flotation

[Ayerk Blei]

tnx Douglass and Peter for your answers. After reading some other forums I was bracing myself for heavy criticism, it seems there are some strong opinions against attempting to retrofit positive bouyancy. Get a good life raft they say.

But a life raft costs nearly as much as the boat, if use it I abandon everything, including a couple musical instruments that I would be very loathe to abandon and laptops with a bunch of work stored on them, then float for many hours or days until some ship rescues me at great inconvenience and cost and takes me somewhere else frome whence I'll have to get myself home. This is the kind of thing that generates hostility towards single-handed sailing.

Since there's no inboard I have quite a bit of extra volume for provisions and a good bit less weight to float, and it just seems that making every possible provision for self-rescue is the way to go.

tnx again.
My name is Paul btw, Ayerk is a joke, I have Vega 1365 at Berkeley Marina on a couple year fix-up program to go on a long journey...

 

[pjacobs55]

Instead of adding floatation (with all its cost, weight and loss of capacity), I'd focus on keeping water out of the boat: upgrading through-hulls, replacing all hoses and hose clamps, making sure the shaft packing and hardware are 100% good, beefing up the companionway slides and maybe replacing the original windows with Steve's thicker, framed windows. And a good manual bilge pump. You could easily sink $5,000 into that kind of project and you'd have one tough boat that would still sail, have capacity for long trips, and retain resale value.Nicholas H. Walsh P.A.
111 Commercial St.
Portland ME 04101
207/772-2191
Fax 207/774-3940

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From: Ayerk Blei
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 5:34 AM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] flotation
tnx Douglass and Peter for your answers. After reading some other forums I was bracing myself for heavy criticism, it seems there are some strong opinions against attempting to retrofit positive bouyancy. Get a good life raft they say.

But a life raft costs nearly as much as the boat, if use it I abandon everything, including a couple musical instruments that I would be very loathe to abandon and laptops with a bunch of work stored on them, then float for many hours or days until some ship rescues me at great inconvenience and cost and takes me somewhere else frome whence I'll have to get myself home. This is the kind of thing that generates hostility towards single-handed sailing.

Since there's no inboard I have quite a bit of extra volume for provisions and a good bit less weight to float, and it just seems that making every possible provision for self-rescue is the way to go.

tnx again.
My name is Paul btw, Ayerk is a joke, I have Vega 1365 at Berkeley Marina on a couple year fix-up program to go on a long journey...

 

[tom_rutter]

I'd be cautious about the possibility of self rescue in a swamped boat. It
won't sail - stability would be bust - and the engines not gonna work. So
you'd most likely just be waiting for help anyway. And its unlikely that
youll be able to salvage much stuff when climbing the rope ladder onto the
ship that rescues you.

If foam is much cheaper than a life raft (especially if there is a legal
requirement to service it regularly) then perhaps consider it an alternative
to that, at the cost of some interior space. But you'll be more likely to be
able to self rescue in your dinghy, I think.

 

[tiempo2010]

Keeping a boat afloat and going somewhere in it are 2 very different things.
While the foam can keep you afloat you will not be doing any sailing and the
water level below will be several feet deep. When that ship comes to get you
they will not take your boat, just you and your papers. Doubtful much below
would be in any condition worth saving after the water sloshes back and
forth for a few days. Buy a liferaft.

 

[georgebiery]

True, a rescuer won't your laptops and instruments when the pluck you up, but I would try to stay with the boat as long as possible - even nearly fully awash.

You should look at the Merit 25 website where Paul Kamen installed flotation foam as part of his preparation for the singlehanded transpac race to Hawaii. As a naval architect he may have his calculations on the site. If not, you could ask him directly by email or stop by his boat on O dock.

I'd also carry a small liferaft and immersion suit.

GB

 

[tim_klynn]

I thought about trying to make the Santana 20 that we race somewhat unsinkable for those inevitable future spinnaker broaches while the companion way is open.

The S20 only weighs 1350 lbs, so I thought: 1350 lbs/8 lbs per gal of water means I would need to have about 170 gallons of empty or buoyant volume to keep the boat from sinking quickly. I sealed up about 80 gallons or so of unused compartments with somewhat watertight lids and then may put 2-55 gallon trash bags full of styrofoam peanuts back in the unusable stern section. This seemed to be a light, unobstrusive,reversible way to get some flotation in the boat to give it some time to self right and get bailed out.

I don't see how you could put 5000lbs/8 lbs/gal = 625 gallons of volume (11-55gal drums) in a Vega and still have a usable boat. Probably the only 'practical" way to do it would be to make watertight compartments and bulkheads, which would be a lot of work and probably make for some excellent mold greenhouses.

I agree with Nico and others, it is better to make sure your boat is as seaworthy as possible and not worry about positive flotation. -Tim

 

[SVFlyAway]

Go buy the book "The Nature of Boats" by Dave Geer. He has a section on
foam flotation and goes through the thinking and some math (pages 383-387).
Besides that small chapter on floatation, the book has great information on
how both sail and power boats are designed and basically what makes a boat a
boat. It is written for the average layman by this knowledgeable naval
architect.

It is available through Amazon for $15.45.

Chris