Conference vicki::boats

Jeff,
My guess is that with the weight of the motor your boat would not float.
At least it's not a sure enough thing that you'd want to rely on it.

If you find a source for foam I'd be interested to know.  I'm in the 
process of rebuilding an 8' hydroplane, and since these things flip so
easy I'd like to fill in the bulkhead areas with foam before closing 
in the front deck.

What about an aerosol can?  It seems to me I've seen a product like that
in a can, just don't remember where I saw it.  I would guess that the 
regular stuff intended for home insulating use is probably open cell and
would absorb water.

Rick

    RE: Last 2
    
    	   I'm not sure if it's still in there but the Sears boating
    	catalog used to carry foam for use under floating docks etc.
    	You might also try places that build docks and floats in the
    	big resort areas like Winni or Sebago.
    
    						B.C.
    

    Jeff, could you be a little more specific as to the method of
    construction (ie: lapstrake or ??) especially the bottom of the boat.
    I am assuming that the bottom is a series of planks with caulked
    seams in between.  I will also assume that the boat hasn't been in the
    water for awhile and the gap between the bottom planks is about 1/8
    to 1/4 inch by now and the old caulk is all dried up.  You should plan
    on stripping out the old caulk and then use "Life Caulk". You don't
    have to totally fill the seam until it is level because the wood will
    swell once it is in the water and displace most of the caulk anyways.
    You can (must?) paint the whole bottom with a good bottom paint
    designed for wooden boats.  Ask the marine supply house for the correct
    type of bottom paint for how you are going to use the boat (ie: salt
    water or fresh water, trailered often or left in the water).  There
    are different paints for different uses.  A wood boat is best left in
    the water if at all possible.  Once the bottom is re-caulked and
    painted put it in the water to swell-up.  It took my boat about 4 days
    to swell up to the point that any leaks were acceptable (It's almost
    impossible to stop all the leaks unless you want to totally replace the
    bottom with one of the new bottom systems (like West Systems epoxy
    coated wood bottom process).  Being paranoid about my just-rebuilt
    inboard engine going under, I placed a large, heavy-duty plastic barrel
    under the boat so that when it did fill up with water, it could only
    sink so far.  I also installed a new AUTOMATIC bilge pump and a new
    Sears Diehard Marine battery.  I connected my battery charger to the
    battery (placed high up in the boat so there was no chance of it
    getting in the water) and just checked the boat every day.  For the
    first day, it leaked so bad that the boat settled down on the plastic
    barrel (the pump almost never shut off so I assisted it by bailing 
    manually) but it never went low enough to endanger the engine.  By the
    second and third day, the pump was keeping up fine and the boat
    actually lifted up off the barrel.  By the fourth day, the seams were
    all swelled up and the only leaks were around the propeller shaft log
    and easily handled by the bilge pump.  I would expect your boat with
    an outboard to do even better.  I certainly recommend that you have
    a good AUTOMATIC bilge pump and a battery capable of powering it for
    however long it will be un-attended (plus enough charge left to start
    the motor).  You can certainly add floatation blocks but if you
    properly restore the hull you shouldn't need it.
    Good luck!
    Wayne

    Re, last few.
    
    Last summer I bought the boat in Maine. It was wide open at the seams.
    I launched it minus the engine in salt water and it was awash to the
    thwarts in 10 minutes.  Two days later the auto bilge pump I had
    installed had no trouble keeping up.  It is a trailer boat, mostly
    out of the water. When out of the water(which was most of the time)
    I poured a rock salt laced 5 gal bucket of water into the bilges.
    This way the boat stayed swollen up all summer with salt water. I used
    the boat in lakes too, and when pulled onto the trailer I poured in
    my 5 gal bucket of rock salt water.  Then this fall I put her into a
    building and she is all dried out now with minimal seam cracks. I 
    refastened it with bronze, recaulked and painted her. She is tight now
    even thou been out of the water 2.5 months. In the Spring I will 
    put my 5 gals of rock salt water in a week ahead of use.  
    
    I am not concerned about the boat sinking due to leaks. I am wondering
    about hitting a rock, or swamping (obviously not things I would choose
    to do) but with these things do happen and I don't want to find myself
    staring at an 'empty sea' with the boat on the bottom. 
    
    The foam is for catastrophic leak protection against sinking.
    
    Thanks for the life caulk tips. 3M makes an excellent product too.
    
    I cu foot of foam will support about 64 lbs. so to just offset the
    engine I figure I need about 2 cu feet, but to be safe I would put
    in about 4 cu feet.
    
    Jeff

    
    
    Try Defender Industries in New Rochelle, N.Y. (I don't have the no.
    handy)- they have bothe the pourable foam and the foam blocks. Look up
    any dock/boat building supplies in the yellow pages- they ususlly have
    that stuff also.
    
     Defender weill have the best prices, but their service sometimes
    leaves something to be desired, although I have not had any serious
    problems other than being extrenmely slow at times.
    
    
    Dick
    

    Defender Number is 914-632-3001. Airex Foam Core is available on page 8
    of catalog.
    

re                       <<< Note 788.0 by EXPRES::GILMAN >>>
>                                -< Block Foam >-
>    I need a source of closed cell block foam which I can cut into 
>    sizes to strap under the seats to insure the boat will float. I have

	Be very careful how you plan this !   In the event of a 
severe swamping the last thing you are going to want is a lot of 
bouyancy low down in the boat, i.e. "strapped under the seats".

	Reg

    re last.  "Low bouyancy"   Yeah, a capsize would not be desired... but
    its more desired than a sinking which seems to be my alternative.  I
    could put foam up under the foredeck which would be nice and high but
    would assure floating with the bow out of the water.... straight up
    out. There is only so much I can work with, and having the boat float
    capsized is preferable to not having it float at all. Tx. for the
    pointer.  Jeff

    Why not use styrofoam "SM"?  It is impervious to mositure....  In any	
    case, if the foam isn't going to be in the water on a regular basis,
    it really doesn't matter.  
    
    Styrofoam SM can be purchased in a variety of sizes from most places
    selling building materials.
    
    Regards, 
    
    Duncan 

    Tx.  The foam already came from Defender Ind.  I paid about $ 30.
    for a big rectangle of it... about 4 feet long by 20 inches wide X
    10 inches thick.  It is blue colored and cut easily with a handsaw.