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I have found a local Marine Fiberglass repair, he has years of experience with multiple types of boats. He has re-cored many different brands. I am about to have him re-core my 84 Verado..... he says with the new advancements in technologies.... he prefers the PVC foam products vs Balsa core. He will use what ever I choose... but this is his recommendation! I am not as concerned about the cost as I am a quality product and job.... I am not a racer!I live on a lake and I just love the lines of this boat and want a real classy looking boat that I can take out and enjoy and pull grand kids tubing and Skiing! My Question is... are there any real negatives to the PVC foam products? Has anyone on here used such products.... I see a lot of folks leaning towards the Balsa Core... but I am very curious about the PVC core products as well.

Hello, and welcome to the site!

I'm not a fiberglass expert by any stretch. Just a guy rebuilding his own boat. In my opinion, take it for what its worth, it seems a lot of folks tend to lean towards balsa for cost reasons as well as its strength characteristics. Balsa is stronger than any other core material, and when sealed up correctly will last just as long. Hydrostreams were poorly built from the factory, they never stood a chance at lasting more than 10-15 years. But the looks can't be beat which is why places like this exist and crazy people like us rebuild them haha.

I put balsa in my boat for cost as well as strength. But there are many, many builds that have been done with the new foams. I think the foam would be fine for what you're doing, and if thats what your glass shop prefers its probably easiest to let them do that.

Post up a build thread in the rebuild section! I'm sure the shop will send progress pictures of the work. We would love to see them!

Thank you much for your reply! The work that you have done on your own boat looks like you are an expert! I have read and followed all 26 pages of your thread thus far! Nice work!!

My boat is headed to the shop in the next couple of weeks. We are going to use the PVC foam for the core and Coosa for the floor. He did agree that I can come to his shop multiple times during the process and take picture so I have a full record of the core replacement. I will post these as he goes. Well for now, back out to the shop to complete the process of removing everything from the boat so it can head to the shop for its new "Heart" transplant!

I am looking forward to seeing more of your post on you project soon!