who has replaced foam in their boats?
When you mix the foam...what consistancy is it?
"some assemby required" on the Discovery Channel had Boston Whaler on the other day. They seal the top half and bottom of the boat together by injecting a liquid foam and it is the consistancy of milk at first...is the off the shelf stuff you buy the same way?
the stuff I used when I built a rod locker system on my old tracker was like liquid glue at first but then expanded and oozed everywhere, filling up all spaces inside, really awesome, but messy as heck...I believe mine was a 2 part mix of some kind I got online somewhere...I used it to lock the rod tubes in place in addition to replacing the foam that I ripped out, so it served both purposes. Be sure to get true marine, the kind that won't hold water...do some research
It is basically the consistency of melted marshmallow.
You don't have very long to pour it before it starts expanding.
You have to be very careful if you are putting it into a confined space like under a deck that is already down.
This stuff exerts a lot of force as it expands and needs a lot of room for the excess to go to.
We did the hull and then trimmed it back flush to the stringers before the deck went down.
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TYLER W.
PROCRAFT 170B/FORCE 120
Darin
You should be able to get the pour foam from West Marine. Use 2 lb density for buoyancy. The best way to mix it is with a cordless drill and a stirring attachment. Pour equal parts of "A" and "B" into a plastic cup and stir it for about 5 seconds. Pour into the predetermined area. Clean up of tools is best done with Acetone. I pour about a gallon of Acetone into a 5 gal bucket. After stirring the pour foam with the drill, I put the stirring attachment into the Acetone, then pour out the foam. I then submerge my plastic cup in the Acetone. You determine the amount of foam needed by measuring your area. 1 gallon of "pour foam" (1/2 gal of part "A" and 1/2 gal of part "B") will make approximately 4 cubic feet. If your area is 12" wide by 48" long and 6" deep, it = 2 cubic feet, there fore you will need 32 oz of "A" and 32 oz of "B". Pour foam is very messy, I suggest that you wear surgical type gloves, goggles and a respirator when working with it. If you don't want the area around your working area to get foam on it, you need to mask it off. Any area that you have to carry it over, around or through should be masked off. Once this stuff gets onto something, its hard to get off . Acetone works great while the foam is still in a liquid state, but Acetone does damage some finishes such as paint, vinyl, some plastics and plexi glass, just to name a few.
What you saw on the Discovery channel with the Boston Whaler was the injection of the pour foam into the cavities created in the hull to cap attachment. The amount injected is predetermined from trial and error to perfection and Boston Whaler has it down to a science. This is the same stuff you can buy at West Marine.
...JIM...again you are a wealth of good information!!!!!
I do not know if I will even need foam...but I thought I would look into it so I know beforehand just in case.
The foam on the Boston Whaler show seemed really thin...the guys are saying the two part stuff is the consistancy of " melted marshmellows"....I am not really in the habit of melting marshmellows to a liquid state ( LOL!)...but that says to me that this is thicker than the stuff Boston Whaler uses.
I was thinking if the foam was as thin as the stuff on the show, adding foam in some recesses would be an easy task by slipping an 1 3/4" smooth bore pool hose under the deck and pouring the foam into it while slowly pulling the hose forward to distribute the foam evenly....but if the foam is thick, like melted marshmellows...it will not pour that easily and this idea will never work.
I order for the hose idea to work the foam will have to run fast...exiting the hose before the 20-40 second expansion time to keep from plugging the hose. US composites has some 40 second foam...but melted marshmellows will not clear the hose in 40 seconds.
...so if I need foam I will likely just have to pull the deck and do it like a normal person.
your hose idea would work,but only once.
By the time you pulled the hose out and tried to clean it out it would be too late.
If you used a new piece of hose each time you had to do an area,it would work as long as you move quickly.
SOCIALISM IS NOT THE ANSWER
JUST LOOK WHERE EUROPE IS NOW
USA the NEW Greece
TYLER W.
PROCRAFT 170B/FORCE 120
Darin
The pour foam in the unmixed stage is a little thicker than water. When it is agitated, it starts to thicken into foam. Some responses compare it to melted marsh mellow. It does look like melted marsh mellows but not for very long. With in about 20 - 30 seconds from start of agitation, it becomes foam. The longer it sits, the harder the foam becomes. It takes 24 hours to cure completely, but is hard enough to work with in about 30 -45 minutes.
I make funnels out of masking paper to get into hard to reach places. Roll the masking paper into a tube and flair open one end. The smaller end should be about 2 - 3" in diameter. Use masking tape to keep the make shift funnel from falling apart. The masking paper comes in different widths, so you can make different depth funnels. I also keep a large garbage can close at hand in case something gets out of control. Line the garbage can with a plastic garbage bag.
Remember to protect anything and ever thing that you don't want the foam on.
Like cyclone70 stated, the hose idea would work only once, if at all.
yeah i figured the hose would become just fast. actually figured I would need two or three pieces...one for each pour.
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