Whether you have a multihull or a small monohull, do you know whether your boat will float if it is completely full of water? How can you find this out before you are in a life-threatening situation? We beachcat sailors all seem to complacently accept that our boats will capsize but at least they will not sink. But is that definitely true? Nobody seems to know. I have recently heard that some of the newer, lighter, more high-tech cats, partly because of their hull construction, can definitely sink. So how can you be sure, aside from taking your boat out into relatively shallow water and deliberately trying to sink it? But nobody wants to do that, because if it really does sink, how do you get it floating again so you can get it back on shore? So if you have any doubt about whether your boat would float, do you stuff it full of styrofoam -- how do you know how much is enough?

My 1976 Hobie 16 had blocks of styrofoam built into it from the factory, plus it was made with fiberglass / foam sandwich construction. My Prindle 18 hulls contain no foam and I think it is solid fiberglass construction. The only hope for flotation with the Prindle would be if the bow or stern is pointed up to trap some air.
Jack (now you got me worried, Mary)

Hi Mary:

A simple and inexpensive solution are camping or mountain climbing cubitainers. They are collapsable water bottles that can be inflated once in your hull and provide dsiplacement that should help the boat limp to shore in the event of a hull failure.

MM

My first boat, a P18, yellow asym. hulls, #333.

While ~5mi offshore of West Beach, Galveston this boat began to take on water. I had a recent bottom job done, that had ruptured and leaked. To make a long stroy short, it floated after righting with the tops of the decks at the waterline, most everything underwater, but it floated my brother and I as a friend on a P16 towed the boat and us back to shore. It seemed that it had the floatation inherent in it not to sink, that was salt water however, may have made a difference.

I think someone should try it, take out the plugs, and inspection port lids, fully rigged, and see what it does, salt and fresh water. We could post it here in sort of a table format. I"m sure someone with a 6.0 could tell me their results 8'), it's be in the interest of safety research, let me know how your 6.0 does, I'll make a note.

Todd Bouton
N6.0na+
#111

the problem would then be getting the water out of the boat. Maybe the boat could be in shallow water and then you could replace the inspection ports and use an airpump (hopefully electric) to fill them mostly with air again. On my 6.0, the only holes in the hulls are the rear plugs and a rear inspection ports. The bulkheads would likely prevent air from escaping the bow of the boat if you just took the plugs and port covers off. That being said, it seems that it will be necessary to drill a hole in the bow of the boat ... I can't seem to find my drill at the moment but I'm pretty sure Todd has one. Let's use Todd's boat!

Mary,

If the risk of sinking is something that should be considered, what about using the flotation bags that are common in canoes and kayaks. Insert through the inspection ports and inflate.

you would have to have both hulls fail for the boat to completely sink. that being said, the best recommendation is to keep a radio, phone, and/or flares on the boat.

My TheMightyHobie18 has big foam blocks, one in each hull so that theoretically it would be pretty tough to sink it unless you broke both hulls so badly that these huge blocks would escape. Even then the boat would probably float.

David Ho
TheMightyHobie18 1067

Mary-

My first Sol Cat 18 sank on the first sail. There was flotation but the water overwhelmed it. They had apparently not sealed the sandwich hull/deck properly and the hulls filled with water. We ended up turtled about four feet below the water. So the mast was released when it snagged. The boat raised about a foot. Finally we were close enough to shore to swim for it. The boat got dragged to shore after a few hours of looking for it. They replaced the boat and sails. They also accused me of hiting something that caused the soft deck to rupture outward. When I said the water filled hulls may have caused unusual stress they shut up. I sold the replacement boat after one season and bought a Tornado. I really don't know how that boat stood up overtime.

That was myy first negative experience in catsailing the next came when i saw a family of five on a Sol Cat 18. All three children were under five years old. That same dealer told them the boat would not capsize or sink...according to the new owner. I never saw them after that.

thom

Some times it’s better if the boat sinks….

Our Solcat was sailed long and hard. It finally experienced major and catastrophic delaminating of its foam-sandwich hull construction.

After giving its all and sailing every mile it could possibly be sailed, a hull finally broke in two, at the front beam intersection. At that point the problem was: it WOULDN'T sink. NOT sinking meant we had to drag its broken and battered remnants back to shore. There we had to cut it up prior to burial in the local landfill, via the garbage can.

Thinking about it being cut up and waiting for the garbage collector still brings a tear to my eye and a quiver to my voice….. (Don’t worry, I’ll be OK. after my next whaaa-hooo sailing opportunity.)

Don’t you think, sinking with dignity, would have been a better suited and classier burial...???!!

Tom H.

I can remember hearing of a well known sailor who would pour acetone through the hull on his Hobies to get rid of the extra weight of the styro blocks. The a-tone would melt the foam and it would pour out the drain holes.

