The US Navy played with this back in the early '60s for ship salvage but
soon switched to pour-in-place foam.

I realize your referring to using pingpong balls for reserve floation.. The
total volume of these balls would not be efficient.. Balls don't stack
efficiently.. Foam is much more efficient.

You mentioned something about the bilges.. Your floation shouldn't be in the
bilge for a couple reasons.. 1) If the boat fills with water and your
reserve bouyancy is low in the bilge, the boat will capsize.. 2) Filling the
bilge with anything eliminates volume where bilge water would normally
accumulate until the pumps can remove it. Without that volume for the water
accumulation, every bucket of water that comes down the hatch accumulates on
the cabin sole or in the lockers. (shallow bilges is another topic).


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Steve wrote:

The US Navy played with this back in the early '60s for ship salvage but
soon switched to pour-in-place foam.

I realize your referring to using pingpong balls for reserve floation.. The
total volume of these balls would not be efficient.. Balls don't stack
efficiently.. Foam is much more efficient.

You mentioned something about the bilges.. Your floation shouldn't be in the
bilge for a couple reasons.. 1) If the boat fills with water and your
reserve bouyancy is low in the bilge, the boat will capsize.. 2) Filling the
bilge with anything eliminates volume where bilge water would normally
accumulate until the pumps can remove it. Without that volume for the water
accumulation, every bucket of water that comes down the hatch accumulates on
the cabin sole or in the lockers. (shallow bilges is another topic).

--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

I used the word "bilges" more for demonstration than actuality. Should have said
"between decks" perhaps.

I have a '73 Aquasport hull. From what I have seen w/o removing the whole deck,
there is very little floatation at all.



Steve
s/v Good Intentions

--
Tailgunner
Idiot#1 BS#232
'90 FLSTC "X-Girth" - For Sale
Just cause it's nasty don't mean that it's bad

Tailgunner wrote in message ...
Bear with me for a second.

I have been hearing about people using ping pong balls for floatation.
However, I can't find anyone who has actually done it.

It makes sense in that it will allow water to flow and not trap water in
the bilge. They should last a while and certainly easy to install.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of doing this?

We had a rather long discussion about a year ago, do a google search.
I think the general concencus was that there are much better, cheaper,
safer, etc.. ways to do this. The "Safety standards for backyard boat
builders":
http://www.uscg.mil/d8/mso/louisvill...bp16761_3b.pdf
gives you a good starting place.
Scotty

Try taking a plastic down to 100' under water then filling it with air
from your regulator and closing the cap. It certainly does 'puff up'
when you return it to the surface. BTW - So does a diver if they forget
to exhale on the way up 8-(

If I have an empty bottle in the back seat over a winter's night I can
hear it cracking as the car heats up and the air inside expands.

Pirate_Dave
--
In article , Gregg Germain wrote:
Tailgunner wrote:


: Gregg Germain wrote:

: Tailgunner wrote:
:
: : I found a place that sells a gross at $20 ($0.07 each). Not much better. I
: : thought about bottles (free). But the deck would have to be removed to install
: : them. Next year I am thinking of replacing the deck so maybe. They are
: : certainly not flammable even with the caps epoxied on.
:
: One has to wonder what happens to the bottles if you put them in
: during a chilly spring day, and then the seasons change and it's a 95
: degree Summer day.
:
: Or vice versa....if you put them in on a hot day, what happens in
: September or October. Do the bottles crush some? Does that imact
: flotation?

: Gregg, you're just paying too much attention. 8-)

Well you might be right about that ;^)


: I honestly don't think it would be that much of a change. Maybe if they were in
: direct sunlight they "might" expand. Tell you what, I'll ask one of our scientists
: here at work (WHOI) and see what they think and report back.

I only ask because I've seen closed, empty plastic bottles puff up in the
sunlight.



