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Foam Boat Build

7K views 27 replies 14 participants last post by  FreakNasty 
#1 ·
Ok, let me first say that this was not my design, nor are these my pictures. The pictures were sent to me by the dude (from another site) that first built the foamer several years ago. I know that there are some people that are now building these boats and selling them and there have been links given on this site to take you to their site. I apologize up front if this is going to upset any of those dudes but I know for a fact that they were NOT the originators of this idea, nor the first to build one.
Second, if it is deemed that this post needs to be somewhere else, by all means move it. This is just in response to the several U2U's that I received from fellas wanting some advice on how to build.

Now for the good stuff:
This project is SUPER easy and I believe my 3 year old could do it, if I would let her play with a saw and a disc sander. This "design" is not from any plans nor does it need to be. The ability of this thing to float is not based on the foam but rather the displacement of water (you can float concrete if you displace enough water...or metal ie US Naval ships). Also, the strength comes from the fiberglass and epoxy, not the foam...the foam is simply a form to attach the fiberglass to. It is lightweight and pretty cheap and easy to work with. I would not jump up and down in my foamer but i wouldn't in my buddy's Four Rivers either. So with that said, you can make any design you like as long as it displaces enough water to keep it afloat (wider is better :D ). I know of some guys that have made them to look just like the small 4-Rivers layouts that are pointed at both ends with ****pit in the middle; and others that have made the larger 4-Rivers that are pointed at bow and flat at stern, with a transom. The shape is all up to you.

So lets get to it!

For this particular design, you will need 3 sheets of foam insulation. I don't think it matters if it is blue or pink.

[file]83858[/file]

Well, I guess this is a teaser post since I have run out of time and need to get going. I will continue on Monday with the explainations/directions. In the meantime, check out the other photos in my album:

http://www.missouri-whitetails.com/showgallery.php?cat=726
 
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#4 ·
Hmmmm... very neat! :cheers::woot:
 
#5 ·
the foam you can get at home depot or lowes its just the 3 inch thick construction foam for houses.i bult one of these about 5 years ago and i do jump up and down in mine never had a problem at all.i have a 6 horse motor that i throw on the back allso and it scoots pretty good.
 
#6 ·
All right, back to it. Billygoat is kinda correct, this is the 2" (not 3") foam insulation that can be purchased at any hardware store that sells construction material. Other materials needed are:
Foam Insulation (4x8 sheets, you will need 3)
Glue (Liquid Nails, Gorilla Glue, etc)
Fiberglass cloth
Epoxy Resin (important that you use EPOXY!!!)
Sand Paper (I used my rotorary hand sander)
3/4" pine (for ****pit and transom)
screws

I will try to get quantities of this stuff to you in a bit.

I am writing this all from memory so forgive me if the measurements are a little off. Remember though, that you really cant screw this up too much when it comes to cutting and shaping.

Cutting the foam:
Sheet 1:

You are going to have 8†outside your ****pit on either side. So make marks 8†in from both top and bottom. Then measure over 5’ and make two more marks 8†in from top and bottom and connect each of the marks, creating a “Uâ€. You are basically creating a rectangle measuring 32â€x5’ with 8†left on either side and 3’ left on one side. Clear as mud? See the picture below. Inside that rectangle, make marks every 8†so you have 4-8â€x5’ strips. On two of the strips, cut off 1’. So total for sheet 1 you should have:
2 â€" 8â€x5’ strips
2 â€" 8â€x4’ strips
2 â€" 8â€x1’ strips
1 â€" big “U†shape

[file]84391[/file]
 
#7 ·
sheet 2:

Cut in half, creating two 4x4 pieces. one of the pieces, cut in half again. The other piece...leave 8" on top and bottom and cut out a 1'x32" piece. This 1'x32" piece will be cut into 4-1'x8" pieces. So for sheet 2 you will have:

2 -- 2'x4' pieces
4 -- 1'x8" pieces
1 -- small "U" shape

[file]84397[/file]
 
#9 ·
I did all my cutting with a hand saw with a fine blade and it worked great.
Before you start glueing, you should sand (or scuff up) the areas that will be glued together so they will bond better. Also, you will glue it together UPSIDE DOWN.

So on the floor, the big "U" from sheet 1. Glue one of the ends of a 8"x4' strips (from sheet 1) to one of the 8" ends of the big "U", repeat for other 8"x4' strip and other 8" end of the big "U". You should have a 4'x12' square with a 9'x32" retangle cut out of one end.

Second layer, the little "U" (from sheet 2) lined up with the big "U". Then glue one of the 8"x1' pieces (from sheet 2) to each of the 8" ends of the little "U". Then glue one of 8"x5' strips (from sheet 1) to each of the 8"x1' pieces you just did. Finally, the last two 8"x1' pieces glued to each of the 8"x5' pieces.

Third layer, one of the 2'x4' pieces (from sheet 2) should overhang the 8" pieces by 3/4", then full sheet, and then the other 2'x4' piece (from sheet 2) glued to the end (towards the bow). You may notice that the pictures in my album dont look right because 2+8+2 = 12' and the picture show the final 2'x4' piece not coming all the way to the end of the bow. The boat in the pictures is a bit longer than 12' but does not affect these "instructions" at all.

