foam and what its for

[83mulligan]

Re: foam and what its for

actually, humor aside, i'm struggling with taking out some foam areas in my boat, so this is a good discussion

 

[Ned L]

Re: foam and what its for

Adding foam to a boat that is floating on her lines (not swamped & full of water) will only make the boat sit lower in the water (added weight). Take the same boat and swamp it (fill it with water) and it will float higher in the water if it has foam in it. - No room for discussion here, that's how it works.
Does foam do amything good if the boat is now swamped? - It stiffens the boat, and acts as sound proofing, making the boat quiter.

 

[83mulligan]

Re: foam and what its for

for instance, my boat has foam all the way down the side, outboard of the stringers. It makes sense to me to build a mini bulkhead a few inches back from the transom and leave that area void of foam. Seems to me, this is where water would collect for the longest period of time if it were to get into that compartment. so, why not have drainage there instead of foam? Keep the foam off the stringer and transom at that area.

 

[pinkham89]

Re: foam and what its for

Adding foam to a boat that is floating on her lines (not swamped & full of water) will only make the boat sit lower in the water (added weight). Take the same boat and swamp it (fill it with water) and it will float higher in the water if it has foam in it. - No room for discussion here, that's how it works.
Does foam do amything good if the boat is now swamped? - It stiffens the boat, and acts as sound proofing, making the boat quiter.

so going by this theory one could put foam belowdeck to stiffen 'er up? like viagra for the deck?

(only reason im asking... ive gotta re-do the floor in my boat and was wondering the difference between foam and no foam or like a good beer... just enough foam)

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: foam and what its for

Man you guys are really beating your heads against a wall on something that is a proven fact!!! The foam WILL NOT!!! MAKE YOUR BOAT SIT HIGHER IN THE WATER!!! Foam just adds weight (small amount for the size of it) to the mass of the boat. The weight makes the boat sit lower slightly. It is a FACT that has been proven time and time and time and time and time again that the foam does nothing to help the waterline of your boat!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!

 

[Thunderhawk]

Re: foam and what its for

Chew on this: Any item will float as long as it is lighter than the weight of the water it displaces.

 

[Rotorfixer]

Re: foam and what its for

Ok so basicly foam is entraped air.... so why take a part of the boat which is "air" and replace it with foam which is a little weight and more air... waist of money huh?

The idea is not that foam weighs more than air, it is that it weighs A LOT less than water. The foam displaces water when you swamp/ sink allowing your boat to remain buoyant. My boat, being manufactured to the latest standards, has enough foam in it to (supposedly!) remain buoyant while being compleley filled with water. I have to say I see the value in that, however I have no plans to test this feature.

 

[Mark42]

Re: foam and what its for

Man you guys are really beating your heads against a wall on something that is a proven fact!!! The foam WILL NOT!!! MAKE YOUR BOAT SIT HIGHER IN THE WATER!!! Foam just adds weight (small amount for the size of it) to the mass of the boat. The weight makes the boat sit lower slightly. It is a FACT that has been proven time and time and time and time and time again that the foam does nothing to help the waterline of your boat!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!

Drew, So what I hear you saying is the boat sits higher with foam. Right? Right?? Right???

 

[bowman316]

Re: foam and what its for

What if you had foam under the hull, open to the water, kinda like a step up in the hull, filled with foam.
that would float the boat higher, but the foam would probally want to try to flip the boat over, like trying to sit on a volleyball under water.

 

[ebuhr]

Re: foam and what its for

What if the little foam bubbles where filled with helium?

 

[bowman316]

Re: foam and what its for

what if you put helium in your truck tires?

Or helium in plastic bottles, and put them in the floor?

 

[ebuhr]

Re: foam and what its for

Yeah, but you need to careful how much helium you put under the floor. Too much and your prop will come out of the water. You can still get to shore by running to the front of your boat and stopping real fast there by propelling the boat forward. Newton's third law i think.

 

[Mark42]

Re: foam and what its for

Yeah, but you need to careful how much helium you put under the floor. Too much and your prop will come out of the water. You can still get to shore by running to the front of your boat and stopping real fast there by propelling the boat forward. Newton's third law i think.

Sounds very scientific to me. And who would have thought that the guy who invented those little fig cookies new so much about boating?

 

[BWR1953]

Re: foam and what its for

Why not just fill the area with pingpong balls? It works and HAS to be cheaper than foam!

 

[1957evinrude]

Re: foam and what its for

ok i think we have the answer then lmao sorry to start all the drama

 

[1957evinrude]

Re: foam and what its for

ok now heres the question that i have i have a 12 foot vhull boat with a 1957 evinrude and my 6 gal gas tank and me 240lb (yeah yeah i know i need to lose weight but 6 1/2 years in the army im taking a break from excersizing) in the back. i dont want to move the gas tank or get a tiller extention how can i mount and how big should i make two pods that come off the back of the boat level with the bottom and hooked to the transom? i figure this would help put more serface area to the boat and hold more weight to. heres a drawing.......any comment appreciated.

 

[bucsfinsfan13]

Re: foam and what its for

ok now heres the question that i have i have a 12 foot vhull boat with a 1957 evinrude and my 6 gal gas tank and me 240lb (yeah yeah i know i need to lose weight but 6 1/2 years in the army im taking a break from excersizing) in the back. i dont want to move the gas tank or get a tiller extention how can i mount and how big should i make two pods that come off the back of the boat level with the bottom and hooked to the transom? i figure this would help put more serface area to the boat and hold more weight to. heres a drawing.......any comment appreciated.

i would say that you need to put foam in the back of the boat to and incase it to make the weight keep from pushing down into the water LOLOLOL. Ok i have not tested this and i dont know if it will work. I can hear everything that everyone is saying on here...they are all valid points and some MAY BE FACT. But until i see it with my own two eyes then i can only speculate.

So is this what everyone wants me to say...ecspecially drewmitch44 and Mark42 since you guys or girls...whatever you are, are so addiment about proving that you know something that someone else doesnt know...YOU WERE RIGHT AND I WAS WRONG AND NOW I AM SINGING A DIFFERENT SONG, LOL thanks to everyone and their input on this topic. It must have really lit a fuse or rekindled some repressed memories of being picked on for some.

 

[pinkham89]

Re: foam and what its for

my suggestion to 1957evinrude: find yerself a hot little blonde or two and have them ride up by the bow. Should trim her down a bit

 

[1957evinrude]

Re: foam and what its for

my suggestion to 1957evinrude: find yerself a hot little blonde or two and have them ride up by the bow. Should trim her down a bit

lol thats what my dad told me and dont get me wrong it rides so much better with someone up front the thing is if i do go by my self i want it to ride pretty good too. ok well im going to go ahead and build pods for not only do i know this will work but hell i think it will make it look pretty darn cool too lol.

 

[Ned L]

Re: foam and what its for

1957evinrude: - Yes, your idea will work. It will work better if you do not taper the back ends down like that. You see, as soon as that thin tapered back edge goes underwater you will not be adding any more buoyancy the deeper they go. If you make the top surface pretty parallel to the bottom (full thickness all the way back) then the deeper they are submerged, the more water is displaced = adding buoyancy, which keeps the stern from dropping. Also, these do not need to be full of foam. If you make them out of fairly thin plywood (empty & watertight) they will work better than if you do the same thing and fill them with foam (because they weigh less empty).