367 deep bilge

[Risto and Liz]

Hi all,
I took my first journey into the dark unknown of the crazy deep bilge section on Silver Wings. We had a bad fuel leak that turned out to be an easy fix but not before putting quite a lot of diesel into the bilge. In the process of cleaning up the engine compartment and everything leading to the bilge, I had to pull the double bilge pumps that Leo had installed and get all the mess rinsed down into the deep section before vacuum pumping it out into a container.
That hollow bilge section is ridiculously deep. (I found a socket extension, a couple hose clamps, and a lot of miscellaneous stuff). Here is my question...
While it is good to have a deepish place for water to accumulate if necessary, is there any reason that it is SO deep? I read somewhere that there is a drain plug at the bottom to pull when winterizing but I did not think to check when we hauled for the survey. Has anyone cleaned and filled some of that depth with a non-absorbant material? If so, what? I thought of adding lead and capping it with resin although getting it clean enough to get a good bond might be tough...Thoughts?

[dutchie]

filling this deep bilge with lead will be a lot of lead and this will change the boat characteristics. Our designer Bill Shawn has thought well about our boats and here behave in various swell and wind conditions. Off-course when we load our beauty with the necessary goodies and supplies it will also alter here behavior but adding extra ballast and in-bedding that in resin will change that permanently. I personally would not do that it will probably degrease the value of boat except off the value off the extra lead because you are altering here stability without a proper calculation on what the effects will be. Probably she will be very stable and hearse and will this will give extra stress to the rigging in swell because she wants to be upright with more force and here movements will be more violent. I hope you did understand what i wrote because English is not mine native language, Dutch is 

[SailingSeaDragon]

I, like you, wonder why the deep bilge (33 inches) on the 367? More over the forward lower section is almost impossible to reach because of the structural support glassed in place. But on the positive side, it is always exciting at the end of each season to see how much stuff has found its way into the bilge and out of sight.

I have considered filling the lower and forward portion with a foam then "glassing" over the foam as a way of reducing the volume & depth of the bilge.

Garner

[Dale Tanski]

Garner,

That is a great idea in that it would also provide secondary protection if you had a penetration in the initial keel shell.

Dale

[PeteW]

Mine was foamed and glassed over long ago by some PO. I flooded it smooth with epoxy so water would collect directly under the strainer. I can touch the bottom with my fingertips . Pete

[Risto and Liz]

Do you think that poured foam would "self level"? I would really only want to fill the bottom 12" or so to where it returns in. I do think that maybe pouring an inch or so of resin in the very bottom would add some strength although getting everything clean and prepped for a good bond might be a challenge!

[PeteW]

Foam or a glassed in plywood shelf. Cant say what's in my bilge. But poured  West System with 207 hardener will flow flat and smooth as glass. But you need a structural layer below that which is I why I am suggesting a glass mat over a plywood form.   Pretty sure epoxy resin will dissolve expandable foam.  Pete

[Risto and Liz]

Pete, do you think there would be any impact resistance value in filling the bottom with a half inch of resin, then foam over that? I am not sure how much strength you get without some matt.
Yeah, I wondered about pouring resin directly on the foam. 

[slokat]

Depends on the poured foam...

I've repaired several dinghies that I also added more floatation to using poured foam. Can't remember off hand the brand, was 50/50 mix type and specifically said was for use with marine epoxies. I think it's the same foam used in surf boards..

http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html

the link is to the type of foam but not the exact brand I used...