Closed cell foam is a great material to work with and can be used for many purposes. For some uses you may want to purchase quality closed-cell foam (CCF) from a kayak outfitter. But for other uses picking up a foam sleeping pad at a big-box store or Amazon for under $20 gives you enough material for several projects. The standard thickness is 3/8 inch and works well for these three projects that are great multi-day trips and for hot, sunny days like we get here in Florida.
PROTECT SENSITIVE GEAR
One obvious use for CCF foam is to protect sensitive gear. I like to take my Kindle on multi-day trips. I usually load out PDFs of maps and guide book pages before a trip and check out the next day’s paddle before going to sleep each night. I also make a few notes on the day’s paddle before I go to sleep because I know I’ll have forgotten half of it by the time I get home. And, of course, reading a good book is a sure way to fall asleep.
To protect my Kindle I simply cut a piece of foam long enough to wrap around the Kindle lengthwise with about a 2 inch overlap. Then I glued the overlap with contact cement. The Kindle slides in and out easily but the CCF provides enough tooth that it won’t fall out. I then pack it down in the middle of my clothes dry bag.
I have also cut and placed pieces of CCF in the tops and bottoms of my dry boxes to protect phones, keys, and cameras that I want to keep in the cockpit.
INSULATE YOUR COOLER
Sit-inside kayaks don’t usually have room on deck for a cooler. And even if you have some room, you don’t really want anything on deck to catch the wind and waves/wakes. If your cooler is bigger than a 6-pack cooler then it has to be packed inside a hatch and to retrieve it you either have to stop and get out of your boat or ask a friend to get it for you and then put it away again for you. That’s why many of us use soft-sided 6-pack coolers. A 6-pack cooler can usually be placed in front of your feet or behind your seat. However 6-pack coolers are not known for their insulating capabilities. In Florida we’re lucky if a 6-pack cooler keeps our water cool until lunch-time. After adding CCF foam insulation to our 6-pack coolers we can drink cool water for up to 48 hours, even with temps in the 90s. And frozen foods can keep until the second night of a trip, salad fixings for another day or two.
To insulate your cooler, you’ll need a CCF pad, a ruler or yard stick, a ball point pen, and a sharp knife.
1) On the inside of the cooler, measure the height of the cooler and each side. Cut a strip of the CCF the width of the height and the length of the circumference (the combined total of all sides).
2) Mark the length of each side on the CCF – 3 lines.
3) With the sharp knife, cut 3/4 of the way thru the CCF on one side.
4) Bend the CCF at the cuts (non-cut side to the inside) to form a rectangle and insert into the cooler.
5) Measure and cut pieces for the top and the bottom.
INSULATE YOUR WATER BLADDER
Many people prefer a water bladder to water bottles, especially for multi-day trips. A bladder can be placed behind your seat or under front or rear bungees and the hose clipped to your shoulder or seat strap. But exposed to the sun it doesn’t stay cold very long.
We’ve made envelopes out of CCF foam to keep the water cool. To make them you’ll need your water bladder, CCF foam, a marking pen, a sharp knife, a roll of plastic wrap, and contact cement.
1) Fill your water bladder with water and place it on top of the CCF foam leaving about a 1″ margin along one side.
2) Wrap the foam around the bladder length wise and mark at top and bottom where it meets the other side. You want about 1 inch of overlap on each side.
3) Mark the bottom about 1″ longer than the bladder.
4) Cut along your marks. It’s better to have a little too much foam than not enough, so cut outside of your marks.
5) Remove the bladder, place foam onto a piece of plastic wrap and fold into an envelope, glue along the bottom and the lengthwise overlap. Place another piece of plastic wrap on top and then place something heavy on the envelope and leave overnight to dry.
We’ve found that carrying a floppy water bladder is unwieldly, so we like to place the entire bladder and insulation sleeve into an old dry bag, running the hose out thru the loose folds. That makes the bladder easy to carry to and from the boat.
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I’m sure with these 3 examples you can come up with more ideas of your own. I’ve seen dry bags converted to coolers by placing a cylinder of CCF with a glued on round bottom piece inside them. You could use a small dry bag in the same way for all your electronic gear that might get knocked about. So experiment and have fun.