Buoyancy Foam - Row 13

[anonymous]

Getting ready to put the buoyancy foam in my Row 13. Has anyone out there done this?

I’m creating a cavity on each end for the foam by sealing off the bow and stern frames and installing the seat top. I’m wondering how much of the 2-part liquid to put in each end. My initial idea was to leave 2 “blow holes” in each seat top and fill the cavity a little at a time until I see the foam start to come out the top.

But my instincts tell me this may not be a great idea.

How fast does the foam set up and finish expanding? Will pouring addition “liquid” foam on top of already-expanded foam collapse the expanded foam?

I read that 1 quart liquid makes about 1 cubic foot of expanded foam. But the seat cavities do lend to easy calculation, especially the bow.

Any suggestions?

[Johnmon]

With my D4 I did it with the seat tops off. The stern seat I did with multiple pours which worked out well. It sets up quite fast. I did it early in the Spring, so it was a little cooler and took longer to expand and set up. It was kind of funky trying to get all of the little crevases filled that were left from previous pours. For the mid seat, I did it all in one pour which seemed to work better. There was a more even distribution etc. It takes a little time for the foam to start expanding and is really cool to watch . For both seats, I took a regular hand saw and cut the top of the foam level to put my seat top on.

If you really want to do it with the seat tops on, I would definately do it in multiple pours to avoid problems. I guess I would put in somewhat less than half of what you guess is needed and list your boat to one side. After that pour is sufficiently set up, do the same listing the other way and then finish it off with the boat level.

I am by no means an expert, but this seems like it would work based on my experience.