My FXone is going to spend the winter in my basement.
Assuming that when the boat was originally put together the beams were siliconed into the hulls does anyone have any good tricks or ideas to break this bond?
Also does anyone thing that using a thin gasket material that won't bond to either the hull or the beams be a good idea? It would be nice if I go somewhere south this winter that I could haul the boat in an enclosed trailer in pieces to save it from getting covered in road goo, and pelted with rocks, roadkill and whatever for the 1700 miles it takes for me to drive somewhere where the climate is tolerable during the winter months.
Silicone or any 3M product, such as 5200, are not good bedding compounds. In the case of the 3M product it is a permanent bond and you will destroy your boat attempting to separate the two. However, if you bought your boat new, chances are that the beams are NOT seated in anything.
To properly bed a beam to a hull socket, wax the beam with a quality carnuba wax (or splurge on a mold release wax). Build a damn around the beam socket and any through-bolt holes with thin strips of modeling clay. Tape up the hull around the beam to make any over-run of epoxy easy to clean up (use the painter's masking material with the masking tape and plastic sheeting - works great!). Mix up epoxy with a hard filler. I prefer to use milled glass fibers adding until the mixture starts to approach the consistency of a raw egg. Then add cabosil (fumed silica) until it's the consistency of pudding. Pour mixture into the beam socket and lightly, but snugly, bolt the beam in place. Once cured, a light tap with a rubber mallet will usually release the beam and you can clean up the clay and bolt things together.
