I was wondering besides poole noodles what other materials are used for boat floatation.

Flat camping closed cell foam ( 1/2" mattress ) cut to fit
2 part expanding foam
Water pipe insulation
Plastic soda bottles with rubber sealed caps
Water-tight radio boxes with air space
Air filled IV bags
Anything that holds air, weighs next to nothing, and can fit the available space.

The spray foam in can, for sealing cracks. Spray it in the bow, not a lot it expands. It will keep the nose above water. And not to heavy. I liked the little bit of weight it added to the bow. Start small you can always add more, it's sticky.

Be careful with the expanding foam products, especially with wood boats. Some products will keep expanding for weeks after, and have the potential of seam separations. It's also permanently in there.

Spray foam - not the best idea for these - and you should be including whatever you use in the CG of the boat when you build.

If you learn to use noodle right it can be a huge advantage if you need to move CG (e.g. calm vs rough water) -

Have a few sets of noodle and add some weigh to tip of noodle (tape weigh inside noodle or glue) to one set , a little more to the second set and none in 3rd set. If you need to vary CG some based on water then just exchange noodles for heavier or lighter

Only talking a couple ounces of weigh here - something that Andy from AC has taught me over many calls and emails -- it works

Whatever you use for floatation make sure it's secured in boat - if you take a violent roll - it may toss the floatation out

Oh yea -- most of us (myself included) who have ran a few - FORGOT to add floatation to a hatch and have lost one - I glue pieces to hatch now with "Marine Goop"

Andy from AC explained noodles on page 3 pictures page 7 explains it better and also talks about "sealing noodle" and few other ideas

Both of my Enforcers have spray foam in them from the factory (Tony). It saved me a few times! I added it to my Mana Ray. It helped keep it wet in turns. I had a noodle jam my throttle once. Not Good. I Plowed a 3 row path about 10ft up the bank. My buddy asked me " Are you making a garden? What ya gunna plant in them there rows? " Every boat needs it's mechanic and driver and wallet! Yoda would say "it you are"

exactly why you secure your floatation in place
your crash would be from not securing them or leaving enough clearance - can't blame the noodle for that

Over time it will also soak up gas and oil adding more weight. I've been Shoe-Gooing or Marine Gooping my noodles in place also. I recently started using foan paddleboards which are basically the same thing as the pool noodles. They work great in hulls with a lot of freeboard like Jersey Skiffs and large Offshore hulls.
A little early in the year right now but in the fall up here in the Snowbelt, look for them in end-of-season sales. Last fall I hauled an armload of noodles and a paddleboard out of Dollar General for $2.08, 90% off.

Spray foam absorbs water guys so compared to pool noodles its garbage after a while also your boat will slowly turn into a slug carrying all the extra weight,for you cannot get the water out of it
If its a timber boat it will rot your boat from the inside out,my advise use noodles, coke bottles anything but SPRAY FOAM
Andrew

Even pool noodles soak up gas and oil and water over time. The difference is the pool noodles can be replaced, the spray or 2part foam can not.