Carl,
It sounds like you are talking about cruising cats. Obviously, a masthead float would not be practical for boats like that (and it would be a very rare thing for one of them to capsize anyway). But the MacGregor 36 masthead float is not large, not heavy, does not seem to add to heeling moment, has an aerodynamic shape, and it has been proven to work to prevent turtling. I don't know why some people discount masthead floats for these "big-beachcat-type" catamarans as being not practical, when they quite clearly ARE practical based upon real world experience.

The MacGregor masthead float was made out of fiberglass. If someone is concerned about weight aloft, make it out of carbon. Heck, if they can make a whole mast that weighs 40 pounds, you would think they could make a hollow float that would weigh no more than a pound.

If there is a concern about it causing drag and slowing the boat by some miniscule degree, why can't the designers and engineers work on designing a masthead float shape that would either have negative drag or would actually have upward lift and/or forward lift. Wouldn't that be a great challenge? -- to design something that would improve safety and also improve performance? I can even picture someone designing a masthead float that articulates to stay level as the boat heels, so that it continues to provide lift to the top of the mast.

Masthead floats are not popular as safety devices, but if they became the "in" thing as speed devices, we would have a lot more boats saved from turtling.

As you always say, Carl, it is fun to think about these things.