Re: Boat Foam nessasary?
Re: Boat Foam nessasary?
If that is the case, I wonder why it was installed at the factory?
Because in 1971 your daddy the government decided that they were smarter than the people who could only afford boats under 20' and knew better than you what you needed in a small boat. They passed laws requiring that all boats under 20' must have enough floatation to keep part of the boat out of the water for 18 hours to save you from yourself. So all boats under 20'
built for commercial sale must comply with these laws. You don't have to comply with them if you aren't building boats to make money. You can build your own boat or modify your personal boat (remove foam, etc) any way you want.
For example, a lot of people around here build their own boats. There's a quick-n-dirty boat building contest every year where people build and race their own boats using limited materials and time. There is no requirement for any of those boats to have flotation foam or meet any type of flotation requirement (the Coast Gaurd sits there and watches while about one third of them usually sink).
Kind of the same reason a lot of high-performance cars are sold as "kit cars", because the manufacturer's couldn't sell them commercially without having to meet a bunch of government safety regs. But you can build one for personal use without all the impact requirements, airbags, etc.
There are some boats that use foam as a structural element. Not a good idea to leave the foam out of those unless you want your boat to break in half.
From Coast Guard Boat Builders Handbook
In August 1971, Congress passed the Federal Boat Safety Act. Among other things, this act authorized the Coast Guard to establish national construction and performance standards for manufacturers of recreational boats, and to develop enforcement mechanisms. This includes (as listed in 33 CFR ?179-181) the display of capacity information, safe loading, safe powering and flotation standards for monohull boats of less than 20 feet in length, except sailboats, canoes, kayaks, and inflatables.
http://www.uscgboating.org/regulations/boatbuilder_s_handbook/part_1_a.aspx
Federal Regs, Title 33 Part 183.105 Flotation Requirements:
? 183.105 Quantity of flotation required.
(a) Each boat must have enough flotation to keep any portion of the boat above the surface of the water when the boat has been submerged in calm, fresh water for at least 18 hours and loaded with:
(more stuff here, see link if you really care)
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...n=div6&view=text&node=33:2.0.1.8.45.6&idno=33
Article on flotation by Glen-L:
http://www.glen-l.com/weblettr/webletters-7/wl55-flotation.html