Materials needed and advice

Not to long ago, I looked into a lot of this when considering restoration of a water logged sunfish. What you are asking about is this stuff: http://www.marinefoam.com/styrofoam.html This is known as extruded polystyrene as opposed to the older, expanded polystyrene (the type made up of the little beads all pressed together). The extruded stuff has much better moisture and water resistance than the expanded stuff. In a boat like a sunfish, there are two main considerations: strength and water resistance. The internal foam is a major part of the structure of a sunfish, but to the best of my knowledge, it provides no structural support for the Flying Scot. Also, because of the sealed nature of a sunfish hull, the foam has a greater tendency to absorb moisture than the foam in an open framework like a Flying Scot would. Given that, there is no real reason why you could not simply use the blue foam commonly sold at Home depot type stores. The two inch thick foam is relatively cheap and you can simply use a fine cut Japanese saw to cut strips to the desired width. There are adhesives formulated for the foam that don’t contain solvents so that you could build up a block of foam with the required number of strips.

I think it is mainly because such a setup would be more work to install and would have to ship in a big box. The bag is easy to ship, and easy to install. Just my guess, Phil Phil Scheetz FS 4086

1. I beleive the class rules require a minimum amount of floatation at the bow. I plan to install blue foam when I get around to it. An inflatable bag per se is not required 2. The extruded polystyrene blue foam and the pink foam is the same stuff and you can get them at the major hardware stores , Home Depot etc, sold as insulating foam. 3. I put a small piece of pink foam and submerged it in a bottle for a few weeks. There was no sogginess when I pulled out the sample. 4. You can glue the pink (or blue) foam with Gorilla glue 5. The pink and also the blue foam is compatible with epoxy resin, not with polyester. Godd luck FS3512

Per S-11 8. Buoyancy In addition, effective January 1, 2009, the boat shall include a nominal 4.8 cubic feet of buoyancy to facilitate the rescue of a swamped boat. This buoyancy shall be composed of a choice of an air bag, rigid noncommunicating air cell foam plastics or air tanks and shall be attached inside the hull at the bow as low and far forward as possible to provide a nominal 300 pounds of buoyancy when submerged in water. It shall be securely fastened so as not to become dislodged when submerged.(November 2007) (See also CMR #29 & 79) NOTICE FROM THE CHIEF MEASURER As pointed out in the President Letter the requirement for bow bags and transom ports was added to the Specifications as the requirement by a vote of the FSSA Membership at the 2007 NAC. This change is mandatory for all boats effective on 1/1/2009. Boats that intend to participate in the 2009 Midwinter Championship, the North American Championship and the Wife Husband Championship need to make a special effort to install these items, as they will be checked at these events and others. These venues are known to be windy and installation of this equipment will facilitate rescue and recovery in the event of a capsize. The kits for these items, including the appropriate hole saw, will be available from Flying Scot Inc. at these regattas for installation on site. Please note that the builder of the Flying Scots has installed these as standard equipment on new boats manufactured since 1992. Bob Neff, Chief Measurer Somewhat confusing, but I believe the intent is to have 300 lbs of buoyancy. Maybe Bob Neff will clarify? Andy FS 4957

Do you know who the sailmaker was for your replacements? If so, I would call them. They can tell you how to set the rig. Also Harry at Flying Scot Inc, can probably give you good advice. Phil Scheetz FS 4086

I always wondered whether these measurements also applied to sails that were not made by North Sails. Anybody know? Phil Scheetz FS 4086