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Old 12 November 2008, 06:54 PM   #503 (permalink)
Joe Perkel
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Miami / Sebring, Florida
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Quote:
the accessability of the float is achieved by inspection ports I assume? How large are they?


Chris, They are hand sized holes, (I forget the diameter at the moment, 5 or 6 inches I think).

Quote:
If inspection was performed by removing the top panel either as a whole piece or in sections could the foam be applied to the inside of the float inside a heavy duty plastic liner and still allow for its removal? If the foam is the buoyancy do you need to worry about waterproof barriers?
An interesting suggestion. First question to mind then is structural integrity of that top deck for walking on. Crossbeams attach to the frames and the load path is vertical through those, so that's not a worry.

Second thing I have to consider on the top deck, is watertight integrity. Look how nicely they get a bath on take-off....



Quote:
If you are cunning about the cavities positioning you can have a dry compartment area below the inspection ports with access holes running where you want them. This way you could well still have 75% of the foam acting as guaranteed buoyancy and sufficient access for regular inspection.
In order to make up the missing 200 lbs of reserve, I need to guarantee about 3.1 Cubic feet of volume in each float in seawater, slightly more in fresh. I will look at this from this perspective now to see what options are presented.

Thanks Chris!
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