Flotation on an old Scupper Pro

Here's what I did on my old SP a couple of years ago to make me feel better when I'm offshore.  I went down to the harbor here in Fort Bragg and found some old dock foam.  I then traced out the general shapes of the bow, stern and midriff and cut them out with a handsaw.  After the pieces were in their "almost" shape, I carved them down with a sure-form.  The entire process cost about zero dollars and took about 20 minutes.

I've filled the boat up with water and it fills about 1/2 to 2/3, but its enough to keep it afloat while I pump it out, the pump being the key safety tool.  If you were in real steep breaking seas, you may be able to still pump it out by sticking the pump in through the cracked hatch cover.  Luckily, I've never had to find out.

I like that I can take them out for lake stuff or replace them with dry-bags for flotation/dry storage.  Sorry, no pool noodles.

Figure 1.  Relative positions of foam over the full hull.
Figure 2.  Relative position of bow foam
Figure 3.  Relative position of stern foam
Figure 4.  Materials needed
Figure 5.  Something all marine yakkers should own

i think the easiest and least work is to buy a couple of 4 in pool noodles and stick them on the inside side of the yak..they lay very snug and steady.  unsinkable but not sharkproff...
allan

Nice article, Dave!  That's quality economy.