I believe I do have a heat gun around here... somewhere's.

Posted By: Gary, Santana 2023A, Milwaukee
Date: 4/22/08 1:34p.m.

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In Response To: Heat gun? (Bob Frak)

I'd not use it though. To much work, and no way to gaurantee consistency of dryness. This de-humidifier should do the trick well enough over a day or three, and give me a *thorough* dryness, even into those areas that I can not access with the heat gun. This... 'bonding agent' that was used there... seems like it was poured in place, much like a closed cell foam. Pretty hard stuff, yet brittle enough to gently chip away at. It appears very much like that spray foam you buy to use around windows and electrical outlets as a sealer, but with denser foam bubbles(?). My guess is that this water has wicked into the tight squeeze area where the hull meets the sole edge at the rubrail, hence water being allowed to only slowly wick back out. I know this: if there is any in the wood up there, a gun wouldn't do anything for it. Certainly could not access that area, whether by hand or by gun. The de-humidifier is the only logical way I can see going about it, at least at this point, as I sure as hell don't want to waste weeks of time drying. Really not a whole lot I can do now, until completely dry. These seams I'm telling you about, I shall be sealing them the entire length with a fiberglass filler, then coated with epoxy-glass-epoxy. Point being here is that somewhere, some time ago, I saw someone's tank done very well, but they didn't seal that entire seam, just 4" or so right at where the tank bulkheads meet. Can't remember whose tank that was, but I greatly admired that work, but only up until now. Realizing water will pentrate and wick through the OEM sealer... well, sh*t, whoever it was did all that work for NOTHING(!!!), as water will still be able to penetrate behind the epoxy and glass covered bulkhead, via from this seam, even if from 4 feet away! Remember, water will always find it's way into wood. So, I'll be filling with fiberglass, then glassing over with cloth 'glass and epoxy. Very glad, actually, that I realized this water wicking, rather than sealing it in while still present up in there.