Does anyone know why some sawyers have flotation tanks built into the ends and some have only foam glued to the sides? Was it a change that they made at a certain date? I guess the foam on the sides would be lighter but I think it makes the canoe look cheezy. George
I think it was to save weight.
Double duty
I added foam to my Advantage to use as thigh braces.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/nermalgod/Loadedadvantagesm.jpg
The foam he’s referring to is only in
the ends where the flotation tanks usually are.
foam batts in Sawyers
Sawyer installed 2" by 4" by 3-4" bats under the rails in several of their ultralight boats, both tandem and solo.
The issue, as with Bell, which used foam inserts in the stems until 94-95, is the adhesive eventually fails; requiring scuba gear to retrieve swamped hulls. This is usually not considered a good thing.
sawyer canoe
So this was something done only on the kevlar layups and not something done on all models at a certain time? George
foam flotation
The original MI Sawyer added the foam to their lighter weight hulls ; Kevlar and an ultra light glass that didn’t hold up.
This was a big weight saving, as Sawyer cast USCG approved, 4# density, foam blocks in molds, placed the shapes in the hulls and glassed them in. Great, failsafe flotation, but heavy. [Note everyone uses air now. 'Saves ~5lbs per hull]
The Ohio Sawyer guys seem to have used foam as they were missing some tank molds. They didn’t build many boats though.
sawyer flotation
I did not realize that the end tanks had foam in them. I remember the first time I tipped my Sawyer Champion just playing around and climbing into it full of water the bow went down and hit the bottom of the river. They do not float full of water like the Grumman I was used to. George