Reed's Trimate 2 overhaul

[175checkmate]

Reed is starting the project. Looks good.

 

[wickedrister]

Gotta love it, Fixing up a Trimate

 

[Reed]

I had a question for the Checkmate Gods from a humble wanna be, why is the floor of my 1979 Tri-mate 2 totally full of foam, there are no channels of drainage or condensation to evaporate?? I descovered this when I put the wood in for a temp fix, and I went to mount a bilge pump in the collection drain area, ( 175 Checkmate did you extract the foam from your boat? the boat is rated at 900 lbs dry weight how much weight will I loose but triming out the foam, there is foam in both rear corners of my boat. thanks from a dedicated wannabe Reed

 

[checkmate-god]

Did, you call? Actually the person to ask would be Coop.

He owns the molds to that boat.

 

[175checkmate]

Reed, here is wet I found as far as foam when I lifted the floor. There was foam running from about a foot from the transom all the way to the bow. It was wet, heavy and stunk BAD. I removed all the foam and never installed new stuff. I did not figure there was enough under there to float the boat anyway. If I remember right the foam I took out weighed about 150lb

 

[cooperider]

At the time your boat was built, I believe there were different floatation requirements. Today that boat needs much more foam than what was put in back then. I believe that the foam under the floor was more for keeping the floor from flexing when you walked on it, than for floatation. It also kept it from sounding so hollow.

 

[Reed]

thanks very much so if I take the foam out of the floor I will shave 150 lbs from the 900 lbs of the boat hmmm cool more top-end lol it has foam in the corners by the transome looks like a 1.5 ft square on each side

 

[cooperider]

I doubt if it was the foam itself that weighed that much, but the water that was in the foam did.

 

[aqua]

The foam is put in boats to pass the specifications for new boats flotation standards. It is always a 2-part pour in foam. This means they calculate how much the foam will expand too and poor in the amounts of each part to equal the cubic feet required. The boats are suppose to float at the suface of the water when they are loaded to capacity and have on their maximum horsepower. The manufacturers have very little control of where the foam expands, therefore unless they have tubes running in the bildge the drain holes in the bulkheads usually get plugged. I have yet to remove a floor that has had the foam, and it not be saturated with water. I have removed as much as 250lbs. of water soaked foam out of a 17' boat! This water will NEVER dry out!!! I don't recommend putting new foam back in. If you use a good qulity carpet, that usaully helps with the noise.

 

[Reed]

Originally posted by aqua:
The foam is put in boats to pass the specifications for new boats flotation standards. It is always a 2-part pour in foam. This means they calculate how much the foam will expand too and poor in the amounts of each part to equal the cubic feet required. The boats are suppose to float at the suface of the water when they are loaded to capacity and have on their maximum horsepower. The manufacturers have very little control of where the foam expands, therefore unless they have tubes running in the bildge the drain holes in the bulkheads usually get plugged. I have yet to remove a floor that has had the foam, and it not be saturated with water. I have removed as much as 250lbs. of water soaked foam out of a 17' boat! This water will NEVER dry out!!! I don't recommend putting new foam back in. If you use a good qulity carpet, that usaully helps with the noise.

Great info thanks alot, there is foam in the back 2 corners is there any in the nose area of the trimate?

 

[cooperider]

It depends on the year of the Trimate my '78 did not. But there was foam under the floor in front.

Mine did not have the foam boxes in the rear either.

 

[cooperider]

Just a really rotten floor. The transom seemed ok. After seeing all this rot, I set it aside until I can haul the thing to the dump. If you want another hull, bring a trailer and we'll load it up.

 

[TRsCheckmate]

My TRV has floatation foam in the bow and rear floor. It does not have the floatation boxes in the back. Coop, If the floor is rotten and transom is ok then why send it to the dump?

 

[cooperider]

If no one here wants it, and I can't think of some reason to keep it. The it might make it til sometime this summer before I dump it.

 

[175checkmate]

You have the technology to fix it. How is the deck. Doesn't look any worse than mine was.

 

[Reed]

Originally posted by cooperider:
Just a really rotten floor. The transom seemed ok. After seeing all this rot, I set it aside until I can haul the thing to the dump. If you want another hull, bring a trailer and we'll load it up. ( I would love another hull where are you located?? I'm in Fort Wayne Indiana

)

 

[Reed]

I checked on mapquest it's 130.33 miles from Fort Wayne to Bucyrus ( 2hrs 38 min ) if you want to get rid of the hull let me know and I'll drive over on a Saturday and pick it up, I have ideas in mind already for it Greg

 

[cooperider]

Originally posted by 175checkmate:
You have the technology to fix it. How is the deck. Doesn't look any worse than mine was.

The deck seems ok other than some nasty paint that may need a sandblaster to get off.

Reed, your welcome to the hull and the deck, see ya Saturday.

 

[Reed]

I just sent a ( Ruff sketch ) to 175 Checkmate of what I would do with the hull if I got it * I think it's a wild idea *

 

[175checkmate]

Here ya go.