Question NOT about paint

[Barry Pyeatt]

Scott,

Placing foam inside your hull, high or low won't matter until you are swamped. The additional weight of the foam isn't significant. Since these are displacement hulls, the foam only comes into play when the boat is filled with water. So you could put empty plastic milk cartons in it, if you chose to do so and the only difference would be the weight of the cartons. Or an air filled bladder.

Placing the foam lower, will help to bring the rail a little higher when swamped. But you still have to offset the weight of the boat when filled with water. The heaviest component is the water, you have to get it out for it to float.

We used to build search/rescue boats with balsa core and foam flotation. They could have postive flotation with holes cut into them and pumping water into the boat. So once you achieve positive flotation placing the foam lower will help to raise the rail a little. Then it is bailing time regardless.

[Guest Scott Cozad]

Jan,

My turtle incident happened due to inexperience of sailing in strong of winds. Basically I did an accidental jid all of 2 seconds and I was turtled. I am not sure strong the wind was, but I would say it was over 20mph and gusting. Actually the boat was handeling great in the wind and I think I got a little over confident. Directly before the jibe we had a reading on the GPS of 7.5mph. I cannot prove this though because the gps is at the bottom of lake cunningham.

Here is a photo just before the "INCIDENT"

Here is a photo after the "INCIDENT"

This photo was taken after about a quarter of the water was bailed out notice she is not floating too high. I did have my brother with me, but he was actually more of a hinderance than help. The hardes part of getting her uprighted was getting the mast folded. This would have been easy, with the tension the water was putting on the main stay I had a hard time getting the shackle off. (I would advise to use an easy to disconnect shackle on the main stay) After getting the mast folded she rolled right over. When she did roll over I did not support the mast and boom, and my mast gate hinge got bent sideways (not a big deal). The worst of it all was that I did not have the inside cabin finished, so it was alkl bare wood . We let her dry out for about a month before finishing the interior cabin. I do not think any permanate damage was done. My bailer was a 3 gallon bucket which was a little workout but worked fine.

Here is a photo taken since the "INCIDENT" notice I now have reef points which I did not have at the time of the "INCIDENT". I have not tried them yet but have been kind of a wuss since the "INCIDENT" and have not gone out in any wind over 10mph. I mostly am alone, and don't want any trouble.

With more experience the "INCIDENT" probably would not have happened and I would not be as windshy as I am today. I have all the confidence in the boat but little in myself, but I am working on it.

[Gaylen Beardsley]

Barry,

Thanks for clearing up the buoyancy concept for me. I was wondering why there would be a difference in the location inside the boat.

I have put some thought into this for the last few weeks, and even though I am going to have open seats, there is still a need for there to be a seat back or something to lean against. My butt, at least, will not slip back under the deck of the boat, so I will not be losing any seating space if I run the set back from the deck down to the floor or some kind of variation thereof.

I doubt that my feet will go under the seat across from me clear to the other side of the boat, so a back chamber down to the floor or another one separate from the back rest on the floor would not restrict useable foot room. The only thing that would be affected in my perspective would be the width of the seats, and the width of the floor slats. This is all IMHO, but like I have said in previous posts, I like to get a visual of the finished product in my mind before I start, so I am working on cockpit area in my mind. fortunately, it is a separate project from the rest of the boat, and doesn't have to be approached until the time is right.

Most of my sailing will be in Puget Sound, so where the wind can be gusty, so I am considering floatation chambers in other places in the boat as well, but will have to wait until the building begins before I consider this further. However foam panels covered with plywood on the boat sides inside the cabin have been something I have considered.

I am still trying to get the keel put together, so this is all projection in my head. 8)

[Gaylen Beardsley]

Just another thought...It was mentioned on here before that if the dead space is airtight (water tight) there is no need to fill the space with any kind of material. An internal pontoon is simply a water tight box, so I am assuming that if I made the seat backs and box under the seats water tight, I would have my floatation devices in place.

AM I CORRECT? :?:

[Barry Pyeatt]

Yes. But for one thing, condensation is moisture, it forms in closed places and must be vented to dry it out or mold forms and then rot. So you need sealing hatches. The round hatch covers from West Marine are perfect. About $12 each.

[Barry Pyeatt]

Part of the challenge in using foam is the ventilation issues. Closing up the spaces tight and epoxying them, glassing them, etc. still has the same issue, condensation and mold/rot in the areas. A wooden boat needs to be ventilated or it will have more maintenance issues than normal. Those that are in the water moored are even more at risk. But one of the biggest mistakes with trailerable boats is the tendency to wrap/close them up tight over the off season without thinking about ventilating the boat. It doesnt' take long for moisture to begin to collect inside. And it just sits there without being noticed until they uncover it in the spring and it is black inside. Lots of surprises! Some of them really nasty.