Anything to save a pound or two.

Tom-

Thats exactly where my SOl Cat 18 gave way as well. WHat year was yours?

Thom

One of the hulls of our first Hobie 16 split open along its keel (due to an accident on the trailer). We didn't notice the hull taking on water until it was too late and we capsized. With one hull full of water we could not right the boat because as it would begin to right all the water would ruch to the bow or stern and the bows or sterns would just sink. We eventaully were towed in by some friendly people in a motor boat. There was NO way the two of us could have righted the boat with the one hull full of water. The boat did not sink though...

Steve H.

Thom:

Our Solcat 18 was a 1978 or 9 (I think).

It really was a fun boat....with lots of forward floatation, due to those very long bows in front of the front beam.

It's low freeboard made for some exciting, wet and wild whaaa-hooo sailing....and there were lots of rigging adjustments to play with.

What did you do with yours after its unfortunate demise...???

Regards and Happy Thanksgiving to all.....

Tom H.

OK Jake,

Let's try it! C'mon down to Galveston Bay. We'll swamp'r and see!

Todd Bouton
N6.0na
#111

Tom-

After they drug the mast and sails out of the mud and decided it was a new boat and sails or litigation they gave me the boat in the pic. That was 1973 I think. I bought a couple of Sailcraft of Canada Tornados and sold the Sol Cat 18 to a guy I met on the beach. I don't know what happened after that for certain but I think I saw it under a tree all faded out. That boat did singlehand very well and you could fly the hull so high the jib lost air. The new boat didn't leak but the decks were soft on that one as well.

thom

I heard gasoline not acetone.

* Hobie 16's will float with both bows broken off at the crossbeams. It's like towing a wind chime though

* The pieces of old soft Gougeon Tornado's float after the boat breaks up. One nice thing about wood.

* Hobie 18's will sail with the first foot of both bows broken off. They do not point very well though.

* Reg White Tornado's will sail with one hull full of water and half the skin missing and only the sub deck holding the other togather. They go faster than a Hobie 18 with both bows broken off too.

* Marstrom Tornado's float with both hulls full of water. They reverse pitch pole if you are not careful though.

* H20's, P18-2 & N5.8 float with no bottoms. Hitting rocks or oyster reefs is a bad idea.

I seem to remember a couple of requirement that boats not sink. One was a US safety requirement and the other a general racing requirement from IYRU.

Mary... that was a great post....and I just smiled and smiled as I read it....

As I read it I thought you:

1. Have had lots of bad luck with boats....

2. Spent enough time on lots of boats to have had lots of "on the edge" experience...

3. Hang around some pretty wild and crazy boat driverds.... or

4. All of the above.

However, the question remainds...If you want to scuttle one that's given its all....how do you get it to sink...

Maybe fill it with sand and/or dirt and/or rocks? This is all experimental because most people do not deliberately try to sink their beach cats. There's probably a law against it -- like littering, or damaging the sea grass. In these parts, getting rid of a boat usually involves a chainsaw.

Yes, we had a boat that sank, but it was a big monohull sailboat that we were traveling and living on at the time. It was raised by inflating bags inside the boat and gradually lifting it with two tow-truck hoists.

I know, now you want to know why it sank. We were tied up to a new dock in the Hudson River. It had replaced an old dock, and somebody had neglected to remove some steel pilings from the old dock. They were below the surface of the water and were invisible because the water was opaque. While we were gone for the day, the old pilings dug a hole in our hull.

The reason I asked the question about beach cats is because somebody mentioned to me recently that some of the new, high-tech hull construction materials do not use foam core and may not have any inherent buoyancy -- and also do not have auxiliary flotation materials in the hulls. I don't know whether this is true or not, but it started me thinking about it because, as I said, nobody wants to try to sink their boat on purpose just to see whether it floats. So we just take it on faith that it will float. And the assurance or guarantee of a dealer or manufacturer is not going to be much comfort to me if my boat is sinking out from under me in the Gulf Stream.

Anyway, my original question, Do you know for sure you boat won't sink, was actually sort of rhetorical, because how CAN you know for sure? Do manufacturers cut a boat in half crosswise and put it in the water to see if the front and aft halves will float independently of each other? Seems like that would be a really good test.

If you are not sure whether your boat will float and you are worried about it, you should put some kind of flotation into your hulls -- maybe the inflatable bags that someone else suggested. Or you could fill it with that styrofoam packing "popcorn" or lots of lobster pot floats or whatever will fit through your inspection hatches. (If you are going to use little, loose things like that, probably better to put big plastic bags into the hulls, put the flotation stuff into the bags and then seal the bags.)