i am not good at posting pics

If replacing the fuel tank with a poly tank, then no foam is used per manufacturer requirements to allow for expansion. Only straps to keep it in place.
If your tank is aluminum, not sure what USCG requirements say, I always assumed foam was optional in this case as long as the tank is strapped down good.

Before putting the deck back together, I wanted to remove some epoxy that I had carelessly splashed on the gel coat when I was rebuilding the deck for the fuel tank. It’s a spot about 3 by 6 inches with epoxy embedded in the nonskid.


I did some searching on the Internet about how to remove cured epoxy from gel coat, but I didn’t find anything better than what is in the West System fiberglass manual: “Use a heat gun to soften the epoxy (200°F). Heat a small area and use a paint or cabinet scraper to remove the bulk of the coating. Sand the surface to remove the remaining material.” I tried carefully heating up the area with my heat gun, but the epoxy wasn’t softening, and I was concerned that I might damage the underlying gel coat by overheating, so I tried another approach – hot water. I first tried soaking a towel lying on the epoxy with water at exactly 200 degrees, but the epoxy didn’t budge. However, pouring boiling water directly onto the epoxy did loosen it up enough to be picked out with an awl whose taper matched the grooves in the nonskid.


This method was tedious but effective. At one point I had three pots of water on the stove, as it was clear that water any cooler than boiling was ineffective. Scrubbing with a bronze bristle brush under boiling water removed almost all the remaining epoxy while leaving the nonskid completely intact.


I’ll finish cleaning the nonskid with some Soft Scrub and maybe some acetone or gentle pressure washing, but it’s clean enough for reassembly now.

M

Much appreciated. I’ll pull it and dip the tank. I will definitely go with the Reed style. I just replaced three on my Blackfin 29. Superior product. It will be the first time all 3 gauges are working at the same time.

NIce looking boat Daniel. It is an Osprey. Do you know the year?
If you are questioning the "225" because you measured the length overall (LOA) and it is longer, that is what is confusing you. The anchor pulpit is included in the LOA measurement. There is usually decals on the console showing the "225" that appears to be missing on this boat.
See this image.


There appears to be a "Tournament Master" decal on the side. That is a Trim package. See #23 on this pic.


If you have any other questions let us know.