fire retardant or low flame spread coatings over foam.

[bjsmarine]

Hopefully I am In the right forum, & hopefully I can get some direction.
The problem is to find a solution regarding fire supression
in a boats engine room.
The matter at hand is the fact that expandable foam was injected into adjacent compartments both sides of the engine room -for floation and noise supression .These compartments must be open to the main engine room for engine room air and cable / wire runs.
Also these boats , being goverment boats have recently fallen into a new set of regulations with tighter standards than at the time of building. Even though they are only 26 ft. boats.
The question is --
fire retardent or low flame spread spray coatings over foam?
My impression to date is that any coating over foam would be inefective due to the fact - that in a fire situation the foam would slump along with the barrier coating resulting in a break of the coating , rendering the whole exercise useless!
My other concerns
* acess to these compartmens is very diffucult (spray or brush on coatings are the only fesiable method}
* approval of canadian coast guard ship safty branch - meeting or exceding standards set out in TP 322 sec. 10

The other thought is going sidewise , The concern of the marine surveyor that brought this up is that the foam adjacent to the engine room - could in time - absorb diesel fuel and engine oil, makeing it a dandy accelerent.
It is a closed cell foam , but prehaps a prouduct that could be put over the foam that would be oil , fuel and water resistant would meet crieteria.
Thanks for your time and any direction would be great.

Bob

 

[gr2vessels]

Bob,
You are right that nothing sprayed over the foam will prevent the collapse of the foam itself under the heat of the fire. You could, however, stick a plate on the top of the foam and spray the metallic plate with Chartek or similar. I assume that your foam will not ignite behind the plate at some 300 F heat.
cheers,
gr2vessels