Does your toe rail sweat inside the boat?

[sailingunity]

On my boat, in the wintertime, the hollow space where my toe rail is molded in sweats to the inside of the boat. What I wind up with is water running down the cabin sides, which ends up underneath the bed cushions. Causing mold along the way. The rest of my hull is cored and doesn't sweat. I don't have a heater on board, if it is very cold we'll run the generator with a plugin style, but for the most part we just bury ourselves in blankets.

I'm thinking about spraying foam up into the toe rail cavity to stop this from happening. The shape is rather irregular and I don't believe I could get good adhesion with a sheet of some closed cell foam, I would wind up with gaps which would, again, trap moisture.

Anyone got a better idea than this?

[sailingunity]

Alternatively, I guess I could enclose the space with fiberglass.

Both the foam, and the glass idea would interfere with some of the hardware, primarily the genoa track.

[Muaddib1116]

Before you try anything too permanent, try the sheet foam. I don't think it has to be perfectly air tight to cut down on condensation. Just by limiting airflow, it should help a lot. The moisture is usually coming from your body and breath, and of course if you are cooking. I think doing a reasonably good job of closing that area off with sheet foam should reduce the flow of moist air up into that area, enough to make a big difference.

[JBP]

From your picture, I thought a pool noodle might fit to close off the uninsulated area.
If you ever have to get in there, spray foam will not be your friend.

[sailingunity]

Both good ideas.

I'm mostly considered about leaving any gaps whatsoever, as I know moisture will form in places where there are air gaps, and if the water can't escape it will eventually form mold.

[donradcliffe]

I second the idea of jamming pool noodles or pipe insulation into the space to see if it solves the problem. You don't need 100% coverage.

[Cheechako]

Yep, pool noodles or the better, softer type of black pipe insulation might be fine.
A little contact cement in spots should hole it in there.

[PJS]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

Alternatively, I guess I could enclose the space with fiberglass.

Both the foam, and the glass idea would interfere with some of the hardware, primarily the genoa track.

I am not familiar with the size of the gap you are looking to fill. As others mentioned expanding foam is not a good idea; it is messy and off-gasses for some time.

I have used closed cell foam rubber insulation with self-adhesive backing. Just cut to size and stick it the fiberglass. Does not get any easier than that.... The material is like neoprene. You can find from 1/2" up to 6" thick. The adhesive is industrial strength and will stick.

I used this in my engine room bilge, mostly for sound and it works great for winter insulation.