Wood as bouyancy?

Waterproof Housing, Frames, and Buoyancy Methods.
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bigbadbob
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Joined: Nov 28th, 2011, 10:24 am

Wood as bouyancy?

Post by bigbadbob »

Has anyone tried using wood as bouyancy? it would seem to be ideal as it is easy to shape and easy to seal against it getting waterlogged and wouldn't crush under pressure. maybe it's not bouyant enogh though. comments?
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thegadgetguy
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Re: Wood as bouyancy?

Post by thegadgetguy »

You could probably use balsa wood or another light wood covered with fiberglass or something, but for the effort it would probably be better to go with closed cell foam or something for the extra buoyancy.
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bigbadbob
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Re: Wood as bouyancy?

Post by bigbadbob »

Fair enough! ;)
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thegadgetguy
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Re: Wood as bouyancy?

Post by thegadgetguy »

Just my $.02 ;) Probably could do some test to be sure.
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bigbadbob
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Re: Wood as bouyancy?

Post by bigbadbob »

Yeah, i might give it a try. anything is worth a shot.
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thegadgetguy
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Re: Wood as bouyancy?

Post by thegadgetguy »

In my opinion, it seems like wood would be unecesarily massive for the flotation it would provide, depending on the density of the wood of course. On the plus side though, it'd be strong and, with the right tools, easy to work with. Interested to see what you come up with.
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bigbadbob
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Re: Wood as bouyancy?

Post by bigbadbob »

Might try it sometime. I agree it might be a bit too dense. and if you use enough to give the nessesary bouyancy it would cause a lot of drag. I've gone with "Kingspan" skinned with marine filler. this will be my first try and see.
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