foam filler for steel barge

[Sue Fox]

I am in the marine construction business and have barges that we are constantly having to pump. My question is, has anyone heard of filling the hull of the barge with foam in order to seal it and keep it floating?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Dutch Peter]

For the life time of a steel boat, filling it with foam is a bad idea.
Repair the leaks and your alright. I'm pretty sure that's also a lot cheaper!

[Sandy McKerrow]

I agree - cure the leak, it will be cheaper in the long run. If you do need to make structural repairs at a later date, after foaming a space, consider the time and effort, i.e. cost required to remove the foam.

Originally Posted by Sue Fox

I am in the marine construction business and have barges that we are constantly having to pump. My question is, has anyone heard of filling the hull of the barge with foam in order to seal it and keep it floating?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

my advice would be to tell the company owner to not mess with the foam and buy new barges I would also tell him to give your husband a raise

[MikeJohns]

Very bad idea

You just end up digging the foam out again so you can weld it later on.

Sand blast the inside, repair the thin /holed plating , paint with zinc rich primer then 2 coats of epoxy.

Simple.................

[D'ARTOIS]

I guess that your problem consists of barges that are brought for repair and that have to wait for their turn to be docked. If you want to keep them from sinking put some collapsible rubber tanks in them. You might find in army stores usable stock. It depend of course how big they are. Filling it up with foam is as Dutch Peter says a very bad idea and after all - when the barge is going to be repaired you are still left with a mess of foam material. Second to that is expensive and
the result might be negligible.
Put your specific problem here, with the proper dimension of the barges and you might find an answer, for free....