I did the searches and this question wasn't explained well enough for me to understand. Those that know the GD boat hulls know that the pods are tack welded to a bottom outside stringer and at the top of the hull. We also know there is a gutter on each side to direct water back to the transom, left side on mine carries fuel line. My question is for those that have removed the pods, in the original manufacturing how did they keep the poured in foam from blocking off the gutter?
The reason I ask is I'm looking to cut an access hole on top of pod and taking a sample of the foam right down to the gutter. I really need to check as the boat has been outside since I got it. I don't want to lose the pods though. Thanks much
Wayne

If you remove the foam, don't use the space for storage. There's reasons why there isn't storage back there when the boat was built. That 1856 already suffers from poor performance by design, you will only make that issue more noticeable if you start putting additional weight in the back 3rd of the hull.

On a boat that's 20years old, it's probably got some water in it. Crack it open and see. I'd be interested myself in what the foam may look like after that many moons.

That's what it looks like


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure if you planned to contact Go devil or anything, but I read they will be closed because of water in their shop. Just as a heads up

Did that generator have a compression release? The 23 briggs that still offers a pull start does. The kohler and big briggs don't. Not saying it can't be done, but it's a whole lot harder without the compression release.