Steve Bakken---Advice

[sparcebag]

I'm working on a boat I got stripped clean just a hull,I'm ready to install the floor,BUT every foam spray can I've tried melts in contact with gas,Every rigid foam I've tried also melts.I have a piece of flotation out of a old boat it does not react to the gas,but I only have one small piece.Do you know of any floation I can use or some place I can purchase it at a fair price? How does your boat bussisness handle this no floation? I'd imagion most your work already has the floation for reuse,Or do you have a supplier? THANKS

[Gus]

If you have leaking gas under your floor you may not have to worry about your boat floating......

[sparcebag]

Gus I'm installing flotation,and whats it worth to install flotation that would melt if a gas spill happened? Rather safe than sorry,If I spilled gas with poor flotation (melted) whats the sence of any flotation?

But thanks for keeping this at the top for Steve!

[marine_man]

Steve works at Bakken's Boat Shop. You could try and contact him there...

marine_man

[sparcebag]

Thanks MM Do you know any place I can get flotation nonreactive to petrol?Over in my area

[marine_man]

Sorry.. I don't. Get a hold of Steve though, he should be able to point you in the right direction.

marine_man

[Steve Bakken]

Sorry about the delay. Sparce you've got mail, but I'll post it here as well. There may be some company out there that manufactures a foam that is resistant, but none of the manufacturers use them in boats. (probably a cost issue-mega bucks). Assuming you're using a portable tank, the foam is isolated by plywood, glue, and carpet. If there is a spill, it will run back and into the bilge long before it soaks through all those layers of materials. So the boat manufacturers don't really consider it a really big concern. As for a permanant tank, again it's gonna run right into the lowest part of the hull and into the bilge. Yes, a 10 gallon spill will probably back up into some of the foam, but that's a pretty rare occurance.

[Steve Bakken]

Oh, by the way, another thing to keep in mind, if gas does soak into the foam, it will have to be replaced anyway, because the fumes and the smell will never go away. We had a boat in about 15 years ago that had the in-floor tank rupture, and the fumes were so bad that the owner's insurance company paid for the whole floor to be taken out and all of the foam replaced.

[sparcebag]

Thanks Steve.