Flotation Advice Needed

[GaryAK]

I saw a blurb about using ping pong balls for flotation. For my particular application, it seems like a great idea. Since some of my great ideas prove out to be less than great, I thought I'd ask if anyone has used this method. I'd appreciate pros and cons. From my standpoint, pp balls are light, durable, not messy, don't rot or absorb water and take up a lot of space. I have found a source for them and even after shipping to Alaska, they would be much less costly and a bunch less labor intensive than foam of any kind. Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[maharg]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

There was a myth busters episode that touched on it

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

If you are talking about replacing your foam.... I would use the pool noodles like others have. Guaranteed to work and wont get water logged.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

I went with noodles on my project

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2378.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2383.jpg

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

I went with noodles on my project

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2378.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2383.jpg

Your project is one of the first times i've seen this put in. Great thread. I had to replace a section of floor in my boat recently, a couple inches from the transom, and it was bone dry.... if it wasnt, i was gonna go the noodle route.

How much did the noodles wind up costing you, anyways (if you dont mind me asking)

 

[Kracken]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Would your boat rattle like a giant box of Cheerios every time you hit a wave?

 

[SeanT]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

There was a myth busters episode that touched on it

And?

 

[GaryAK]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

There was a myth busters episode that touched on it

Was that supposed to help? I know Howard Hughs filled the sponsons on the Spruce Goose with inflated beach balls. I'm sure lots of people have talked about it...I wasn't in on the conversation.

 

[GaryAK]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Would your boat rattle like a giant box of Cheerios every time you hit a wave?

I doubt you'd ever hear them with the din of the engines and the fact that they would be compressed into position.

 

[GaryAK]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

I went with noodles on my project

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2378.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2383.jpg

Now that's one slick idea! More expensive than pp balls but even easier to deal with, I expect. Thanks for that suggestion!!

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

ping pong balls would be a very bad idea for emergency flotation... It assumes you have a sealed compartment that the balls can't escape from. Lets say you hit a rock and your boat is now upside down with a 2 inch hole in the hull. All those ping pong balls are going to be worthless as they spill out of the 2 inch hull.


Yes they can be used for flotation in a perfectly controlled situation. Of course, if you had a perfectly controlled situation you wouldn't need emergency flotation to begin with!

Even in the mythbusters case, it was an ideal setup, and they still had the ping pong balls leak out of an unexpected area. It lost a ton of them, they had to dive down, fix the leak, and then try again. Not exactly ideal if you are sinking!

 

[Kracken]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Well if the boat sunk...you would know exactly where it went down.

 

[180Fisherman]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

If you really wnat to use ping pong balls I'd bag them to prevent what one of the previous responders said. I'd think they would work OK. The noodle idea does look like a good one though.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Bad idea...... ping pong balls react with gasoline and melt away.

Pool noodles, empty plastic bottles, 2" home foam insulation..... there are many workable alternatives

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

I didn't get a particularly good deal on my noodles. 72 of them cost me a pretty penny. However, they were do easy to work with I felt it was worth it. Now I have heard you can order them in quantity from Dollar Tree's web site for $1 and have them shipped to a store.

 

[GaryAK]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Thanks for all the input. Ping pong balls out...pool noodles in! I found some 3 3/8 dia. x 58" for $3.50 each and will look around for some 4" which would be ideal for my 40 yr. old Harvey dory restore project. I figure I'll need at least 25 of them.

 

[sasto]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Onetime in the past we used 2 part foam (AB) and added aluminum cans in the mix to take up space and keep down cost. Just glad we never had to find out if this process worked.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Bad idea...... ping pong balls react with gasoline and melt away.

Pool noodles, empty plastic bottles, 2" home foam insulation..... there are many workable alternatives

I actually tried ping pong balls in gasoline about a year back, seems they changed the formula used to make ping pong balls. They happily floated around in it, zero change. They USED to turn to goo pretty much instantly.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Does anyone care about the inefficency of using rigid items (PP balls, cylinders etc) to fill up unusual shaped cavities? Foam that conforms to the shape of the cavity is going to displace a whole lot more volume and give much better floatation. Try an experiment. Fill a box with PP balls and then put a cover on it, and fill with water thru a small hole. Now dump the water into a measuring cup and see how much displacement you didn't get to use.

In my experience, small boats need all the floatation they can get.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Flotation Advice Needed

Chris, my boat is aluminum and we've seen numerous example now of the pourable foam causing corrosion issues. For us tin guys, rigid stuff is about all we got.