Home Forums Fishing Freshwater A boat question.....

So I drug my 14ft. Lund V-hull out of the yard and started putting it back together to do some fishing this year. Boat's been sitting for 10 years and the critter's had their way with it. Long story short, they chewed up virtually all the styrofoam in the bench seats-I have to replace it all. My first thought was to get a case of expanding foam and just fill all the seats. 'Sounds too messy. Would it work to by those foam insulation panels they use for home building and cut them to length and contour and stuff the bench seats with them? Seems like the stuff wouldn't fall apart as easily as loose styrofoam chunks. I'm open for suggestions too. What's your thoughts?

Dow board (Dow is blue) is what you want, it can be exposed to water and will not saturate. I've seen big chunks of it designed to support floating docks. White styrofoam will eventually absorb water and you'll have a mess.

I've seen the big dock blocks and the house sheathing comes in 4' x 8' sheets of 1/2, 3/4, one inch and two inches thick. Cuts with a razor knife or a table saw.

Thanks, sir. If I was planning on hanging on to the boat, I'd put a livewell in one of the seats, beings I have to tear it all apart anyway, but I'll be selling this boat next spring, so I'm keeping this basic but functional.

Any functional commercial taxidermy shop will have high density foam they can pour into the areas you want filled. This is the foam the manikins are made of.

When I had my business I bought the two part foam in 55 gallon drums this is what was probably used by the boat manufacturer too.

A trip to Wallmart for some thin plastic storage containers
might be your best option. Fill those, trim the foam flush
and secure them in place. There are many sizes to choose from.
An igloo cooler has been known to keep a decent size boat from
sinking.

What I did to add flotation in my boat was use two inch styrofoam cut to fit the contours and then made blocks. I wrapped the blocks in heavy duty trash bags and sealed them with clear shipping tape.

It worked great. The trash bags prevented water or fishy stink from being absorbed and it withstood the test of time. I pulled the floorboard and sides off about seven years after I originally installed the flotation blocks and they had held up perfect.

I'd do it again, the same way, in a heartbeat.

Expanding foam is some goopey sticky nasty stuff to work with and it wouldn't be my first choice. I had a buddy who's 24' boat was built with expanding foam as flotation and it didn't work out so well. He cracked the hull, it went unseen (he was an idiot), it leaked, and it started absorbing water. It eventually absorbed so much water and got so heavy that it became a problem.

The boat shop looked at it and said it was not repairable and the insurance company totaled the boat.

Just to add ...

I'd do the blocks in three sections. One squarish block in the middle and one contoured block on each side.

A long thin narrow sharp filet knife or an electric filet knife cuts styrofoam no problemo.

I think I might try the blue insulation sheets, and seal them in bags. Just seems like it will be easy to work with and effective. I picked up an older 18 horse Evinrude short shaft tonight for $300.00. Should be more than enough motor for the fishing I do. Gotta come up with a trolling motor next.

If you use sealed trash bags blue or white styrofoam will work. IIRC, I used both types. The white was sealed with a plastic film on the surface and I bought both at HD or Lowes. Go with what's more cost effective ... for you.

An 18 horse Evinrude is perfect. You're gonna have a great fishin' boat that you'll probably think twice about selling.

I picked up a used Motor Guide 41 lbs. thrust trolling motor for $35.00 off Craigslist, once again with the thought process being to keep this cheap, as I might sell it next spring. I still need a depth finder, and will probably splurge on a new one, as I am a little suspicious of "used" depth finders. 'Don't want to go through all the rigging and such just to find out the guys sold me a bad unit. Hoping to finish up the seats this weekend and hang the motor and trolling motor. Should be fairly close to water-ready by next weekend.

How are lake conditions in hour AO, GG? Everything is still hard water around here, even Little Traverse Bay.

Local lakes are ice free. 'Heard a report from Duluth that the icebreakers are working overtime as they had 8 feet of ice on Superior in some spots. There's still snow up that way too from what I understand. I will stay local for crappies and the opener. Mille Lacs just isn't worth the trip if you're after walleyes. Tiny slot, small limits, and no fish. The tribe's are eating good though, and after all, that's the most important thing..........

White styrofoam will slowly saturate and absorb water, the blue Dow board will not. BTDT.

Gopher

before you get too carried away with the foam, consider cutting one of the seats - i did the middle seat in my 14 ft lund - hinge the remaining part and you have a nice place to get the battery out of the way. In a 14 every square inch you free up makes the boat bigger!

I also put a flat floor in the front of the boat where the sides of the bow are steep. This gives more flat surface to stand on, and I put more foam under there.

Have fun!

Thanks for your input Forpest. The boat had a wooden floor in it,but it rotted out, so I just pulled it and will run with the bare hull. I'm trying to do everything on the cheap, so no floor. I've got the seats restuffed. The next things I have to do are resurrect the trailer lights, and the boat needs a good scrubbing. Hoping to have this all done in time for the opener this weekend. I'm off work Wednesday so will be spending most of the day working on the boat and trailer.

Just got everything cleaned up and put away. Fished from 5 until 11. Got one walleye and one bass. No crappies. The old 18 h.p. Evingrude ran fine. A nice morning to be out.

I picked up an old Eagle depth finder with two transducers, all the cables and mounting brackets/hardware as well as a new battery and charger for $70.00. Gonna mount the unit on the boat tonight and use it tomorrow. The one transducer sidesscans to both sides of the boat. Should work out fine for my little Lund.

That boat will last forever with just minimum care. I have a 12'
Grumman ive owned for about 40 yrs. and the guy i got it from had
it a long time before that. I have a mid 70s 6 hp evinrude i bought new i use on it. Since moving to fl. it rarly gets used
and sits at our camp in PA. Its also hauled a few deer across
the river. I also have an original green box portable lowrance
depth finder given to me new for christmas in the 70s. I plan
on using the grumman and the lowrance again in quebec hopefully
next year. Since moving here it's become harder to go anywhere
else. Im off to Flamingo in the everglades tomorrow for a week
then on to Marathon in the keys for another week. Snook,trout and
redfish will be the targets at Flamingo, tarpon, grouper and
yellowtail in the keys. If the dolphin are in close enough for
my small skiff they could be on the list also. This is peak time
in the keys, especially for dolphin and large tarpon.

Sounds like a great trip. What river in Pa were you speaking of? The Clarion or ???? I've got a camp up between Dubois and Clearfield on Boone Mountain.

Depth finder is mounted and working. Will give it a good test run tomorrow. Man, I had no idea how many different "mountings" had been done on the back side of this boat! In the time I've had, I mounted two transducers over the years, but there's about 5 sets of plugged up mounting holes on the transom. Jeez, if I'd get rid of all the extra nuts and bolts the boat'd probably go a couple miles an hour faster and sit a couple inches higher in the water!