Our boat won’t sink!
During a break in one of our recent navigation classes, I stumbled into a conversation with a couple of other sailors about life-rafts. Knowing that Rebecca and I were going to be heading out cruising, one of the guys looked at me and inquired if we had such an item. When I responded no, that we didn’t need one because our boat wouldn’t sink, he looked at me strangely and said “well, aren’t you cocky!”
I was half joking when I said that but the truth is that one of the key benefits to a well designed catamaran is its ability to stay afloat, with conditions that might sink a monohull, such as a big hole in the hull! I am not super up to speed on this subject, as the boat is still very new to us, but I do know that our PDQ has multiple flotation chambers, fore and aft, which in theory, will keep the boat afloat, even if one of them were seriously damaged.
Recently I remembered having a conversation with Katana’s previous owner where he had said that if he were going to be doing any serious off-shore sailing, he would fill these floatation chambers with sealed (lid on) empty 2L pop bottles. The idea being that if there ever were a large leak, the still-buoyant pop bottles would take up the majority of the space in the chamber, leaving little room for water to fill the tank. When I first recalled this idea I actually thought that I may have just dreamed it up. I actually emailed David to make sure I wasn’t crazy. Since receiving his reply that yes, the idea did come from him and that I wasn’t dreaming, I have read on the internet multiple people recommending the exact same solution for owners of other boats. Now, I wonder just how many pop bottles it will take to do such a thing?
So, the boat doesn’t need a life-raft because it wont sink, right? Well, there is always the danger of fire! THAT could cause a fairly big problem, and is one reason why many catamarans do actually cary life-rafts. We have however chosen not to as life-rafts are big, expensive and require periodic maintenance to keep them functioning up to spec. If the catastrophic ever did happen and there was a fire on board that couldn’t be dealt with by the multiple fire extinguishers that we carry, we would likely end up using our dinghy as a life-raft.
“Well, catamarans don’t sink but they do flip!”
That, of course, is the siren-song of many monohull proponents. And, it’s true. And unlike monohulls, which themselves can be inverted, large cruising cats tend to be just about as stable inverted as they are right side up, and thus stay that way. So what do you do in this case? Well, the old adage, stay with the boat, couldn’t be more true in this case. Many catamaran sailors (racers typically) have been found by rescue personnel, sitting relatively safely on top of their inverted cat.
So, what do we do about that? Prevention would probably be the first logical step. Don’t flip in the first place. That is where our soon-to-be-acquired Seabrake drogue might help out in super-bad conditions. One other idea that I got from David (I think it was from him and not one of those weird dreams) was to tightly (not dragging in the water) run a fairly large diameter, knotted rope underside the boat from bow to stern. In the worst-case scenario where we did flip in very bad seas, we would have something to hold onto to help us stay on top of the inverted bridge deck. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
By the way, don’t let all this talk of sinking, flipping and fire scare you. It doesn’t scare us. I personally think it’s statistically more dangerous for us to be driving to work today on the icy roads than it is to go sailing. And it sure as hell will be a lot warmer, that’s for sure!
Hmmmm… hope some island C&I agent doesn’t wonder if you are thinking about disposing of your gazillion pop bottles on their little island. Why not just use inflatable fenders instead. That way you have something of use as well and you can deflate them for storage.
Get 1 or 2 round ones in orange that you can also use as a drogue / sea anchor retrieval float.
Sounds like you have the liferaft issue pretty well covered. Only thing I can add is, we decided to go with a liferaft due to the possibility of needing crew for passages. Once someone elses life is in our hands, we feel like our personal needs become secondary to others in our care. I felt that I would sleep better on passage not worrying about explaining to a crewmember’s spouse’s attorney why I thought the liferaft wasn’t necessary. If you only plan to doublehand then no big deal. In fact Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard have made out fine without a liferaft and have published their thoughts on the subject.
It’s a personal decision and I don’t mean to pass judgement one way or the other on anyones choice. I just place a high value on sleep.
And in case I haven’t mentioned it before, I enjoy following your adventure and am amazed at how “on the ball” you two are. Cheers.
Hi Kirk.
First, thank you for the kind comment about us being “on the ball.” We have done a lot of research, and continue to do so. Of course, it’s all theory until we are “out there.” We are looking forward to being able to post some real-world stuff soon! 🙂
Now, about the fenders, although having something would do double duty would be nice, I’m not so sure we could do that. The inspection ports which give us access to the floatation chambers are not much larger than a pop-bottle. I will have to check once we get back on the boat.
I’m not sure I ever asked, or you didn’t volunteer… what kind of boat do you have, Kirk? I am just curious.
We have a Lagoon 440 “Ainulindale” Hull #162.
We dont have floatation chambers, rather water tight bulkheads that divide the hulls into chambers. Access throughout is pretty good. Additionally, we count on the buoyancy of the cored hulls for flotation.
Now, I think you did tell me that you have a Lagoon. VERY nice!
I am not sure of my terminology. What I am calling a flotation chamber may very well be a water tight bulkhead. I am not sure of the difference.
A bulkhead in this case is essentially a structural “wall” that separates the full hull into two or more compartments, like separating the stateroom from the rest of the hull. In the case of the L440, there is a bulkhead between the forward berths and the forward hull sections and a bulkbead that separates the aft staterooms from the engine compartments. These “walls” completely run side to side, bottom to top in each respective hull creating 3 separate watertight separations in each hull. If you hit something, say a submerged sea container or reef with the port bow and hole it, only the front compartment of the port hull could fill with water. In the case of the L440, there is a valved thru-hull in each watertight bulkhead that can be opened to drain the respective compartment into the bilge to the bilge pump.
Since each separate compartment actually has at least one hatch, I can climb into each one, so obviously it is easier to load them with fenders and other gear as opposed to pop bottles.
Hope that helps.
P.S. Kayak dan, this might interest you. http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/05raref.pdf
Thanks for the clarification, Kirk.
Kirk,
Thanks for the info. Visibility is always an issue in coastal kayaking.Our club always travelled as a “pod” when doing open water crossings. I had one close call in Boston harbor with a high speed ferry(35kts). Our fluorescent flags stern mounted on a staff definitely saved our butts. radar reflectors are definitely an improvement(also had a near collision within 15ft, with a sailboat in fog off Stonington ME.)
Which ever way you decide to go,dinghy or liferaft,make yourself a”ditch bag” that is kept handy for a quick exit. I’m putting ours together and it will include for the two of us
handheld VHF
bottled water-4 bottles
screwdrivers,pliers etc
flares
2 pairs sunglasses
sunscreen
2 teeshirts
2 towels
2 hats
waterproof case with at least $50 cash (rescued-now what? food-transport etc.)
first aid kit
6 energy bars
small tarp (sun shelter-signal device-catch rainwater)
duct tape
I’m sure there’s more,this is from memory,not my list.Probably overkill for coastal stuff we’re doing,but it’s cheap insurance. I won’t be dissapointed if I never actually use it!
Definitely Dan. We will need to organize that. I just mentioned this to Rebecca the other day after seeing Carol and Livia’s post on their blog:
http://thegiddyupplan.blogspot.com/2009/08/ditch-bag.html
Alinghi turtled. Apropos!
You know, I had a much harder time finding an appropriate photo than I thought I would when making this post. I made various google searches and found primarily racing Tris that had flipped.