Once all glued, place some weight on all of the edges and middle of the bow and let it set up really good.
 
#13 ·
I have done a couple of these and used luan as well, foam is the way to go. :eek::
Only option I would change if it's available is using cypress instead of pine for the framing. :wave:
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
 
#14 ·
[rquote=1510994&tid=105095&author=DWD]I have done a couple of these and used luan as well, foam is the way to go. :eek::
Only option I would change if it's available is using cypress instead of pine for the framing. :wave:
:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:[/rquote]

Maybe a silly question but does it need to be pine? Why cypress instead of pine? Does it make it more rigid or???
 
#15 ·
i used pine because i had some in the garage. I am not an expert boat builder so i have no idea on advantages. I guess that is why this was such a good project, not being an expert boat builder and still being able to build a boat that actually floats ;-)
btw, i do not take offence to any suggestions (additions or criticism on my directions) just trying to help some bruthas out.
 
#16 ·
ok, so now the glue has set up and you should have something that is starting to resemble a big block of foam :D
No fears, we are going to make it look like a boat soon. If your boat is still upside down with the weights on it, take the weights off and flip it right side up. from the nose end make a mark in the center (across the 4' section) which should be around the 2' mark. then measure 6" in both directions from this center line and make a mark. Now measure 3' from nose end towards back end and make a mark on both sides (these marks should be fairly close to the opening of the ****pit). Now draw yourself a line, that is slightly arc'd from the 3' line to the nose mark. You may want to create a simple template for this arc so you get the same arc on the other side.

[file]84683[/file]

cut along these lines and you should have the total shape of your boat. Next comes the wood.
 
#17 ·
Lets start with the transom. Remember that the floor of the boat overhung the side runners by 3/4"? well we will put our 3/4" pine, uhhh lumber :D , back here for our transom. I used a 8"x4'x3/4" piece of pine and glued it to the bottom and side runners.

[file]84688[/file]

Dont pay any attention to the wood shown in the picture, those will be used later for the sides of the ****pit.

At this point, as I was waiting for the glue to dry, I cut some square pieces of wood (approximately 8"x4"x3/4") and counter sunk them along the side runners. And one longer strips of wood running from ****pit opening to the nose, along the middle of the bow (countersunk into the foam). These will be glassed in and used to attach cleats or other fasteners.

[file]84691[/file]

The rest of the ****pit is pretty self explainatory with the pictures. 4" tall lumber is lined around the ****pit opening and screwed together. Note at the nose end of the ****pit there is a piece laid flat, glued to foam and screwed to the wood that was countersunk into the foam (this gives a little more "structure" to the front of the ****pit. I think that this is pretty easy so I think this is good for the ****pit portion.

[file]84693[/file]

[file]84695[/file]

The bottom of the boat will need some sort of runners to make it manueverable in water. I made a quasi tunnel hull by creating two 1/2 moon type foam runners. I have a good friend that made his runners out of wood. And have another buddy that made runners out of foam. Regardless of how you do it, you will need some type of runner on the bottom of the boat. My "tunnel" hull works fine, but I think that if I built another one, I would go the foam runner direction. I would suggest cutting some small strips of foam and glue them to the bottom of the boat. I don't think that they would need to be very tall or wide, but would need to run a good distance along the bottom of the boat. Just thinking about it, I would probably make them 2"wide where it will be glued to the boat and 1" wide on the other end. and I would round them as much as possible for the glassing process. I would probably use three of these strips. Maybe some of the other foam boat builders can chime in on this part.

once all the glue is good and set it is time to make preparations for the glassing. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ELIMINATE AS MANY "CORNERS" AS POSSIBLE. the more you can round corners off, the easier the glassing will go. I think most peeps are scared of the glassing process more than any other part. For good reason just because this is the most expensive parts, the most important part, and it is kind of a "no margin of error" part. It really is not that hard except for the corners and sharp angles, and if you make a mistake (unless it's really bad), you can sand the mistake out and re-do. With that said, I started sanding and rounding all of the corners I could. That included the wood and the foam. Eventually, you will want to sand the entire surface, in order to get a "rough" surface to get the fiberglass/epoxy to bond to. I used a rotary sander with some fine sand paper for this. This is a messy step and your garage is going to be covered in a fine pink dust (wear a mask and goggles for this part).
 
#22 ·
They were posted up by JT. That boat is now wasting away in the barren wilderness of Richmond and has become squirrel fodder. He came up with the idea of the boat after him and I were halfway through building a layout boat using the old wood and glass approach. He was convinced we could build one significantly lighter and better than a Kara. We built the boat about halfway, tested it, and then weighed it, and then quit. I still have that halfway done boat in my basement. Later, in the infamous JT Garage, we started playing around with that house foam stuff and making decoys out of it. A few days later, JT calls me at work and says, "get over to the garage right when you get off work, we are gonna build a boat out of that pink crap."

The rest is history. He did tons of research to design something so simple, it was a wonder it wasn't done before. And then he posted it up on the internet so anyone could do the same thing. That is where Jason got the pics.

And Leasburg, if you are friends with Ralph or Naz, get new friends!
 
#26 ·
gezz yeehaw is there anyone you don't know you get around more than the mailman
 
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