We'll see lots of good hopper patterns. Among them many good foam hoppers too. This one is special not so much because of its design or its apperance, but because of its material: 2lbs per cubic foot closed cell foam.
The lightest foam available in fly shops is EVAZOTE, which is about 4lbs per cubic foot. Much of the dense (squeeze it) sheet foam sold in fly shops is closer to 6lbs per cubic foot. Foam salesmen are hard-wired to equate dense with high quality. Dense foam is better for most packaging applications. But what they regard as low quality (ultra light weight) is what you want for making dry flies.
I have a large quantity of 2lbs per cubic foot EVA foam I bought for making boat seat cushions. Because it is not dense you cannot lash it to a hook tightly, because tight wraps will cut right through the foam. But if you lash it down loosely, with flat nylon, then you can glue it in place with CA glue. Then you have a hopper that floats like none other. You can hang a lead-weighted streamer off the bend of the hopper hook and it still won't sink. It's TWICE as light as Evazote. Up to three and even four times as light as many other foams. You can mend the line and sink the hopper, and it still comes right back on top a second later.
Someday some materials wholesaler will sell this stuff. Right now it's hard to find. Think of it this way: dry fly foam that is three times lighter is three times better. It's got to be out there somewhere, as a retail item. I got it from a Seattle area wholesaler who at first refused to deal with me. I had to hustle him. I told him: "This is a test order. If it works out I'll be buying $1000 a month on a net 30 basis." I'm still looking for a retail source. This is EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) closed cell foam. But 2lbs per cubic foot polyethylene exists too. EVAZOTE is EVA foam too. The base resin is one thing. The density--usually measured and compared as a weight per cubic volume--is another.
....many I have mentioned this to react with something like: "My foam hopper floats just fine." My answer is "Yes, but mine floats even better. A lot better. Up to six times better."
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