Re: Why Foam?
HUMMMM! I guess I keep thinking wrong. To my way of thinking I would want the flotation foam up near the gunnels .Then if you punch a hole in her, the foam stops it from turning turtle. With the foam in the bottom it will definitely roll over putting you in the water. Then try and climb out of the water and on to your hull.
Actually, part of the coast guard regs make a distinction between a swamped boat just floating and one that floats upright. Not sure which rules apply to which kind of boats though.
The reason the regs are there even if people are also required to wear PFDs is that in a sinking people who stay with a boat, even a swamped one, are more likely to survive than people who don't. Partly this is due to a swamped boat being able to keep you out of the water, partly it's due to a boat being easier to find than a single person in the water.
As a requirement for safety it usually contributes to poorer quality boats on the market... the manufacturers could make a boat that has enough foam but doesn't rot or trap water... but that's more expensive than doing things the other way. If you improve a boat in ways the buyer can't see, it can really hurt your sales. Unless you're a manufacturer noted for quality, people don't look for the "better made" boat.. they want the one that's two feet longer, with the ski pole on the back and the swim platform.
I think of the foam as a necessary consequence of the general intelligence of the boating public. It's there to keep the fools who leave the dock without enough gas or safety gear alive, while the rest of us pay the price of rotten boats and repair work.
Erik
