Insulating the hull questions.

[ebb]

Armacel makes flexible synthetic 'rubber' insulation foams. A number of them.

I just very quicklly went through their catalog - trying to find out what the problem could be.
Really don't know squat.....

(this post is NOT a defense of the company.....)

Armacell (the company) makes elastomeric and polymeric foams out of nitrile, pvc, epdm and polyethylene.
And a tweeky mix of any one, two, three or four of them. Have a small idea what those are, but
for the layman all the formulas are chemically blurred. After all, synthetic rubber foams are all petro-chemical plastic.


Wonder if paulsproesser's stuff is this:
(good that he points this out! Lining the hull with sponge would be.......futile.)

ARMAFLEX/AF and Tuffcoat seem to be foamed nitrile synthetic rubber products used for HYAC systems.
They say it is watervapor resistant, they talk about micro-cell structure.....
but do NOT say, as they do for nearly all of their other foams, that the foam is CLOSED CELL.
Why the distinction, why it isn't closed cell needs to be answered.
Maybe it's a matter of wicking condensation away from enclosed metal parts? No idea.


They still are using the old name 'Ensolite' to describe their closed cell 'pvc' foams.
But Armacell Ensolite EFO is "super soft EPDM crushed (semi-closed cell) foam"
"The Ensolite product line offers also a complete range of polymers in standard compression deflection ranges
( CR, EPDM, SBR, NBR, PVC/NBR) and other blends." That's a quote from their literature.
Some 50 or 60 types of "Ensolite" are listed!
Challenge ANYbody to nail this down! I've always assumed that Ensolite is a pvc foam.....
Other manufacturers and vendors all agree that Ensolite is CLOSED CELL. Something you'd trust for flotation.

Armacell makes outdoor solar/photovoltaic system insulation tubes - but do NOT say 'closed cell' in describing it.
They also make polyethylene foam (Tobolit) packaging sheets - which is closed cell.
Their sound/noise barrier foams are not closed cell.
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This says to me that I can assume that Ensolite that I used to assume is a closed cell PVC foam,
can now be a crushed EPDM (semi-closed cell) foam - that in no way could be used to save a life.
Really, so who's to say that Armaflex closed cell nitrile foam, cannot have a similar undependable off the wall 'semi-closed-cell' crushed foam?
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*Have yet to find a single enrty on google for "semi-closed-cell foam" (AKA, water-rersistant-foam)