanded polystyrene) boat was to put a dark colored tarp on it, giving it some breathing room. The moisture left the hull and condensed on the shiny side of the tarp and flowed down the sides of the tarp to the ground. I'm not sure what happened to the carpenter ants and centerpedes, but I hope they got the "global warming" idea and moved out with the moisture.

Is the foam you cut out from somone doing a foam block repair prior to your getting the SF? This all reminds me of serious surgery.