prob: With your garbage bag method you could even take the formed blocks outside to cure in the sun! Chief
What type of foam to use
- Thread starter Wakulla212
- Start date
Flotation option
The foam in my Mac 26s was crumbling so I pulled most out and replaced it with "swim noodles". I also added some to other places to increase the floatation factor. Figured as long as I kept them out of the sun, they would be ok and I could cut them as small as I like and put them anywhere. They sell for $1 at the Dollar Tree.
The foam in my Mac 26s was crumbling so I pulled most out and replaced it with "swim noodles". I also added some to other places to increase the floatation factor. Figured as long as I kept them out of the sun, they would be ok and I could cut them as small as I like and put them anywhere. They sell for $1 at the Dollar Tree.
I just removed all of my foam to clean the bilges and scrape off some failing paint. Glad I came across this post. I was/am so tempted to toss it just because most of it is so old and nasty. how does the spray foam method work? (Chief) are you just cutting loose with it in the bilge or what? I have to admit I am still on the fence about just getting rid of some of it. ALL THAT SPACE! oh btw I'm really not into tight spaces so I guess thats why Im still considering it.
The blue foam at the home improvement stores, I have gotten some of that before for building RC plans. If you keep an eye out you can find it damaged some times for dirt cheap!! I got a whole fan folded bundle for $5!! It was basically just dusty.
The blue foam at the home improvement stores, I have gotten some of that before for building RC plans. If you keep an eye out you can find it damaged some times for dirt cheap!! I got a whole fan folded bundle for $5!! It was basically just dusty.
Attachments
If you use spray foam just be careful and don't breathe that stuff. Have someone watching you for safety. If using scrap styrofoam, cut it to shape or it will take up way to much room. Chief
I'm very interested in this spray foam method too but need to add this question to the mix. We did some home renos and the contractor I was working with STRESSED that I used "the blue stuff" not "the red stuff" - reason being the foam in the red can expands to the point where it would/could put excessive force on stuff (in our case it was newly installed windows and doors). The blue can expands only in the direction of no resistance so when it crams against something it doesn't switch to brute force mode.
Chief - do you know if this waterproof stuff is low-expanding?
Chief - do you know if this waterproof stuff is low-expanding?
I have left (re-arranged) all my foam as I've gone and done things in the boat... but only because I haven't needed the space yet... I realize Roger put that stuff in our boats as a selling point: "look, you can take your family out and your boat won't sink." But big boats don't waste space with foam flotation, why do we have to? I feel like its not as big of a no-no as people make it out to be
I took all of those blocks like you have, washed them with soap and water and dried them in the sun. I then cut them all down into lots and lots of approximately 2" square cubes.
One of the quarters in our old Venture (port side) is factory decked over all the way from the cabin to the laz. I packed as many cubes as I could (force rammed) under that quarter. I decked the starboard quarter over and did the same. Now both quarters are decked flat all the way back and under the cockpit is cleared of foam blocks. Much of the foam that was under the the Vberth also went under the quarters cubed and I brought home much more even and got it in there.
I put a simple divider (now a glassed in bulkhead) in the far front under the Vberth deck and stuffed it full of cubes. I got a hold of 12x12x2" styrofoam and this fits nicely along the hull sides under the remaining vberth - unlike the huge blocks.
I cut open the empty space under the portapotty mounting and jammed a butt load of additional foam in there and closed it up with an inspection plate.
Now I plan to buy sheets of foam board and glue it up to places such as the underside of the vberth deck and perhaps in some places in the combing.
I have no plans to use these spaces for readily accessible gear and I was going to do all of this decking and such anyway so why not stuff with foam? I added quite a bit, can easily add more, its a light light boat and if having foam buys us even 10 minutes when it counts - why not?
Here is a question I don’t know the answer to - but it is also why I have left all the flotation in place
If the manufacture put floatation in the boat originally (and any literature you look up says there is flotation in the boat)..
And then you remove the flotation...
When you go to sell the boat, should you inform the new owner that there is no longer the flotation in the boat that the manufacture had put in? If you don’t tell them, do you have any liability should the extremely remote chance of an accident happen?
FYI, the spray foam is also good if you need to "glue" blocks of Styrofoam together. Just don’t use very much.
