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SOUDAL GENIUS INSULATION FOAM


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Hi guys u have a small gap all the way around my portholes where, by way of construction the steel cabin has been welded over the top of a timber cabin. Iam concerned about winter condensation running down the inside of the cabin sides and collecting on the gunnel between the wood and the steel. I want to insulate the porthole gap with a small amount spray foam and was wondering if SOUDAL GENIUS INSULATION FOAM from Screwfix would be suitable? Anybody used this stuff before? It’s says it’s useful for sound and thermal insulation, but I remember reading some where that boat spray foams need to be closed cell? Any help would be great thanks 

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Even closed cell foam is not really the right stuff in that location.  The sunlight will degrade the foam and it will break up to powder fairly soon.  It looks like an ideal opportunity for some silicone sealant.  The gap needs to  be over 3 mm  up to about 13 mm.

Something from the Dow Corming range - perhaps 781 - will do it.  Available in several colours.

 

N

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42 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

What does it say on the can?  Screwfix will tell you if its closed cell or not, it should be closed cell that you use.  What is the rest of your insulation?

Hi there the top half (gunnel to roof) has no insulation. It’s a 25mm tongue and groove cabin with some sort of ash felt wrap and then the steel cabin wrapped over the top. Screwfix sent been very helpful, and the technical sheet from soudal dosnt say open or closed. Only info is used for sound and thermal insulation plus gap filling. 

7 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Even closed cell foam is not really the right stuff in that location.  The sunlight will degrade the foam and it will break up to powder fairly soon.  It looks like an ideal opportunity for some silicone sealant.  The gap needs to  be over 3 mm  up to about 13 mm.

Something from the Dow Corming range - perhaps 781 - will do it.  Available in several colours.

 

N

The sunlight shouldn’t be a problem as I’ll slot in a porthole liner effectively seeking the foam in darkness between the wood and steel. I just really want to make sure no condensation will form down there as it will be trapped. I’ll check if the silicone tho thanks. 

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1 minute ago, Darrenroberts said:

Hi there the top half (gunnel to roof) has no insulation. It’s a 25mm tongue and groove cabin with some sort of ash felt wrap and then the steel cabin wrapped over the top. Screwfix sent been very helpful, and the technical sheet from soudal dosnt say open or closed. Only info is used for sound and thermal insulation plus gap filling. 

There are other brands available, possibly with better data also.  From my experience, the ones used for building like fixing windows are closed cell.

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Just now, Tracy D'arth said:

There are other brands available, possibly with better data also.  From my experience, the ones used for building like fixing windows are closed cell.

Ok great thanks I’ll continue researching  To see if any of the others have better data sheets 👍🏻

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The condensation issue won't occur just around the portholes. Your wooden cabin is slightly permeable to water vapour, so over time moisture from cooking, washing drying, occupants breathing out etc. will permeate the wooden cabin and then condense out on the cold steel cabin shell. 

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13 hours ago, David Mack said:

The condensation issue won't occur just around the portholes. Your wooden cabin is slightly permeable to water vapour, so over time moisture from cooking, washing drying, occupants breathing out etc. will permeate the wooden cabin and then condense out on the cold steel cabin shell. 

I guess that’s why there is a layer of roofing felt in between the two layers? Well the cabin has been like that since the 80s and looks fine when I took a section  of it out to have a look 

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The Soudal foam that you're referring to ('Genius' - isn't that the name of the gun system?) appears to be 'resistant to water', according to their website.

 

Having just used an expanding foam (a different Soudal product), I think that you'll definitely be better off with a gun rather than a tube applicator. You'll likely need to modulate the flow in order to get it to fill the gap and not just shoot down to the bottom of the void. Not sure how you'd tackle the top of the porthole, though. May be tricky.

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10 hours ago, Sir Percy said:

The Soudal foam that you're referring to ('Genius' - isn't that the name of the gun system?) appears to be 'resistant to water', according to their website.

 

Having just used an expanding foam (a different Soudal product), I think that you'll definitely be better off with a gun rather than a tube applicator. You'll likely need to modulate the flow in order to get it to fill the gap and not just shoot down to the bottom of the void. Not sure how you'd tackle the top of the porthole, though. May be tricky.

Hi there, no it’s not the gun system it comes with a long tube attached av add a bit of a practice and it’s not to hard to build it up in thin layers but you do have to be carful not to blast to much in at once. Oh and it’s definitely worth masking off well too. 

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On 10/09/2021 at 14:15, Tracy D'arth said:

There are other brands available, possibly with better data also.  From my experience, the ones used for building like fixing windows are closed cell.

 

Most spray foam from cans or guns is actually a mixture of both open and closed cells. It's just a function of bubble generation, expansion and collapse.

Edited by blackrose
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I think I'd spray some foam into the gaps and then once it's cured and cut back seal over it with some PU sealant (CT1, Stixall, etc) rather than flimsy silicone.

 

Go easy with the sprayfoam though - the fire rated stuff tends not to expand so much and is more controllable. Either mask off what you don't want the foam to stick to or smear a thin layer of Vaseline over it first. Spraying a fine water mist into the gap will help the foam to stick.

 

Edited by blackrose
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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

I think I'd spray some foam into the gaps and then once it's cured and cut back seal over it with some PU sealant (CT1, Stixall, etc) rather than flimsy silicone.

 

Go easy with the sprayfoam though - the fire rated stuff tends not to expand so much and is more controllable. Either mask off what you don't want the foam to stick to or smear a thin layer of Vaseline over it first. Spraying a fine water mist into the gap will help the foam to stick.

 

Cheers black rose, av got two more portholes to install then I’ll foam all 4 in the same hit, just in case the tube gunks up. I’ll post the results shortly 👍🏻

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