to foam or not to foam

[Silverfish65]

hello all, have been happily impressed with the amount of knowledge and input on these forums,well most of it anyway. soon to be a boatowner again in the spring if i get all my ducks lined up. a freind of mine has a 25' 1988 marathon bermuda express volvo penta aq260, will post a few pics once i figure that out. so far we have an extensive list of things to do with her.the floor in the cabin was mostly rotted so we tore it out and of course NO FOAM. should he even consider putting in new foam under the cabin floor and what would be the pros and cons. we have first hand experience with a boat with saturated foam (WHAT A NIGHTMARE).thanks in advance for any input or advise.

 

[PS94]

Re: to foam or not to foam

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=406658

Foam. for safety. and the future of the waterway.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: to foam or not to foam

Welcome to iboats!

Foam was not required on a hull that size by the USCG standards. Consider that a blessing of something you will not have to remove and dispose of.

You can add foam but it is not required for that boat.

 

[Bondo]

Re: to foam or not to foam

Ayuh,.... On a barge that size, you'll be Safer if you just stuff extra PFDs into any,+ all unused lockers on-board....

 

[Mark42]

Re: to foam or not to foam

I agree with the other posts. But if you really want to add foam, do the calculations (there in the Coast Guard docs linked to from this forum sticky) and make sure you actually have enough space to put all that foam! 25 foot is a big boat, and it will take a heck of a lot of foam to make it buoyant when swamped. It will also be very expensive to foam a 25 footer.

 

[Stykbowhntr]

Re: to foam or not to foam

Just a thought if you decide to foam. You might check your local construction supply stores (and I don't mean the big box stores) for extruded foam sheets. Look for places that cater to concrete guys that do slabs and foundations. I know from experiance that there is a lot of breakage and they might be willing to sell it super cheap to get something out of it. Precast concrete plants that offer construction supplies might be a good place to start.

Styk