One of the regulars on an email list I belong to just posted this:

************************************************** ********
The local coast guard came down to a boat which had hit a rock with a
can of foam-in-place. If you can slow the leak down somehow you can
fire that into the bilge or wherever and it will hold the water back
long enough for you to get somewhere. It is tenaciously gooey. I'm
planning on putting a can onboard.
************************************************** ********

wrote in message
...
One of the regulars on an email list I belong to just posted this:

************************************************** ********
The local coast guard came down to a boat which had hit a rock with a
can of foam-in-place. If you can slow the leak down somehow you can
fire that into the bilge or wherever and it will hold the water back
long enough for you to get somewhere. It is tenaciously gooey. I'm
planning on putting a can onboard.
************************************************** ********



Interesting...

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Capt. JG wrote:
wrote in message
...
One of the regulars on an email list I belong to just posted this:

************************************************** ********
The local coast guard came down to a boat which had hit a rock with a
can of foam-in-place. If you can slow the leak down somehow you can
fire that into the bilge or wherever and it will hold the water back
long enough for you to get somewhere. It is tenaciously gooey. I'm
planning on putting a can onboard.
************************************************** ********



Interesting...

If you read the about the exploration trips of the 1500's to 1800's one
of the techniques to save the ship was to rig a canvas patch over the
hole. The technique was used when a ship hit the rocks or when a cannon
ball holed the ship below the water line.

The foam sounds like a good substitute for canvas, and would probable
provide a better seal. Wish I had thought of it and I hope I will never
have to use it.

Keith Nuttle wrote in news:gpQul.26263
:

If you read the about the exploration trips of the 1500's to 1800's one
of the techniques to save the ship was to rig a canvas patch over the
hole. The technique was used when a ship hit the rocks or when a cannon
ball holed the ship below the water line.

The foam sounds like a good substitute for canvas, and would probable
provide a better seal. Wish I had thought of it and I hope I will never
have to use it.


Navy DC school taught how to block holes in the hull so the pumps could
keep up with the leakage. Once the hole was packed with an internal dam of
wood, mattresses and whatever else would slow the flooding, canvas was
dived over the side to let the seawater pressure force it into the hole as
a sort of flapper valve. I don't see how you could get underway and keep
the canvas in place, though.....without tearing off the canvas.

We nearly drown in DC school trying to get the damned water to stop
flooding the training compartment before we ran out of airspace to breathe.
You work very hard in such a desparate situation as flooding a sealed
compartment......even harder than I did in fire fighting school pushed into
the totally dark, smoke filled compartment trying to put out the fire with
foam and spray.

The damned chief lit the diesel fire and then just stood there talking and
talking about how we were going to put it out as the flames got bigger and
bigger and HUGE! Suddenly, he simply stood aside and said, "Don't look at
me, gentlemen.....After you...", gesturing towards the watertight hatch,
which by now was so hot it was smoking, itself. We could hardly cool the
damned door, talk nothing of putting out the fire....most enlightening....

Sitting in the cockpit, alone on midwatch, of some sailboat, I've often had
flashbacks of that training while we're 100 miles offshore with no
firefighting equipment bigger than a 5# extinguisher. That won't do
anything for a fiberglass fire other than make it mad....

Larry wrote:
Keith Nuttle wrote in news:gpQul.26263
:

If you read the about the exploration trips of the 1500's to 1800's one
of the techniques to save the ship was to rig a canvas patch over the
hole. The technique was used when a ship hit the rocks or when a cannon
ball holed the ship below the water line.

The foam sounds like a good substitute for canvas, and would probable
provide a better seal. Wish I had thought of it and I hope I will never
have to use it.


Navy DC school taught how to block holes in the hull so the pumps could
keep up with the leakage. Once the hole was packed with an internal dam of
wood, mattresses and whatever else would slow the flooding, canvas was
dived over the side to let the seawater pressure force it into the hole as
a sort of flapper valve. I don't see how you could get underway and keep
the canvas in place, though.....without tearing off the canvas.

We nearly drown in DC school trying to get the damned water to stop
flooding the training compartment before we ran out of airspace to breathe.
You work very hard in such a desparate situation as flooding a sealed
compartment......even harder than I did in fire fighting school pushed into
the totally dark, smoke filled compartment trying to put out the fire with
foam and spray.

