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Masthead Buoyancy
the Ralph Roberts option
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----- Original Message -----
From: Ralph Roberts
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 11:40 AM
Subject: masthead buoyancy alternative

Hi Al,

Just to add my solution to the mast/sailhead buoyancy situation. Attached is a photo showing my preferred option.




click here for larger image

A triangular piece of sailcloth is sewn on one side of the peak of the sail, stitched down the luff, and across the foot. A flap is added to the roach part of the piece of sailcloth which folds over the edge of the mainsail and is affixed onto the other side with Velcro. A blow up bag is inserted into the pocket to provide buoyancy. The advantage of this over a polystyrene-based buoyancy system is that the bag can easily be deflated and rolled up within the sail when packing away the main, as opposed to having to find somewhere to store any polystyrene based system.
 
The bottles are much cheaper, but do tend to look somewhat unsightly (or at least the ones I have seen), no matter what color they are painted. I would imagine the windage factor on them is much greater as well.

Best wishes, Ralph
----- Original Message -----
From: Al Schonborn
To: Ralph Roberts
Cc: Tom Graefe W9668 ; sam stirland
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 4:21 PM
Subject: masthead buoyancy alternative

Hi, Ralph:
 
A question from Welsh W, Sam Stirland, about Tom Grafe's MH buoyancy aid (so to speak) has at last moved me to create a separate MH buoyancy section of my WIT. In searching my email archives, I came across your system below - one that got lost in my post-Midwinters busy-ness. Love the picture which I will post later today in the WIT and in Monday's Weekly Whiffle.
 
One small point: What is the size, type and/or source of your inflatable bag?
 
Best regards,
 
Uncle Al  (W3854)


... are the Wayfarer World, the Mark III and the Mark IV special needs cases???!!!
----- Original Message -----
From: Ralph Roberts W9885
To: Al Schonborn W3854
Cc: Tom Graefe W9668 ; sam stirland
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 5:31 AM
Subject: masthead buoyancy alternative

Hi Al,

Your e-mail has caused me to have another think about sailhead buoyancy, the matter being very important to Wayfarer World (and possibly Mk IV) owners because once the boat inverts, it needs a crew weight of around 23/24 stone (Al's note: one stone = 14 pounds = 6.36 kg???) to bring it back to laying on its side. Mato and I, being around 11 stone each, had a considerable struggle to right his boat when we did a practice test on it. He also reported that in another experiment with his brother - probably of about the same total weight - even hoisting buoyancy (down) to the spinnaker exit on the mast using the spinnaker halyard, failed to make any significant difference to the level of difficulty in getting the boat back to lying on its side. (I have fitted a line to the very top of the mast, which I would use to get a couple of lightweight polystyrene fenders I have, down a little lower in the water. I have also fixed a line with a loop on it, around the boat under the gunwhale, which I can use to put over the tip the centreboard in an inversion situation, so that I could lean back much further to get additional purchase - though I have not tried this yet to see how effective it is in practice). 
 
So sail/mast head buoyancy to stop the boat inverting in the first place is rather a high priority for Wayfarers with internal, all-round buoyancy - which includes the Abbott Mk III as well.

I've just measured both the buoyancy bags I have, as well as the size of the pocket on the sail into which they are put. The larger of the 2 bags is a canoe buoyancy bag, and 34" along the 2 longest sides of the trapezoid, and 24" along the bottom edge (and 6" along the top - which is around the same measurement as the stitching for the sail reinforcement at the peak), and the smaller buoyancy bag - obtainable from 'Boats'n'Bits' in Norwich - is 21"(X2) X 19" X 6". Because the sail patch to form the pocket for the buoyancy bag is 26" (X2 for each side) X 23"(along the bottom), the larger bag can't be blown up much bigger than the smaller one, since it becomes impossible to fit it into the sail pocket. I think however that it would be worth my while looking into getting a second, larger pocket added on the other side, so if I do cruise single-handed again - when it would be virtually impossible for me to get the boat up from an inversion - then I could use the larger of the 2 buoyancy bags. A bit of testing here would obviously be useful, but it really needs doing in the realistic conditions, those in which one is likely to capsize, and also at sea in waves, which tend to make the boat more likely to invert when the hull is on the top of the wave, and the top of the mast in the trough, so setting everything up for a realistic test is far from easy. I keep planning to do it at the end of a cruise, as I would also like to know if (or how) all the extra weight I have in the boat affects a capsize. I'm planning to cruise the Irish coast next year, so hopefully I will get the opportunity to do this.

Best wishes, Ralph


----- Original Message -----
To: Ralph Roberts W9885
Cc: Richard Johnson W10139 ; Tom Graefe W9668 ; sam stirland ; John Mellor W1162
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 9:16 PM

Hi, Ralph:
 
Funny you should mention it because while I was admiring the neat, tidy reef jobs on your and John Mellor's boat in the Hebrides pic you sent, I was just thinking that sailhead flotation was not going to give you much in the way of leverage - particularly on a boat reefed as far down as John's is.



If I were going this route, I would be inclined to do what Richard Johnson recommends (the $5 masthead pool noodle) or go with the inflated bicycle inner tube Bill Abbott suggested to me way back when in 2002 - see item #2 at http://www.wayfarer-international.org/WIT/useful_skills_of_all_kinds/capsize/Capsizerecommendations2002.htm , i.e.  keep the buoyancy at the mast tip where it will always do the most good?
 
Must rush. Tonight's Weekly Whiffle calls.
 
Best regards,
 
Uncle Al  (W3854)