Re: Floatation foam OR Storage
Thanks for the welcome. I've been lurking for a long time but this post caught my attention. There are just too many myths floating around.
Nova, I don't know where you get you info but it isn't correct. If you built the boat, you are liable for making sure it complies when you sell it. The law is specific it says "no person may sell, offer for sale........unless it complies". Now if you want to keep the thing and destroy it or burn when you're done with it that's your business. If it is second or third hand then you're right.
The Coast Guard does not outlaw styrofoam. The regulation says any foam that is expose to gasoline, oils, bilge cleaners (in other words stuff that will normally dissolve styrofoam) must not be affected by those things. There are some tests that foam that is going to be put where it would be exposed to those must be able to pass. However. any foam that is not going to be exposed to those can be used including styrofoam, which is used in a lot of boats sold in the USA and Canada. In fact I recently built a small dinghy and I installed styrofoam. Since I spent 25 years enforcing this law, would I deliberately violate it? I don't thinks so, especially not when the USCG inspector came to look at it. LOL
In fact Foam is not a requirement. The flotation standard is a performance standard. The boat must, when swamped, float in a specific attitude. Any means that achieves that is legal. I have seen everything from foam to beer cans, including things such as air chambers, bladders, milk bottles, ping pong balls. If the boat passes the test so be it. Boat manufacturers use foam because it is convenient. Here's a link that'll either make you laugh or scare you half to death
http://newboatbuilders.com/images/BOTTLE.GIF Yes that is a boat we tested. No it didn't pass. Yes those are milk bottles. They had metal caps which corroded and let water into the bottles. If the builder had used plastic caps and glued them to the bottles it would have worked!
But the foam with the problem is the type most commonly used. Polyurethane two part blown foam, commonly called pour foam. I have been telling boat builders for years don't use it. Use block foam, also called stick foam, or pre manufactured foam. Yes it is more difficult to design into the boat, but it doesn't absorb water, period. Why? because the foam makers make it under very strict computer controlled conditions. The two part is not. It is blown into the boat with a foam gun, and the plant may be too hot, or too cold, or the gun may not be calibrated or dirty, and a variety of other things that cause problems.
Another solution is to encase the foam in plastic or FRP.
Air chambers are ok. On boats over 2 hp or inboards the boat has to meet the flotation standard with the two largest air chambers punctured. Aluminum Chambered Boats (aka ACB) has nothing but air chambers, six or eight depending on the size.
Boats that are manually propelled or less than 2hp can use air chambers with out the puncturing.
I appreciate your concern about wood stringers. They tend to rot any way because water gets trapped between the wood and the FRP covering the wood and has no way out, so the wood always stays wet. Some manufacturers use pressure treated wood to prevent this, others use no wood at all. A lot of boats out there with wood core transoms that are rotted out. Yuck.
And boats 20 feet or longer are not required to have floation and rarely do. However there are some builders who put flotation in boats up to about 26 feet. But on boats larger than that the need for flotation is not that great. However some places, such as France require it on all recreational boats.
I could go into all the reasons for requiring flotation but the simple one is before flotation over 1300 people died in rec boats every year. That number is now down to 600-700. Flotation isn't the only reason, there are also fuel system, electrical system standards, pfd's, boater eduction, and enforcement, and other standards, but since the major cause was capsizings and sinkings up until the 80's then flotation had something to do with cutting it down.
Anyway, I'll get off my soap box. Take a look at my web site and blogs. I have a Boating Safety Blog and one for boat builders.
Http://newboatbuilders.com
