Re: flotation for P-15

Mac Davis (mcmd@innet.com)
Wed, 13 Oct 1999 16:16:28 -0400


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Greetings, all:
The general knock on inflatable floatation systems for keel boats is that
the upward thrust (buoyancy) needed to offset the weight of the boat's
structure (especially ballast keel) is so great that it exceeds the design
strength of the deck material and/or hull deck joint and causes structual
damage as it attempts to escape. This may or may not be a P15/P19 problem,
given the low total weight involved. Specially designed floatation bags are
made by Vetus, among other manufacturers. These have re-enforced tie downs
to allow them to be secured to the part of the boat that they are designed
to lift, rather than to the deck.

Regards,
Mac Davis, Kelpie, WWP19#804, Aripeka, Fl
<snip>
How about a couple of truck inner tubes, blown up after they are in
place?

They would not be too expensive, they are not going to absorb water
under any circumstances, failures would be easy to spot, they will
stay in place by themselves, and they are easy to remove if you need
to do some more work back there.

There are extender hoses for the valve stems, so you can bring the
valves out where they are easy to reach. Beware of over-inflation.
An inner tube in a confined space is capable of exerting a lot of
force. That's what they were designed for...

Has anyone already tried this? Absent advice to the contrary, I
intend to use this method the next time I have to work on the stern
from the inside.

<snip>