Nerf Balls

[mike cunningham]

I was searching Amazon for my through hull plugs. I have a few but not enough sizes to cover all the openings. The prices for the foam plugs were a little ridiculous. One guy left a comment he had just bought a few nerf footballs for $6 a pop and he was in business. I thought this was pretty clever and ordered a half dozen multicolored nerf footballs. I figure I can trim them down if necessary

I know, I know, I should have asked before I bought, but will these pass inspection? Perhaps I need to use a sharpie to inscribe "for use during flooding emergency only" to give them that official look?

 

[BobJ]

When I looked at Dura Mater yesterday we discussed the plugs a bit. Most of us buy the bag of tapered plugs conveniently sold at our favorite retail (marine) store. For those of us with normal-sized boats, about two-thirds of the plugs in the bag are too large - our thru-hulls are smaller than that. Also, the thru-hull probably won't break off cleanly so that nice, big round plug won't begin to go in the opening. You're probably going to want a smaller plug with a rag wrapped around it to fill in the gaps, then tapped in place.

The hydraulic pressure of water coming through an opening is strong. I'm not a sure a Nerf ball would stay in the hole very long. I'm also not sure it would meet the rule:

"A boat shall carry soft plugs of an appropriate material, tapered and of the appropriate size, attached or stowed adjacent to every through-hull opening." But they might.

For those of you with time on your hands, here are a couple guys experimenting with this issue. A carrot worked well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5PDuXvqL7c

 

[mike cunningham]

I think they had pretty good luck with a potato too.

My thought has always been I will find "something" aboard the boat to stuff in the hole. I agree that "the hole" is unlikely to be a nice clean aperture. It is probably going to be a gnarley glass fracture of some odd dimension in some odd place which is going to require creativity... in a hurry.

 

[BobJ]

I think they had pretty good luck with a potato too.

My thought has always been I will find "something" aboard the boat to stuff in the hole. I agree that "the hole" is unlikely to be a nice clean aperture. It is probably going to be a gnarley glass fracture of some odd dimension in some odd place which is going to require creativity... in a hurry.

There's another video from those same guys (Yachting Monthly) where they stove in the hull and really tried to sink the thing, and tried various ways of stopping the water ingress. Also done in that dry, tedious British style. You can probably link to it from that first video.

 

[mike cunningham]

Yea, I think I have seen all of their adventures in sinking and stuffing. In once case the hole was behind cabinetry which they attempted to rip out so they could get at the damage. God forbid: by yourself in a heavy seaway down below up to your ankles (or knees) in water trying to rip out the cabinetry to get at damage...yikes!

 

[svShearwater]

We have a Nerf football that would be large enough to plug the rudder post if needed. It's the only thing I could think of that is large enough. Wooden plugs everwhere else and one of the big red plugs foam plugs, just in case. The red foam plug isn't quite big enough for our rudder post.

 

[mike cunningham]

When I was at the sea survival course they recommended you have something for the diesel exhaust too. Depends on the boat but my exhaust is just above the waterline on the transom. Big hole. Football hole! I can just imagine how much fun its gonna be getting down there to stuff it.

The rudder posts on Freedoms are built like a brick S house. If that thing goes its going to rip the bottom out with it.