: Several times it has been suggested that it is wise to put a 1/16" (or
: maybe it was 1/32") hole in a wooden bulkhead for air expansion and
: contraction. I am making my bulkheads with 3" thick minicell foam
: this time. Does anyone put a small hole in their foam bulkheads, and if
: so, how?

I'm probably one of the people who raised that issue a while back, John, right after I very dramatically imloded a nickel sized hole in the deck of a hatchless demo boat in the early summer. (It wasn't vented. The sound of it imploding made me think I'd taken an incoming round from a medium caliber weapon.) My composite boat (fiberglass bulkheads) and my CLC North Bay (plywood bulkheads) are vented. My guess is that you don't really have to worry with a minicell bulkhead, because those things never really seem to seal completely, and, besides, they're flexible and will deform a little with pressure. If you have hatches --- even VCP "tupperware" style hatches --- and minicell bulkheads, you should be fine. However, you could always try sticking a stiff piece of straight wire or run a very small drill bit through to allow pressurization to equalize. You need only put a very small hole through any bulkhead --- the smallest bit you can find --- because the pressure change is ususally very gradual, and all you're trying to achieve is atmospheric pressure equilibrium in the closed portions of the boat.

Jack Martin