Dumping keel and mast to make boat "unsinkable"

Kelvar Airbag..............................

WDH

 

mmmm... have anyone seen the National Geographics videos of "re-floating" some sinked ships? they use some kind of inflatable really big "bags"
Don't think it would be so difficult to find.
alas, the inflatable poles used for regatta signalization?
the kind of zodiac inflatable boats material?
even a couple rubber truck tires can do the job, lets check:
a standard truck tire camera 760/14 full inflated @ 1 bar holds about 1.10 / 1.20m3, at 5 bar it holds about 2.5m3 (do not try this, apart from risk of exploding, the external pressure force of about 5kg/cm2 may harm a lot of your cabin) you wouldn't need more than 4.... (just tell me, haven't you ever played at beach or river when you were a kid with one of this?)

 

What about mylar? That is what they use for wine-bags amongst other things as far as I know.

 

filling it with wine? not bad.... thought it has a 0.88 density respect water, can be a lot of fun, but don't think it will help as floating device...

 

Once upon a time, there was a Danish engineer who raised a sunken ship by blowing in styrofoam beads. Unfortunately, he was denied a patent because he got the idea from an old Donald Duck comic magazine.

Yoke.

 

Hehe, I thought I'd put it there, because if it can hold an acidic fluid, it must be pretty tough

 

SeaSpark,
The following is a quote...

"On boats, it has been well proven that the very distribution of weights athwartships and into the rig are in fact favorable to stability in a 'dynamic' environment. We have observed that boats that have been dismasted are much more likely to be rolled over. This is due to the lack of inertia (lesser roll moment of inertia) and the relative ease with which a heavy roll can be suddenly induced. This cannot be demonstrated by static analysis as one would normally expect, since the dismasted boat obviously has 'more' static stability without a mast - in the actual ocean though, it is the opposite."

from this page about a third of the way down under 'ROLL MOMENT'
http://www.kastenmarine.com/beam_vs_ballast.htm
The site was posted by someone in another thread. The guy seems to know a few things and according to this it would seem you might be accomplishing the exact opposite of what you want as far as safety. Sam

 

safety

This guy should also know it is more safe to stay on your boat for as long as possible before stepping in your liferaft.

 

SeaSpark, i love novel ideas as yours, it lubricates the brain cells and practices mind. But since you are taking all this trouble to save yourself
in a rather unlikely occurance, i would think that you would test it a few times to make sure it works.
I am just curious, how many times would you eject your mast and drop your keel, to make sure it works ok!
Ofcourse doing this on a sunny summer day, on flat water is one thing, and trying it in the dark of the night, with breaking seas, and water rushing in is another.

 

Didn't read the whole thread throw, and so don't know if this has been mentioned before.
Had a thought about your idea, and In think distributing the ballast partly, from 50/50 to 70/30, btw hull (or long keel) and lifting keel would give you the chance to keep your mast.

 

Ballast distribution

Very good idea, with a weighted centerboard/long keel configuration like this it should be possible:



My initial plan was to have a boat that could go faster than the speed determined by its waterline length with added headsails in fully crewed conditions. This is not possible with the hull shape shown above.

I can have impractical ideas.

 

Check the photo on steel boat construction. Looks like a much simpler solution. Build in steel and forget about it.
Brent

 

Guess who posted the picture:

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20860

At the moment i am thinking steel yacht with a fast sailing proa for dinghy to satisfy my need for speed. A single long narrow hull should be able find a place on the front deck of a 50ft yacht. The "outrigger hull" can fit in the main one.

If budget was not a concern i would fully investigate any other option, ehhh..... i am doing that anyway.

 

Somewhat unrelated

http://kitefilm.com/video/canoetrailer_256.wmv