below deck insulation?

[sue-she]

I am looking for a bit of advise. Hopefully someone with more boat experience than me can tell me if I am going to make a mistake or not. I have a 26 foot striper with insulated fish boxes in the deck. We fish in very warm weather and feel that they are not satisfactory. There is access to one end of them "see pic." and I was thinking of spraying slow rise polyurethane foam in the area between the hull and the box. Maybe lay a pvc pipe along the bottom for drainage? There really is not a way for water to get in that area except from a rod holder and I am going to install a drain tube. The foam is US Coastguard approved for boats, I was told by the foam people. If anyone can shed some light on this I would really appreciate the imput. Thanks

[fishfighter]

Using expanding foam is very tricky. You can pop the deck or pop/hook the hull if you are not carefull. In your case,I would leave that to a pro.

[sue-she]

Fishfighter,


Thanks for the input. I think you are right. The last thing I want to do is make a bigger problem. Maybe someone can recomend a pro. in southern Calafornia that can help?

[nautiduck]

Sueshe the make an expandable foam that is low rise in other words it doesnt expand with much pressure so it wont pop hulls or hatches or break anything. I dont remember what its called but Ill try and find it for you.