Splitting the deck on a newer hull

Roller said:
From the grain in the blocks I think what you're using is expanded polystyrene foam (EPS - "bead board"). EPS readily absorbs water. What you want as structural flotation is extruded polystyrene foam (XPS).
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To find out, test some scraps for water absorption properties.

There's quite enough (yellow) expanding foam to isolate the (white) blocks from accumulated water in any case.

Will it retain its described strength when dried out?
 
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Expanded polystyrene foam ("bead board") is friable and structurally quite weak. It dents and compresses fairly easily. Squeeze the old foam you removed with your thumb and compare it with the new foam. Moot point now... good luck!
 
I don’t guys, looks may be deceiving. Ive broken off 2 pieces, one old and one new. They look identical, the compression strength is the same, and they are currently both submerged in water.

This new foam is exception in compression strength. I even stood on both old and new pieces of similar size and felt no difference in compression (they each dented a small amount). This new foam was also harder to cut than the old stuff.

Either way, this is a junkyard boat anyway and somewhat of an experiment. But I have faith.
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Update on the water test. After being submerged in water for 3 hours I pulled them both out and did a squeeze test. The new foam released about two drops of water and I was squeezing as hard as possible. The original foam pissed water like it had been holding it for years.

Whether I’m using the right foam or not, it’s better than what was in there.
 
Last update until I get her in the water. Like I said before, I mated the deck with the hull with a thin strip of soaked fiberglass then clamped down everything. After it dried I went through and added More fiberglass slurry to the very small gap that existed. After that dried, I hit it with some clear silicone.

The nose needed a little bit more work, but I didn’t make it absolutely perfect. My goal is to see if this boat will perform and if it does then I will bring it home in the winter and make it look pretty. Believe me if I showed you close-up pictures of the bottom you would probably laugh. It looks like somebody painted it with a brush and used epoxy paint because it ain’t coming off easy. As you can see I also added a little decorative paint to the top of the nose. I hope this poor little boat was worth it!
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Perfect way to easily disguise a repair instead of beating your head with color matching. Looks really good too!....kinda like the 2020 designs coming out next spring :)
 
OK I lied before. I had one more thing to do on the boat. I was waiting for the number five well nuts to come in the mail from Amazon prime. I ordered them from the Lowe’s isle yesterday afternoon because they only had three in stock. Got to love prime here the next day!

Luckily our sailing club has a stack of extra splash guards hanging up. The one on this boat was pretty much gone.
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Strange thing on my cellphone. I opened the first picture, and two showed up. The first is a shot of the Sunfish on a dolly, and the second shows a "Sunfish club". That probably accounts for the "starboard "and "port" stickers. You're fortunate to have such resources.

BTW: you and member mixmkr both live in the same state.

Interesting ad appears at the end. It's for KUIU hiking apparel. Has this ad arrived because of APS' sales-conversion from Sunfish parts to clothing?
 
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Dion_Dunn said:
Remnants of the last batch.
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'Wonder if that leftover remnant of expanding foam would've been better off used for pouring a narrow bead inside of an aluminum mast? (Expanding to add strength and permanent waterproof flotation).
 
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