Attaching Foam

[Wayne Johnstone]

Hi all,

Just wondering what the best way is to mount floatation foam to a cowl i.e. should I use epoxy, silicone etc

Wayne

 

[RobertWurster]

Ive used sho goo be for.but i would do a sample pice first.

 

[wayne middlemiss]

wayne get a foam ground mat / bed roll the blue one the use in bacpacks and silicone cut it to desired sizes and glue in with silicon. the foam is closed cell type so it wont absorb water and add weight to the boat.

 

[BullDogRacing]

Gaday Wayne

Mate go to Bunnings and get some

Black,White,Grey Sika Flex Marine and use that .

Thats what i used on the skeg on the full size Hillbilly works great but a prick to remove if ever needed .Brad

 

[Tim_Duggan]

I just use contact adhesive.

 

[Georgi Bojinov]

Hi all,

Just wondering what the best way is to mount floatation foam to a cowl i.e. should I use epoxy, silicone etc

Wayne

I use epoxy

 

[Dasboatman]

Hey Wayne,

I have built Wood Over Foam (WOF) hulls for about 40 years and have only ever used slow cure epoxy. When I sand Styrofoam or white foam to shape, I end up with a clean seam for the next piece of ply. I would think using silicone would make for one hellova gooy mess. I would suggest staying with he same material you are building with. CHEERS !!! Bob

 

[Mark Stein]

from what I have read West Systems G/Flex. Is meant for hard to bond materials. Have not tried it myself yet. Anybody else tried this

 

[Jeff Barnhart]

West systems will work fine if you properly prep the surfaces and clamp it. If you want extra insurance, you could go as far as putting some lightweight fiberglass cloth over it (probably not completely necessary).

 

[Bert Dygert]

Wayne,

I use West Systems to glue floation in place. Also I put one light layer of 2 or 3 ounce fiberglass over the top. Too often seeing fellow racers cowls end up as fish habitat because on a hard stuff or accident the foam was blown right out of cowl.

Bert Dygert

 

[John Finch]

Hey Wayne,

I have built Wood Over Foam (WOF) hulls for about 40 years and have only ever used slow cure epoxy. When I sand Styrofoam or white foam to shape, I end up with a clean seam for the next piece of ply. I would think using silicone would make for one hellova gooy mess. I would suggest staying with he same material you are building with. CHEERS !!! Bob

Bob, He may be asking about a fiberglass hull cowl like we use in gas sport boats. I dunno. I have been using pool noodles and they do absorb water. It was just a quick fix to put a dab of silicone on the foam and stick it under the cowl. I may try the mat. I just started building gas boats the old foam covered method again so the boats don't fill up with water like the boat you showed in the picture. frank showed me how to do that back when we were all in Norfolk. Going back to the old technology. It is super strong and floats the boat. Cheers!

 

[Dasboatman]

Hey John,

My Bad. I just read the initial post and he was asking about cowl flotation. I agree with Bert , but I include it as a structural part of the cowl. Here's a pic of one of my 8255 hulls with flotation built in - Styrofoam, a couple layers of light cloth with West epoxy, and I sprayed Clear PPG when I clear coated the hull/cowl. Also gives me more strength where I handle the cowl.

Old technology?? Pshaw !!! Har, Har !!! This has always been my preferred way of building. In addition to being super strong, the only part of the hull that is accessible to water is the tub. A couple well placed drain holes allow that to drain as the hull runs, keeping the hull CG and weight the same throughout the run. The hulls are my own design, and if changes are needed, a die grinder and a sanding block with 30 grit make short work of it.

Remove the cowl and hardware and they make one hellova Boogy Board. CHEERS !!! Bob