Where to Get Foam to Make Boat Unsinkable

[hpeer]

Here is an outfit that sells the foam with a gun.

Foam Insulation Kits by Fomo Foam - Official Site

Otherwise you could look in the Yellow Pages for someone who sprays Urethane insulation. That is likely a better bet. When they come to look at the boat you will get an idea of the issues involved.

[Starbuck]

Maybe some ideas here:
Atom Voyages

[bobfnbw]

Anything I do to our boat, and believe me I am doing alot.... I always consider what it will do when the next prospective owner comes along.
You might feel that lockers filled with foam is ok, but most new owners will not. Storage space on any boat is always at a premium.

But its your boat.
Let us know how it goes.

[senormechanico]

If you're worried about sinking, why not just buy a multihull?

[Chief Engineer]

I know of a guy who did it real cheap with 2 liter soda bottles.

I don't think it is feasible. Yes you could fill your boat with foam but you would have no place to stow anything much less live.

To say nothing of the health effect from the gassing of the foam.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by geckosenator

I am interested in making my boat unsinkable, so incase it gets punctured I wont sink and can hopefully repair the leak (underwater epoxy) then bail out and keep going. , I calculated I need 100 cubic feet of flotation.

It seems you have received several links to possible sources of foam. You question obviously raises lots of questions which is a good indication you are taking a road less travelled.

I am curious why you think it is necessary to make the boat unsinkable yet not need an engine. Are you planning extended cruising in shallow areas?

Getting holed while passage making is pretty rare oocurence.

Originally Posted by senormechanico

We have friends who's Tayana 52 "Clambake" was hit by a freighter in the middle of the night and sunk in 90 seconds.

They wrote a book about thier experience. It's a good and fun read.

"Fun read"? These people must really have a good sense of humor to make getting run over by a freighter a fun read...

"... and then the port propeller cut through the salon and bisected the cat. Oh, I tell you. Mary was laughing so hard milk came out her nose."

[clockwork orange]

Gecko,as long as you have the right attitude about storage (or lack thereof)and you can find enough volume to put the foam its probably doable,i dont see a problem with stability on a ballasted keel boet,if it were unbalasted then you would need to place it higher up. I agree with Sandy on reclaiming some of the Storage but i wouldnt use just air. On my Cat it was filled with foam blocks all the way up to the deck ahead of the fwd crossbeam and aft of the aft beam,but the areas under the berths were the only potential storage spaces in the long skinny hulls and were entirely filled with foam so i removed the berth tops and some of the foam installed large plastic tubs from home depot with the top flanges flush with the underside of the plywood tops,they were well supported by foam under them and through fastened to longutudinals,when i put down the new tops they were filleted to the hull and glass taped and glued to the tub flanges with 5200,i then installed Bomar rectangular inspection hatches which have o- ring seals and 2- t handle latches and are completly watertight,they protruded about 1/2" above the berth so i glued down 1/2" ensolite over the rest of the top so you didnt feel the hatch under the cushion.It was a lot of work but i gained back a lot of storage without losing floatation,it is tricky fitting the block foam but i filled any voids with styrofoam packaging peanuts.
Even though i have used it on my other boat i am not as confident in the expanding foam,ive seen way too much of the coastgaurd approved stuff under the cocpit soles of small powerboats that is completly waterlogged,what i have come to believe is that as it expands and cures it forms a hard skin that is waterproof and as long as its not compromised its ok but when it is it sucks up water like a sponge even though its supposed to be closed cell. Styrofoam on the other hand will not absorb water and i would trust my life to it.I have seen on other threads where people claim it will but they are wrong,they sell the stuff in large blocks called dock billets and they sit in the water unprotected for years supporting docks without absorbing water.I have heard of people using plastic pop bottles and thats the only way id trust air but they may be a little hard to use but may be ok.
Steve.

[chala]

Originally Posted by sandy daugherty

I agree with all the above remarks, and offer the following only as a trial concept.
Air is lighter than foam. An airtight compartment offers more flotation than one filled with poured foam or chunks of styrofoam. If it has a watertight opening, it can store some of the stuff on the boat, provided: it isn't broached by the damage under consideration, the lid remains watertight, and the whole idea doesn't invite carrying more heavy stuff. If you can live with having to open twenty or so Dzus fasteners to get to that next box of crackers, and remember to close the whole thing while you are eating them, it might work. But making these modifications with be tedious and time consuming so say the least!

I second this, foam is heavy and will ad to around 10% of the displacement, can be toxic when pouring, got enough strengh to blow out a compartement or deform a hull, fall into nasty dust if not sealed. If I remember, Donal Duck did use pingpong balls, check on the price of pingpong balls

[seandepagnier]

I think I will try to get styrofoam. I checked ping pong balls... $10 per cubic foot on amazon which is half the price of the expanding foam. The issue I have is they don't pack perfectly and I am not sure of the weight.

Thanks for all the replies

[Mule]

How about personal EPRIB's and surrival suits, that way you do not ruin the boat, Help will be on the way if your fear is realized and you will float until it gets there.

Do you fly commercial wearing a parachute? Or do you fly Quantas as "Rainman" insisted?

[countrybimm]

get a bunch of weatherballoons and tie them to the deck...no chance of hitting anything below the surface when your six inches outta the water hahahaha

[sandy daugherty]

There's a thought! Inflatable storage bags! fill every void with them, and inflate the last ones in place. They would have to be pretty tough, and hold air under a bit of external pressure, but they could be filled from a scuba tank. What ever holed the hull might pop a few bags, but the rest might stay in place!

OKAY, kids, now why would you not want to fill them from cans of Dustoff?

[Cheechako]

Your going to destroy your boat value doing so. You should be getting about 64# flotation less the foam weight (2.6 # per cu ft?)

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Your going to destroy your boat value doing so. You should be getting about 64# flotation less the foam weight (2.6 # per cu ft?)

Cool...all I will need is 488 cf of the stuff then...

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by sandy daugherty

There's a thought! Inflatable storage bags! fill every void with them, and inflate the last ones in place. They would have to be pretty tough, and hold air under a bit of external pressure, but they could be filled from a scuba tank. What ever holed the hull might pop a few bags, but the rest might stay in place!

OKAY, kids, now why would you not want to fill them from cans of Dustoff?

Google up salvage bags. But then you need a scuba compressor and a bunch of tanks.

But then you have scuba gear!