Sealant around engine bay?

[hapyfishrmn]

I'm seeing a gap between the back of the engine bay in the middle. It looks like it may have been sealed at some point. I'm not sure if there should be a seal all the way across. Could anyone tell me if I should be doing some maintenance here or is this normal?

 

[tdonoughue]

Looks like the caulked it or something. Never really looked back there in mine (or never noticed).

That said, on mine there is an opening from there to the lower bilge right between the engines (I know you only have 1). So, I can't see that having a gap there would harm anything--I don't think that bay is supposed to be water tight anyway.

 

[hapyfishrmn]

I wondered if it was expanding foam or something similar. The pieces to the left of the gap felt mostly firm yet a little soft/spongy. Found a small ball of the stuff floating next to the bilge pump. I don't get any water so it may have rolled into the hole around the pump.

 

[2kwik4u]

That isn't sealed on mine. I think that foam stuff is remnants from the manufacturing process. I can take some pics tonight if you like.

 

[tdonoughue]

The foam stuff is used to fill between the bottom hull and the top part. It is part of what makes the boat impossible to sink. You can fill the whole boat with water and it will never sink below the gunnels or so due to the buoyancy of the foam. Removing a little is not usually a problem, but it is not bad or harmful to find some every now and then.

If that is foam with just gaps in it, that is normal too. They leave channels in it so that water can flow back to the bilge from the entire boat.

So, all in all, I think you have no problem there.