Here is a story that might help explain why flotation in a boat is so
useful. On a trip to Baja California (L.A. Bay) I was sailing a 12 ft.
boat called a Koralla Jr. It was a resin boat with full floatation under
the benches. The last day we were there I took a man and his daughter out
for a sail around some of the close in Islands. While we were out, I had
to go to the bathroom. I decided to pull into a cove I knew of on one of
the islands so I could go ashore and water a catus. I tied the boat up to
a rock, did my business and returned. On the way back I noticed that
despite quite strong winds, the boat was not performing well. We made it
back to shore and after letting off my passengers I opened up the cuddy
(storage compartment) up front to get something out. The hull was full of
water! It turned out that during my adventure on shore the boat had moved
over a rock and it had punched a 2 inch square hole in the bottom of the
hull. If the boat had not been filled with styrofoam it would have gone
straight to the bottom, with us flopping around in the bay with no more
than a couple of seat cushions for floatation. One of my main
considerations in purchasing the Potter was to get another boat with
floatation in it.
For the p-15 the problem with the factory floatation is that it apparantly
does not float the boat high enough to keep it from getting swamped over
and over again. This makes it difficult to get to shore with the boat,
and they often turtle when being towed in this state. I keep alot of
extra life jackets in the quarter-birth which should help some. Since I
tend to push the limits with my boat I like knowing it will float even if
it is filled with water. - Eric
Eric Zilbert
Davis "not by the sea" California
P19 #621 "Riptide"
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