How many swim noodles?
- Thread starter tor*p*do
- Start date
- Location
- Coeur D' Alene, ID
7
Quinc
Buy a Superjet
- Location
- California
I think one noodle will float something like 5-8lbs.
Also they will eventually hold onto water if submerged long enough.
Also they will eventually hold onto water if submerged long enough.
Your favorite number, I presume?
- Location
- Coeur D' Alene, ID
More partial to 13, but i dont think you can fit that many in there
- Location
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
As many as you can. Is the tray foamed? It takes a lot of foam to keep a ski afloat if flooded with water.
- Location
- Coeur D' Alene, ID
Yea, i just insure mine lol. I also ride mostly shallow water and I am a diver so hopefully got my bases covered.
- Location
- Coeur D' Alene, ID
My normal ride spot is about 10' from shore in 6' of water
Doesn’t sound like pool noodles could even work to make 250# buoyant
This is the conclusion I came to.
Still, skis don't sink instantly, they slowly fill with water, with lots of little pockets of air caught in various spots, so having some extra buoyancy in there probably would buy you time.
I think the biggest thing is make SURE the hood doesn't come off, and plug the scupper, and chances of sinking get much lower.
Big Kahuna
Administrator
- Location
- Tuscaloosa, AL
Weird, If that is the case I need 36 Noodles for when I go to our neighborhood pool!!!!!!!!!!! lol
The difference is a human body is very buoyant by itself, most float or nearly float on their own, so not much extra is needed.
Not the case with carbon/aluminum/steel. Skis have all sorts of little pockets that capture some air. Fuel tank, exhaust, inside the motor, little nooks and crannies in the hull, but if water gets into all of that, they have very little floatation just from the parts themselves.
Not the case with carbon/aluminum/steel. Skis have all sorts of little pockets that capture some air. Fuel tank, exhaust, inside the motor, little nooks and crannies in the hull, but if water gets into all of that, they have very little floatation just from the parts themselves.
SXIPro
JM781 Big Bore
- Location
- Here on the 'X' mostly
gummy worms is the answer
- Location
- Ontario, Canada
I did the math on this years ago and consulted a boat building company. We came to the conclusion that it takes about 10, 3.5" diameter pool noodles to achieve about 300 lbs worth of positive buoyancy. When I refoamed my sj the best I could get was about 6.5 noodles under the tray, not quite enough for positive buoyancy on a dry sj let alone one full of fuel and heavier addons
- Location
- South Florida
You guys are all forgetting that the tray is foamed or at least sealed on most skis so you dont have to have 250# of bouyancy to float it. Superjets will float with just the foamed tray and the nose styrofoam. With aftermarket skis you only need enough to make up the difference in tray foam size and the lack of the nose styrofoam. My motto is to squeeze as many in as possible except around the carbs. It helps keep my limitedslip7 gas tank in place too.
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
Biggest thing that will keep your ski afloat is making sure the exhaust doesnt come apart from the coupler or hose coming loose that let's water into the engine compartment quickly. The tigercraft that's at the bottom of the lake is a friend of mine and I was there the day it happened. Underrotated barrel roll is all it took. He has a bpipe and we're pretty sure the headpipe coupler came off or an exhaust hose came off. The ski was gone in less than 2 minutes.
That's nightmare stuff right there!
What model tigercraft is it, did it have a sealed or foamed tray?
Exhaust hose coming off has to be one of the worst case scenarios, that's a giant below the waterline hole, worse than a scupper, and it possibly makes the ski non running too.