Mast flotation!
I know, I know, it's been discussed to the point of being beaten into the ground. I have posted on it some myself, once in a big way on another forum with tongue in cheek...
A couple weeks ago, I was messing with FX and flipped it in shallow water to try the righting bar that came on the boat. First, I got shocked by the way the mast hit the water. Bam! The hull in the air seemed to push the mast down even as much as the weight of the mast did. Long story short, the righting bar didn't work. There's not much good leverage. (I am 6' and 230 lbs.) I got kinda mad with it and almost snapped the fiberglass pole. Luckily one of its ropes snapped first (it was somewhat old). This righting pole is the one that pivots off the front crossbar. (Brand will not be mentioned.)
So... I am wondering about the dynamics of mast flotation/turtling. I assume that the weight of this mast and the width of the boat is about the same as the Tiger, the H17, or H18. I have not capsized this boat yet. I have sealed the mast. There are few boats in this area this size to compare notes with.
The boat was righted by having someone start the lift of the mast out of the water, then it was a piece of cake from there... without the righting pole.
I had considered putting the Universal Bob on it, but not too thrilled at drilling more holes in the mast. Plus if the Bob hit the water as hard as mast did for me, the rivets would certainly get ripped right out.
I am considering some kind of flotation bag attached to the mast tang... Not for use in high speed sailing, just for casual sailing. Don't think it would interfere with jib. My wife and family love to sail and are good swimmers but not great. We'd stay safe but I'd be in trouble big time with them.
Assuming some type of attached flotation would give me some moments to collect myself and everyone else and right the boat, of course.
So, what is wrong with simply attaching a flotation bag to the mast tag? And would it actually do any good? Any experience? Experiences? Anyone had any experience with mastfloat buoyancy bags like this:
I must say, that I love the Bob on the Wave. It make that boat so much more user friendly...