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Styrofoam UV breakdown?
Hi all--
Gotta question that's surely been addressed somewhere. In raft systems that use blueboard for the raft, what about sunlight melting the foam? I mean, we hear how we mustn't leave plastic water bottles on the car seat because of the cancer risk of plastic breakdown products. Seems like styrofoam board in raft systems is going to break down and release stuff into the water, to be eaten by the fish and then by humans. I'm interested in raft systems over media systems for all kinds of reasons, except for this elephant in the room about foam under sunlight. Does anyone have some insight into this? Thank you--
Gotta question that's surely been addressed somewhere. In raft systems that use blueboard for the raft, what about sunlight melting the foam? I mean, we hear how we mustn't leave plastic water bottles on the car seat because of the cancer risk of plastic breakdown products. Seems like styrofoam board in raft systems is going to break down and release stuff into the water, to be eaten by the fish and then by humans. I'm interested in raft systems over media systems for all kinds of reasons, except for this elephant in the room about foam under sunlight. Does anyone have some insight into this? Thank you--
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Smith on
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Paint the tops of your rafts with two coats of exterior semi gloss white paint. The paint prevents any UV related breakdown. The semi gloss paint is easier to clean than matte and causes less reflection than gloss.
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Permalink Reply by Gina Cavaliero on
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Hey TC, actually, it is not recommended to paint anything other than the tops of the rafts. We only need to reduce the incidence of UV degradation and the raft orientation can be maintained so that the "good" bacterial harboring side always stays in the water and the top painted side is cleaned easily due to the semi-gloss paint like Chris said. I for one can speak of really BAD experiences painting all sides of the raft! Really, really bad! Lol! Paint has surfactants in it which essentially are soap and when in contact with water for a prolonged period of time no matter how long it has cured, can leech soap out into the water. Not good, suds, bad... :(
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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on
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Ah, Thank you for clearing that up. Very important tip to know.
Gina Cavaliero said:
Hey TC, actually, it is not recommended to paint anything other than the tops of the rafts. We only need to reduce the incidence of UV degradation and the raft orientation can be maintained so that the "good" bacterial harboring side always stays in the water and the top painted side is cleaned easily due to the semi-gloss paint like Chris said. I for one can speak of really BAD experiences painting all sides of the raft! Really, really bad! Lol! Paint has surfactants in it which essentially are soap and when in contact with water for a prolonged period of time no matter how long it has cured, can leech soap out into the water. Not good, suds, bad... :(
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