The damned chief lit the diesel fire and then just stood there talking and
talking about how we were going to put it out as the flames got bigger and
bigger and HUGE! Suddenly, he simply stood aside and said, "Don't look at
me, gentlemen.....After you...", gesturing towards the watertight hatch,
which by now was so hot it was smoking, itself. We could hardly cool the
damned door, talk nothing of putting out the fire....most enlightening....

Sitting in the cockpit, alone on midwatch, of some sailboat, I've often had
flashbacks of that training while we're 100 miles offshore with no
firefighting equipment bigger than a 5# extinguisher. That won't do
anything for a fiberglass fire other than make it mad....


Those canvas thingies are called "collision mats."

I've been thinking along these lines myself. For stuff you can get to
you can use a wax toilet ring. I think Bruce mentioned that a while
back somewhere. Then you can have a bag (or two) of cement on board to
back up the hole. Weight as much as anything I guess. I know that
Moitessier carried some kind of special cement. Mixed with clay I
think. I have at times mixed plaster with mortar and it can make a
pretty fast setting mix. (Why you ask? My fist wife, delicate flower
that she was, once kicked a hole in the bathroom wall in a fit. (No I
was not home nor do I know the cause.) But the mortar/plaster fix
"fixed" the problem. She never did it again.)

Back to the foam. I have a steel boat and the aft half of my keel is
hollow and too deep for me to reach into. I can't reach about the last
foot. The top of the keel extends up so that the sole rests on it and
the hull is welded to the keel all around. My fear was that somehow I
would hole the keel and not be able to control the leak. I had thought
of pouring foam in but don't want to loose the storage space.

I sometimes use Great Stuff, sparyed into plastic shopping bags to
stabalize things, like my holding tank. Keep it firmly in place. The
problem with that is that it takes a while to set up. To long in time
of emergency. Ideally you would have some Great Stuff that would set up
in 2 or 3 minutes. You could spray it into some kind of baggie and
then, once it is nearly hard, cram it over the opening, backed up by
something (cement or sole) and the foal would push into the opening.

HPEER wrote:
Larry wrote:
Keith Nuttle wrote in news:gpQul.26263
:

If you read the about the exploration trips of the 1500's to 1800's
one of the techniques to save the ship was to rig a canvas patch over
the hole. The technique was used when a ship hit the rocks or when a
cannon ball holed the ship below the water line.

The foam sounds like a good substitute for canvas, and would probable
provide a better seal. Wish I had thought of it and I hope I will
never have to use it.


Navy DC school taught how to block holes in the hull so the pumps
could keep up with the leakage. Once the hole was packed with an
internal dam of wood, mattresses and whatever else would slow the
flooding, canvas was dived over the side to let the seawater pressure
force it into the hole as a sort of flapper valve. I don't see how
you could get underway and keep the canvas in place,
though.....without tearing off the canvas.

We nearly drown in DC school trying to get the damned water to stop
flooding the training compartment before we ran out of airspace to
breathe. You work very hard in such a desparate situation as flooding
a sealed compartment......even harder than I did in fire fighting
school pushed into the totally dark, smoke filled compartment trying
to put out the fire with foam and spray.

The damned chief lit the diesel fire and then just stood there talking
and talking about how we were going to put it out as the flames got
bigger and bigger and HUGE! Suddenly, he simply stood aside and said,
"Don't look at me, gentlemen.....After you...", gesturing towards the
watertight hatch, which by now was so hot it was smoking, itself. We
could hardly cool the damned door, talk nothing of putting out the
fire....most enlightening....

Sitting in the cockpit, alone on midwatch, of some sailboat, I've
often had flashbacks of that training while we're 100 miles offshore
with no firefighting equipment bigger than a 5# extinguisher. That
won't do anything for a fiberglass fire other than make it mad....


Those canvas thingies are called "collision mats."

I've been thinking along these lines myself. For stuff you can get to
you can use a wax toilet ring. I think Bruce mentioned that a while
back somewhere. Then you can have a bag (or two) of cement on board to
back up the hole. Weight as much as anything I guess. I know that
Moitessier carried some kind of special cement. Mixed with clay I
think. I have at times mixed plaster with mortar and it can make a
pretty fast setting mix. (Why you ask? My fist wife, delicate flower
that she was, once kicked a hole in the bathroom wall in a fit. (No I
was not home nor do I know the cause.) But the mortar/plaster fix
"fixed" the problem. She never did it again.)

