Adding foam so they won't sink

[Shaun78]

My poor friend lost a boat today....maiden voyage, was running good and then hit a wave or flipped underwater and then a splash, went under and we figured no big deal but it never came up.. Had foam in the front too but still sank.. The expandable foam, not the one that puts pressure will that help if loaded in the front and add foam. I don't want to loose a boat if that happens. His didn't flip it just sank like a brick

[dasboata]

That is a bummer,, Can you get a boat and try to drag the bottom for it I have seen boats stuff and get stuck in the mud bottom was it a vee did it stuff going fast ? Could be stuck in the mud

[Meniscus]

Good call, but at least use an inflatable and wear a life vest when you go to recover. Also always take a buddy and DO NOT DIVE. What can easily happen is getting entangled in fishing line or any type of material and then you can no longer surface for air.

I don't want to sound grim, but it's much better to live to run a toy boat another day.

[Shaun78]

I had my kayak and pole with a sinker and a hook...tried to snag it but no luck...it did stuff while going fast....it just sank fast, couldn't even tell what happened.

[dasboata]

Get yourself some bunker snaggers,,, it is a weighted treble hook,, tie 4 or 5 to a piece of 5 ft pipe Drag it with a rope across the bottom

[6sHyper]

I'm noty so sure the xpandable foam is all that boughant? maybe someone else can elaborate more on that. I use pipe insulation, and it works great! I'll never run without flotation i had my red evo pretty much a goner, but the tips of the sponsons (about 2") stuck out of the water, and held it there for a good 30mins untill i could borrow a canoe and recover it.

[Chilli]

The 2 part expanding foam I use has a density of 2 pounds per cubic foot, is closed cell and is used for floatation on pleasure boats. Water weights about 62 pounds per square foot. There's been plenty of debate on it's use in this forum. Pool noodles work well also.

You just gotta have addequate floatation. This is what happend to my boat this weekend. It was the second time it touched the water.

[electric]

Ouch.

[Shaun78]

that stinks, he had foam in the front of the hull....not sure how much but it was in there.

[Fluid]

To keep your boat afloat you need to know the weight of the boat in pounds RTR. Multiply this by 29 and you know the volume of floatation you need in cubic inches. For a 10 pound boat that's 290 cubic inches of flotation. A 3" pool noodle has a volume of about 6 cubic inches per inch. So for your 10 pound boat you will need about four feet of pool noodle. Cut a piece of noodle 48" long and chop it up to fit inside the boat. It takes more flotation than most think, this is why so many lose their boats!

If you use expanding foam you'll have more compolicated math to do.


.

[blizard05]

HI, Shaun Where do you run? Larry

[Shaun78]

Larry, Swansea mass...1 hr south of Boston.......can I cut the foam into small pieces and stuff them inside the hull?

[Shaun78]

A five ft noodle can float a 185 lb guy so not sure how that math worked but I will stuff as much as possible...

[Chilli]

Easy. Humans are mostly made of water. So the water part of us is neutrally buoyant. Density is what counts. Not mass.

[H2OCamel]

Good to know!