How hard/expensive would it be to work with styrofoam and by that I mean cast/mold objects out of it?
Think about it for a few minutes, if you could shape a personal floatation device out of styrofoam what sort of fly fishing goodie could you come up with?
Anyone have any experience or contacts with experience in this area?
Casting it would be quite problematic but shaping slabs or float logs is real easy. Coating is an issue because so many things will eat away at styrenes. But you can use some glues or styrene friendly fiberglass.
One of the earliest kickboats was a “waterskater” that you could either order the boat or plans. I built a couple and used them for 8 years on my local river, worked great.
One BIG problem is the open cell foam; compromise the coating and your boat starts sucking up water.
Have fun
Paul
[This message has been edited by P.Dieter (edited 26 May 2005).]
Yes, it’s doable. Been there done that!
Styrofoam billets are available through custom building ornament shops. Columns and
gargoyles and such are shaped from it and
covered with concrete products or epoxy
resins. I was able to pick up two pre
shaped pontoon hulls from one shop, cut to
my specs and bow sections shaped on the
ends. Had a Rhino Hyde shop spray them for
me. Plastic coated styrofoam. I put in
hardpoints prior to spraying using white
glue. The spray tied it all together. Lasted over 4 years and took a lot of abuse.
It was a one man sit on top, stand up toon
8’ long with a trolling motor for power.
Worked well and got many comments. I may
still have a pic. I’ll send it if I find
it. Warm regards, Jim
Do a search on here. There is a series of articles from the Panfish section that Randy wrote on making poppers that you will find interesting. And of course have a heart to heart with Jim as he is very into foam and knows his stuff like no other.
The easiest way to do what you’re wanting to do would be to get styrofoam blocks and shape them. Styrofoam can be cut with a bread knife and shaped with sandpaper. If you want to get really fancy, you can make a styrofoam cutter using a U-shaped wooden frame and a piece of wire running across the open end. Send an electrical current through the wire and it will heat up, and cut through the foam.
Casting styrofoam of the type used for those hot cups and cheap coolers is not difficult. Place a small amount of beads in a mold, inject with steam and you would have an instant pontoon. You could also use micro wave to expand the foam but you would need a different type of mold and very expensive equipment. However, the mold would have to be fabricated and that would be expensive. It must be strong enough to withstand the expansion pressure, have properly placed release ports and be able to come apart for easy release. The resultant product is not very durable. It would be the same as a cheap ice chest.
Polyethlylene foam would be more durable but the production is more difficult and, again, expensive molds.
In either case you have to work the additional design of fixing a seat and possibly oar locks which is a major cost of kickboats. If you incorporated a seat in the mold, it would likely have to be reinforced and that would increase cost of mold design and product.
I have ran across people that made a product just like the one you are talking about a long time ago. Haven’t seen or heard of them in some time now.
I think that the durability and easy storage/transportation of inflatibles has made products like that less desirable. While there may be a market for a low cost pontoon of that type, I think it would take a lot of sales to recover initial costs.
I don’t remember much about it, but 30 years ago in my Jr. High crafts class kids were molding stuff out of styrofoam. It can’t be that difficult or expensive if they had 8th graders doing it.
You can also make a mold and use 2 part foam from U.S. Composites which you just mix two part together and the stuff expands. You could also use EPS beads, but your mold would have to be casted and you have to have a boiler big enough to submerge your mold in.
Foam can be coated with alot of different items to make it more durable. Such as trestle coatings(like non-skid), fiberglass, and burlap to name a few. Some solvents will eat some foams though so you have to test a bit on each type.
Lots of options for a person wanting to make something.
I might have to make something just so I don’t have to carry the boat when I go fly fishing on the Little Red.
I appreciate everyone’s feedback. Swamphunter, that is quite a fantastic boat that that fellow built. That looks like a close to perfection flycasting platform. Appreciate that link indeed.