:
:
: --- Gregg
: "Improvise, adapt, overcome."
:
: Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
: Phone: (617) 496-1558
:

: --
: Tailgunner

foam peanuts might be better although they will soak up water if submerged
for long periods. I once bought a beat up second hand fibreglass canoe
which had the small flotation compartments at the ends drilled open and
the foam inside dissolved out in order to sink the canoe under the water
of a remote lake over the winter so it would be hidden from vandals and at
the same time would not have to be flown out to civilization at the end of
each season. I poured foam peanuts into the floatation chambers and bunged
the holes with corks. I would not recommend it for areas that could be
continuously wet.

Tailgunner ) writes:
Bear with me for a second.

I have been hearing about people using ping pong balls for floatation.
However, I can't find anyone who has actually done it.

It makes sense in that it will allow water to flow and not trap water in
the bilge. They should last a while and certainly easy to install.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of doing this?

--
Tailgunner
BS#232




--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

At one time, I purchased a Canadian sailboat (Wayfarer) and it lacked proper
flotation to pass the muster in Illinois in the States. The prior owner made
up the needed add-in flotation by placing sealed soda pop bottles in the
forward and rear hatched areas. He was careful to only use screw-on type
caps.
regards,

RichG
http://groups.msn.com/CarolinaSkiffOwners

Tailgunner wrote:

Bear with me for a second.

I have been hearing about people using ping pong balls for floatation.
However, I can't find anyone who has actually done it.

It makes sense in that it will allow water to flow and not trap water in
the bilge. They should last a while and certainly easy to install.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of doing this?

--
Tailgunner
BS#232

Why not use soda bottles? Not as flammable, cheaper(if you want to go to the
recycling center) and will flow water just as well.


--

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

toooo expensive, ping pong balls, if you want floatation for hard to get
or fill spots, goto home depot or, Lowe's home outlet, buy the isolating
foam in a can for winter insulation, this stuff is cheap, fills holes,
works great in boats. I have used it over 25 yrs. the stuff is floatation
besides a great sealer. I also used it in a hydro, that flipped at over
90mph, the electronics that we buried, in that stuff, never even got wet.
"Tailgunner" wrote in message
...
Bear with me for a second.

I have been hearing about people using ping pong balls for floatation.
However, I can't find anyone who has actually done it.

It makes sense in that it will allow water to flow and not trap water in
the bilge. They should last a while and certainly easy to install.

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of doing this?

--
Tailgunner
BS#232

I have a friend that designs plastic bottles for a living. He says the
bottles are proof tested to three atmospheres pressure. I don't think
you could develop anywhere near that with a temp change.

Using my old thermodynamics formulas, and it's been a
while since I did so I could be wrong, but I seem to remember:
PV=nRT, and for these purposes let's throw out V, R, and n
since they don't vary a lot if at all.

So P is proportional to T, and when measuring T you have to use
absolute temp (-273 Celsius IIRC). So assume a start temp
of 32 F or 0 C (273 absolute) and a max temp of 100 F or38 C
(311 absolute), and thus a pressure differential of 311/273
or 1.14. So sorry, it's not enough to make a loud noise, just
the small crackly ones.

Matt

In article , Gregg Germain wrote:
Tailgunner wrote:


: Gregg Germain wrote:

: Tailgunner wrote:
:
: : I found a place that sells a gross at $20 ($0.07 each). Not much
better. I
: : thought about bottles (free). But the deck would have to be removed
to install
: : them. Next year I am thinking of replacing the deck so maybe. They
are
: : certainly not flammable even with the caps epoxied on.
:
: One has to wonder what happens to the bottles if you put them in
: during a chilly spring day, and then the seasons change and it's a 95
: degree Summer day.
:
: Or vice versa....if you put them in on a hot day, what happens in
: September or October. Do the bottles crush some? Does that imact
: flotation?

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:02:26 -0800, "Steve" wrote:

The US Navy played with this back in the early '60s for ship salvage but
soon switched to pour-in-place foam.

The idea is older than that. Ca. 1950, a Tugboat Annie story in the
fiction supplement of the Boston Globe concerned a salvage job where a
sunken vessel was raised by filling it with pingpong balls. :-)



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a


"Never eat more in a single day than your head weighs." --Jim Harrison