If the manufacture put floatation in the boat originally (and any literature you look up says there is flotation in the boat)..
And then you remove the flotation...
When you go to sell the boat, should you inform the new owner that there is no longer the flotation in the boat that the manufacture had put in? If you don’t tell them, do you have any liability should the extremely remote chance of an accident happen?
FYI, the spray foam is also good if you need to "glue" blocks of Styrofoam together. Just don’t use very much.
GOOD POINT WALT! I say you def should offer that info up to the buyer. As far as liability , I always create a "AS IS" no warranty offered or implied Bill of Sale on anything I sale.
To be honest, had you not brought that up I may have not thought about giving that info to the next guy.
Still not sure if Im going to get rid of mine though....
To be honest, had you not brought that up I may have not thought about giving that info to the next guy.
Still not sure if Im going to get rid of mine though....
I use pool noodles I buy at yard sales or at end of season sales at big box stores. I figure they are the right type of foam and cheap. They come in handy for playing too and can be tied into bundles and bent and stuffed almost anywhere. A long time ago I used styrofoam packing noodles stuffed into plastic bags but got mice in my boat and a black snake too and they ate into the bags to make nests so my bilge pump ended up clogging up with pieces of foam. Bad idea, at least the boat didn't sink. I use 2 bilge pumps, one mounted higher than the other and use a small battery with a separate solar battery charger on a dedicated circuit, one of my better ideas.
you can find CLOSED CELL foam in many computer boxes.
ask your local IT dept to save them for you... -bring donuts...
HomeDepot sells some blueboard closed cell insulation like the styrofoam boards. the blue boards don't seem to break up and crumble like styrofoam.
my experience with 2 part spray foam is, if liquids sit on the foam long enough it will absorb them.
I while back, had a 20' dolphin open fish. full of spray foam from factory. it sat too low in the water, and I had to cut openings and dig it out. a lot of oil and saltwater had soaked in over the years.
ask your local IT dept to save them for you... -bring donuts...
HomeDepot sells some blueboard closed cell insulation like the styrofoam boards. the blue boards don't seem to break up and crumble like styrofoam.
my experience with 2 part spray foam is, if liquids sit on the foam long enough it will absorb them.
I while back, had a 20' dolphin open fish. full of spray foam from factory. it sat too low in the water, and I had to cut openings and dig it out. a lot of oil and saltwater had soaked in over the years.
I was just reading this thread and not that I think the fact the boat doesnt sink is a bad thing but when I bought my boat I noticed that it looked like it was missing foam in quite a few spots . I was going to replaced it all until somebody mentioned to me about all the other heavily ballasted sailboats out there that do serious sailing and will all sink rather quickly if they get a hole in them and they may be in the middle of the ocean. It kind of put it in prospective for me and I ended up just leaving the the boat alone and threw in a bunch of extra life jackets. Its nice to have extras and maybe it will hover around the surface of the water if something did happen. I do drag a dingy behind me if things really didnt work out... and a lab....I swear he floats and could rescue everybody and still want to chase sticks after.
Katana brings up a good point; one that I was thinking about when reading this thread.
Why does anyone really want or need a boat with floatation? I'm genuinely curious. What value does it bring? What is it going to prevent?
Why does anyone really want or need a boat with floatation? I'm genuinely curious. What value does it bring? What is it going to prevent?
If our boat weighed 7000 lbs then I certainly would not bother - but it doesn't.
So if having a butt load of flotation stuffed in places not likely to be used in a 2000 lb boat can at least buy some time in an emergency - why not have it? Are you saying that in this case it would be useless??
I just imagine hitting a stump and cracking or holing - a swamped boat would be easier to recover than a sunken boat would it not?
The problem with much of the foam material you buy has the problem of producing some very nasty fumes when it burns. Does it provided enough protection from sinking over the fumes that are produced?
You can buy some very dense form that would provide the buoyancy to support most small boats but it is not cheap.
You can buy some very dense form that would provide the buoyancy to support most small boats but it is not cheap.
OK that makes sense.
I personally would not spend a lot of time and energy REPLACING it, but I can see how after you got USED to it being there, my opinion might change.