1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

[buster_22]

Hello All,

I am new to this forum and I am leaning tons from all the posts. I just bought a 1981 22' starcraft islander, I decided to take the floor up and to my surprise the boat foam was removed. There was a small section in the bow that had foam still in it, but that was it. My question is......... do I need but it back in? If I do how much do I need to put in? Do I need enough to fill the entire floor area, or do I need enough foam weight to match the boat weight? Any help would be great

Thanks

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Welcome buster!

Yah, you'll want to put flotation back it. It's mainly there to keep your Islander from entirely sinking to the bottom of the lake. You know, so you have something to hang on to till a friendly fellow boater plucks you out of the water.

What to use? Pool noodles and pink/blue foam insulation board are great replacements.

How much? Simple, just stuff as much as you possibly can under that deck and any other creative spots you can find.

If you click on the "Starcraft Rebuilds" thread in my signature and you'll see a whole host of ways to replace flotation on a wide variety of boats. Concept is the same for em all.

It would be cool if you stuck a photo of that boat of your up so we can check it out eh!

 

[paparoof]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

If ya wanna do a lotta math, the idea would be to create an amount of buoyancy equivalent to the weight of the boat. That's how much foam you need. Or do like the rest of us do and just cram as much as you can into the available space.

I just did this last night - check the last page of my thread (link below).

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

There are threads here that go into a good amout of detail on this but in a nut shell Jas is correct. You could go through the calculations if you want and its not too hard to do. Add the weight of everything bolted to the boat that sinks including the hull, figure out how much that will weigh under water, convert that weight into cubic feet of water, add at least that amount of cubic feet of foam. You'll end up finding that there is just enough available space to fit that foam because the boat was (hopefully) designed for it.

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

I bite my tongue alot when this question comes up. Unless you calculate it out, you can only "hope" that it's enough and that seems good enough for most guys. The problem I have with pool noodles is because of the round shape and the hole in the middle you lose 1/3 flotation compared to if it was square with no hole in it (I did the math). If someone actually did a test to see exactly how much dead weight a noodle(or various other objects ) wil float, I wouldn't be typing this, but I haven't seen it done. That's prolly the bigest reason I went with pour in foam. You put "x" amount in....it expands at a certain rate....then you know how much flotation you have. I have 2880lbs, surely more than enough to float my swamped tinny.

Not trying cause an argument of any kind...just my .02.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Welcome aboard buster

I'm with Jason...I'd like to see some photos of this '83 Islander

I would probably go with the solid foam boards, but this is a highly debatable question.

 

[DarrinT]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

The floor of my 73 Islander is rotten and the hull leaks pretty good through numerous punched in rivets caused by various adventures.

My boat sees a lot of abuse camping and exploring and when I drag her out there is always some bits of the original styrofoam expelled in the bilge water.

Ive learned alot for these forums and when I do the complete refit she is going to need in a year or two number one concern is going to be flotation.

Under and above the side shelves is a great place the stuff foam and under the bow and stern decks is another easy place to get at .

Doing the calculation even if it takes a little brain sweat seems worth it to me - especially if yer rippin her up for a restore or just a refit

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

I'm leaning toward pour in. I'd like a way to keep the limber holes clear though. I though maybe lay down a very thin film of clear plastic to sepaerate it (foam) from the hull. Maybe solid foam board though, I'll figure it out when I get to that bridge.

 

[bananaboater]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

I'm leaning toward pour in. I'd like a way to keep the limber holes clear though. I though maybe lay down a very thin film of clear plastic to sepaerate it (foam) from the hull. Maybe solid foam board though, I'll figure it out when I get to that bridge.

I left a gap between the pink foam panels along the keel so the limber holes would drain.

And if you go with noodles the reference to their diameter decreasing how many you can fit is correct. But to increase the amount of floatation you can infill the gaps with smaller diameter pipe insulation.

 

[buster_22]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Okay great Info ! Here is my thinking and please correct me if I am wrong. According to the manufacture 1 cubic foot of pour in foam is equal to about 63 lbs of supporting flotation. If I need 36 cubic feet of flotation to fill that area that the foam was removed from that is equivalent to about 2268 lbs of supporting foam. Plus I have about 9 cubic feet already poured in the bow area so a grand total of about 2835 lbs of supporting flotation foam. That just seams like an overkill given that the boat weights roughly 1500 lbs................ Do i need that much? Could I use less and be completely safe? Like I said before the owner of the boat before me used the boat with no foam in it. I am trying to keep the cost down on the pour in foam and yet be safe. Looking to buy this really soon, any help is much appreciated. Thanks again to all

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

That does sound like overkill but there is no such thing as too much flotation in my book. Adding it under the gunawales and sides will help prevent a flip if its swamped.

I'm with DJ on the noodles but the effectiveness can be increased by compressing the crap out of them when putting the deck on.

If I decided to pour foam I would only put it in the outsides of the stringers and put foam boards (if needed) on the keel leaving the drains free and clear.

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

That does sound like overkill but there is no such thing as too much flotation in my book. Adding it under the gunawales and sides will help prevent a flip if its swamped.

I'm with DJ on the noodles but the effectiveness can be increased by compressing the crap out of them when putting the deck on.

Agreed! My point is you need to "know" that's it's enough, not just hope so.

If I decided to pour foam I would only put it in the outsides of the stringers

This is what I did.

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Agreed! My point is you need to "know" that's it's enough, not just hope so.



This is what I did.

You and I see eye to eye on this matter. I wouldn't advocate the noodles for exactly the reason you pointed out...too much air gap. Compressing them lightly might help to a point but if the cubic area becomes lessened the effect goes the other way.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Foam talk!!! AAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[MichaelP]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

I'm out...See ya

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Sorry Michael, didn't mean to scare ya off like that!

It's just that if I watch too much foam talk stuff I break out into these terrible hives. Scratchy all over ya know!

I'm ok now, I just rubbed in some topical cream. All better

Carry on

 

[barato2]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

one thought on the pour-in foam: the big downside is difficulty of getting past it for repairs etc later. i would be very tempted to spray the inside of hull with Pam/WD40/whateverlube before pouring in the foam, so you end up with hull-shaped blocks that you can lift out if needed. i've had good success using this plan with JBweld on various things where i want to be able to remove it later (like making threads inside a shifter knob to adapt it)

but then again, i may be full o carp

 

[buster_22]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Well it looks like I am going to bite the bullet and spend the money on a 10 gallon foam kit for the boat. It is going to run me about $360.00 shipped to my door. Anyone know where I can get it cheaper?

 

[djpeters]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Well it looks like I am going to bite the bullet and spend the money on a 10 gallon foam kit for the boat. It is going to run me about $360.00 shipped to my door. Anyone know where I can get it cheaper?

Nope, that's what I spent.

 

[Gun Dog]

Re: 1981 22' Starcraft islander - Boat Foam...........Yikes !

Pool noodle math. One blue pool noodle with hole will float my 300 lb butt and a 12oz lager just enough to keep my pie hole above water for beverage intake.