87 Comp Water in the Bow

I've begun a rebuild on my 87 Comp. Before I get to posting a full thread though I had a question on an issue I found this past week and wanted to get some input from those of you who have done these deck and stringer jobs on these boats. I found almost 20 gals of water in the bow(in addition to the soaked foam) after pulling up the deck. This is obviously an inaccessible area as it was designed from the beginning. Have any of you encountered this issue and what have you done(if anything) to be able to deal with this after your rebuilds? My feeling is that the water made its way up here from the stern over the years and was never able to be pumped out. Additionally, my boat has been apart before, maybe 10-15 years ago. That's an item I'll address in my rebuild thread though.

The blocked areas and open cell foam are the reason these boats rot . Make sure you put in scupper holes to allow ALL water to drain to the bilge .

Thank you, I definitely will be doing that as I've seen several of you do it effectively. I'm thinking of leaving the panel just forward of the bilge out during reassembly so that it's open and maybe building up the "V" of the hull enough with resin to bring it above the actual bilge this should allow any water that ever did make it to the bow to flow back to the pump.

Attachment 19037 fill it with foam shape it off put 2-3 layers of 1708 over it to seal the foam

Not a bad idea either, I know I'm not going to be leaving that area inaccessible when it goes back together!

Angus has it. The lowest spot in the hull needs to be the bilge. Stop water from accumulating anywhere else.

Thanks Salty, that's the plan. Build it up and slope it to the bilge!