Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:28 am
You guys will get a laugh out of this one. 
Given that I'll have my kids on board, I was concerned about floatation for the kayak (yes we will all always wear pfd's). So I bought some of that 2-part poly foam. I've never used it before but, it seemed simple enough. Mix equal quantities of the 2 liquids, stir for 20 secs, pour it in, and it expands in 45 secs. So that's what I did.
After about 1 minute it didn't look like it had expanded much and it seemed like such a small amount. So I quickly made up more and poured it in. Did I mention that I was outside and the temp had dropped into the 60's. Oh yeah, the low temp apparently effects the reaction rate.
It finally kicked after a couple of minutes. At first I was very amused and impressed with how the foam expanded. It kept expanding. I thought wow it really creates lots of foam for such a small amout. It kept expanding and expanding. My amusement is now turning to anxiety as it's getting near the lip of the hull and starting to push the cockpit walls in and the hull out. Now I'm panicking as it's going above the hull and I'm frantically trying to carve it out while it's still sticky!
I finally had to let it harden a bit and then cut/carve it out with a hack-saw and crow-bar. In the end it turned out fine. But what a circus for a bit! It was like that I Love Lucy episode when she's working at the chocolate factory!
Another lesson learned!
Given that I'll have my kids on board, I was concerned about floatation for the kayak (yes we will all always wear pfd's). So I bought some of that 2-part poly foam. I've never used it before but, it seemed simple enough. Mix equal quantities of the 2 liquids, stir for 20 secs, pour it in, and it expands in 45 secs. So that's what I did.
After about 1 minute it didn't look like it had expanded much and it seemed like such a small amount. So I quickly made up more and poured it in. Did I mention that I was outside and the temp had dropped into the 60's. Oh yeah, the low temp apparently effects the reaction rate.
It finally kicked after a couple of minutes. At first I was very amused and impressed with how the foam expanded. It kept expanding. I thought wow it really creates lots of foam for such a small amout. It kept expanding and expanding. My amusement is now turning to anxiety as it's getting near the lip of the hull and starting to push the cockpit walls in and the hull out. Now I'm panicking as it's going above the hull and I'm frantically trying to carve it out while it's still sticky!
I finally had to let it harden a bit and then cut/carve it out with a hack-saw and crow-bar. In the end it turned out fine. But what a circus for a bit! It was like that I Love Lucy episode when she's working at the chocolate factory!
Another lesson learned!
You know .. The fish are so big that you can only get half of one in the fish box.