Back to the foam. I have a steel boat and the aft half of my keel is
hollow and too deep for me to reach into. I can't reach about the last
foot. The top of the keel extends up so that the sole rests on it and
the hull is welded to the keel all around. My fear was that somehow I
would hole the keel and not be able to control the leak. I had thought
of pouring foam in but don't want to loose the storage space.

I sometimes use Great Stuff, sparyed into plastic shopping bags to
stabalize things, like my holding tank. Keep it firmly in place. The
problem with that is that it takes a while to set up. To long in time
of emergency. Ideally you would have some Great Stuff that would set up
in 2 or 3 minutes. You could spray it into some kind of baggie and
then, once it is nearly hard, cram it over the opening, backed up by
something (cement or sole) and the foal would push into the opening.

In the 1500's to 1800's there was no such thing as a collision mat. As
I remember what I have read they took the extra sails and used them to
close the holes.

On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:30:23 -0400, HPEER wrote:



Back to the foam. I have a steel boat and the aft half of my keel is
hollow and too deep for me to reach into. I can't reach about the last
foot. The top of the keel extends up so that the sole rests on it and
the hull is welded to the keel all around. My fear was that somehow I
would hole the keel and not be able to control the leak. I had thought
of pouring foam in but don't want to loose the storage space.

Most Navy ships have exposed hulls below the waterline, and carry
dunnage and purpose-made devices for bracing.
(I was a damage controlman for a bit, but by then it was called hull
technician.)
From what I've seen of sail boats, getting at a hole from the inside
might not be practical. You might get "lucky" and get holed in a good
place.
I'd look for a heavy plastic (visqueen-like) sheeting kit that can be
glued over the hole underwater. Might not be practical in cold water.
Since I don't have a boat I haven't looked for such a kit, but I see
no reason not to make one up.
Here's as far as I'll go in research
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ite...ements-_-1YDZ8
Just to confirm there are underwater glues readily available.
Might be a better one than this.
The kit should have a belt to keep it secure during the diving.
Maybe a couple different sizes of heavy plastic sheeting to cover
holes within reason.
Outline hole with this glue stick, slap on the sheeting, and maybe
razor off the excess sheeting beyond the glue outline.
Off course I'm not arguing against the internally applied foam.
The more prepared the better.
Stopping the water with the external patch will allow time to get at
it internally.
If I had water rushing in behind a fixed cabinet or other inaccessible
spot that the pump couldn't handle, my first inclination would be to
go over the side with the patch kit.

--Vic

On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:30:23 -0400, HPEER wrote:

Back to the foam. I have a steel boat and the aft half of my keel is
hollow and too deep for me to reach into. I can't reach about the last
foot. The top of the keel extends up so that the sole rests on it and
the hull is welded to the keel all around. My fear was that somehow I
would hole the keel and not be able to control the leak. I had thought
of pouring foam in but don't want to loose the storage space.

I think there's another issue with a steel boat. The foam will quite
likely trap moisture against the hull and promote rusting, invisible
rust at that. I wouldn't do it.

On Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:11:54 +0000, Larry wrote:

no
firefighting equipment bigger than a 5# extinguisher. T

My daughter grabbed the 5 pound dry chem from the kitchen and went
after a grass fire that was already a good thousand square feet. Talk
about fighting out of one's weight. Big fireballs from ant nests. I
figure methane.

Casady

wrote:
One of the regulars on an email list I belong to just posted this:

************************************************** ********
The local coast guard came down to a boat which had hit a rock with a
can of foam-in-place. If you can slow the leak down somehow you can
fire that into the bilge or wherever and it will hold the water back
long enough for you to get somewhere. It is tenaciously gooey. I'm
planning on putting a can onboard.
************************************************** ********


I tell you, that expanding foam has no end of good uses. I use it for
many things around the house.

There was a bilge compartment on my H33 that was filled with water. The
damn compartment was inaccessible, but there was a small hole at the top
where the water got in. I got a can of expanding foam and sprayed it in.
The satisfaction of watching the water come pouring back up out of the
hole was immense. I had to watch out for keeping the hold patent because
if it sealed and the foam had nowhere to expand, bad things could
happen. I kept jamming a long screw driver into the hole to keep it
open. Water kept pouring up and out of the hole long after I finished
spraying in the foam. What a thrill that was. After the water quit
coming out I let it dry for a while then topped off the remaining hole
with a little caulk.

Stephen