Fill the dead space

[bmcminn]

Hello. I have a 90s era 19' angler. There is this dead space on the floor between the v-berth "halves". My boat has a drain plug on the stern end of this space and the front end is open to the storage under the berth.

I want to fill it with something like expanding foam.

Whenever the boat is stored bow lower than stern and it happens to get water in the front, I end up with 2 gallons of water in this dead space that is really a pain to remove.

I was going to upload a photo, but it's a really cumbersome process, sorry.

Please share your thoughts on what I should use.

Thanks!

[ssobol]

Until you stop the water ingress, all you're going to end up with is wet foam.

You should store the boat with the bow raised high enough to allow the water to drain aft and out the drain hole in the transom.

[bmcminn]

[thataway]

You could glass over the "drain". Why was the drain put there? Was there leaking from the anchor locker, or the brass stem strip? If so these should be remedied first.

[Flashyfish]

On my Angler, I tracked down the incursion to this space from water draining in from the back deck after rain and deck wash down.

I put in a 6" removable access hatch on the flat above the dead space and drilled a small weeping hole in it. This makes for easy access and cleaning to the enclosed space.

I then took the time to re-tab the entire front cockpit deck to the molded floor of the front sleeping berth. This is about 7' long. I used 2 part epoxy and fiberglass mat. This seam had cracked over the years and allowed the water to seep in.

The amount of water coming from the anchor compartment is near zero. I also checked the metal bow strip on the exterior for leaks which was not a problem for my boat.

2 years after the repair, it is bone dry in that confined space.
If something was to start leaking and fill up the space, I would see the water coming out the weep hole in the inspection cover alerting me to a problem.