Solid mooring float.

I need some suggestions as to how to create an unsinkable type mooring float.
My boat is on a swing mooring and uses a very large inflatable bouy to hold the chain off the bottom when I'm not tying up to it.

The trouble is there are people around with insufficient intelligence to be able to entertain themselves in any productive way so the punture the float which I then need to replace again at $140(Aus) a time.

I thought about filling the flloat with the 2 pack expanding foam but the amount I'd need would make it too expensive an excercise.

I was wondering if I could purchase a large block of polystyrene foam (light and relatively cheap) then fibreglass a hard structure over it to make it strong enough to be drilled to take a shackle.

My questions are can you fibreglass over polystyrene without melting it? and any guesses as to how large i would need to make it to equal the bouyancy rating of the inflatable float?

Mychael

 

Hey Mychael,
I am just repeating what I think I have learned here, and that is no and yes.

the styrene in the poly resin will melt the sytrofoam,
You could cover the styrofoam in something first....
however
You can use epoxy resin.
This was the first thing I thought of.

If it is a matter of filling up your punctured inflatable mooring bouy, you could probably just use bean bag stuffings.
To lock them in there in case of a big hole, you could drizzle a bit of thin (laminating?) epoxy into to a big bowl of styro 'beans'- just enough so that they will stick together- and fold it all through before stuffing the bouy like a big turkey.
Just as messy, but IMHO not quite as bad as the turkey stuffing.

P.S. where is your boat? Where are these little puncturing teenage rats located and are they gonna get mine?

Good luck.

Hans.

 

float stuffing.

Hi Hans,
I thought about the bean bag filling, but as you say messy and hard to get the little devils in there and as you mentioned the need to bond them together. It's still an option. The float has only a single puncture hole in it but it's why I wanted something that would float regardless of what happened to it.

My boat is at Stony Point in Westernport bay, Victoria. Hard to say who did the deed it was even suggested that it could have been done by competing mooring contractors, bit like the tow truck business in the bad old days.

Mychael

 

I think some of the advantages of stuffing your current one would be that
it would be padded by the rubber covering (rather than being a hard glassed chunk of foam) so won't dent or scratch your boat,
It will probably look nicer than the home made one,
and it will frustrate and confuse your bouy puncturer to no end.

It would be a messy job, and the beans may just confound the problem.
You could do the same but with larger peices of foam, say from broken up free styro boxes from your local greencrocer.
Either way it would take a while, but with the beans you may be able to rig up some contraption to make it easier.

I am picturing something like a straight long round shampoo bottle (or something the diameter of your hole), cut off at the bottom and the top so that you have a cylinder. (or for that bloody matter, just any peice of pipe the right size- PVC etc)
Then get your self something that will work as a plunger. With gloves on, pack the cylinder from both ends with sticky styro beans, put one end in the hole and syringe it in. and repeat. A clean extra pair of hands will no doubt help here.

That is what I would do.
Water leaking in might be a problem, but so long as the styro is reasonably packed in, even wet it should still float your chain.

 

I was even thinking that with the punctured float I could cut a bigger hole in it to make it easier to fill with something. Then either patch it useing a hot glue gun or maybe araldite to put a patch over the hole.
The biggest thing is to fill it as much as possible with minimal air spaces so that if there is water ingress it wont weigh it down too much.
It's all a pain in the bum, why people have to make pains of themselves I don't know. The 2 pack expanding foam is the best options but it is $78 for 2 litres which only expands to one cubic foot of foam. Plus apparently very nasty to mix up, the instrucions on the can says respirator, gloves and face shield are required when mixing.

Mychael

 

Mychael, have you tried the one part expanding builders foam used to insulate houses and the like? Ok it's expensive but can be applied using a 'gun' with a nozzle that can be stuffed into the 'buoy' and pumped - expands like mad - don't overdo it as it will burst the buoy if you put too much in!

It's much the same stuff just comes cheaper from the builders yard!

 

Hmmm, that's a good thought. We have hardware "Superstores" here (Bunnings). Might check them out. I assume that sort of foam also has high flotation rating?

Mychael

 

G'day Mychael

This may sound like a stupid suggestion because I don't know the full set up that you have.

Could you shorten the chain between the bottom and the float so although the float will still have positive bouyancy it will "float" under water, and then have a smaller more solid float with enough bouyancy to support your mooring rope.

This means to puncture your float again the ******** would have to go under water.

I think the stuff that Mr Walrus is speaking of is very aerated and will probably not prevent water from entering.

 

Well, that in effect is what has happened now. The main float is now just a little under water. Although I understand what you mean. A "floating" float just under the surface. It would work although the parks requirements for an approved mooring are for a visible marked bouy but I guess the smaller ones could serve that purpose.
Lateral thinking, I like it. Although it would take a bit of work to be able to pull the inflated bouy under. It is after all designed to hold about 5 metres of 25mm chain and shackles off the bottom.

Mychael

 

If it is a polyethylene buoy then you could cut it in half (or just cut a big hole) then fill it with block styrofoam then weld it back together. Find a local body shop which can do plastic bumper repair and they should be able to do the welding.
Another option would be to buy a different type of buoy which is not hollow. Check for the EVA type to see if there is one that would work for you. Of course the people with "insufficient intelligence to be able to entertain themselves" may decide to carve it up until it sinks

 

Mychael - further Poidas comments - when cured it does have a skin that is impermable to water, when cut up I'm not sure, it may leak slowly -guess I'm going to have to do a little experimentation (it works OK as a floating device but there again I've not had reaon to cut into the stuff in this context - yer average scroat round here hasn't discovered that tyou can sink bouys by sticking holes in them ( I happen to live in/next to a Naval Dockyard port with lots of Police boats [and other unmentionable trained killers] steaming around night and day - full CCTV coverage of the complete river inside the Dockyard port - does wonders for your peace of mind! the half dozen nuclear reactors tied to the walls of the port do something slightly different but that's another story):!:

 

What about buying yourself an electric fence electrifyer. I think you can get them to run off 12 volts.

Attach it to your battery and run a cable down to your float in brown wire and weave it around the mooring rope so it is barely visible. Attach it to a metal cap on the bouy.

The other polarity cable can run down the opposite side of the boat into the water.

I assume they use a knife or spike but I guess they need to hold the float with one hand while they stab with the other.

It would be better if they use an aluminium dingy but I reckon their surroundings would be damp enough to give them a decent boot.

Chances are it might kill them but they will just float off and become fish food.

 

Well the float issue became minor after these last 30 hrs when my boat became beached on her side after she came free from a faulty(? tampered) moooring.

Mychael

 

Solid float.

I am sorry about your boat.
But regarding a buoy you mentioned. It can be built of styrofoam and fiberglass. You only have to use epoxy resin instead of polyester. It producer pretty hard laminate. Syrofoam wont melt during curing of a resin. Only you must do one layer at a time. I built many models with that method.

 

Any damage to the boat Mychael? It went towards the beach and not the other way I suppose.

They probably untied your boat because they found out you were going to try and electrocute them.

Perhaps you sleep on board a few nights, got a speargun?