masthead bouyancy

Discussion forum for the Otter class of sailing dinghy

Moderator: aptanet

Post Reply
seahawk
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:06 pm

masthead bouyancy

Post by seahawk »

Hello,
has anyone had a capsize and the otter turning turtle real quick ?
this happened to me recently and the centre board which was raised going downwind
dropped into the slot ,could not pull up. the mast was stuck in mud so not the best situation!!

I was at my local sailing club,Durleigh so we pulled it over with the safety boat but if i was on my
own big problem.

I asked the question on the CVRDA site (which is very good ) about bouyancy for the mast,does
anyone know what size flotation would keep my mast on the surface,its an alloy bermudan rig .
i have looked at some of the floatation bags for sale, 9 litre or 40 litre seem most common sizes
for masts, does anyone use these ? i want to sort this problem if possible.
many thanks,
Dave. :)

fossil
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:34 pm

Re: masthead bouyancy

Post by fossil »

Hi Dave ,
I would like like to know the answer to this question also as yesterday I too had a capsize and the mast got stuck in the mud , we were lucky as there were two of us to get the boat up again but it was quite a struggle .

Regards
Ade

alant
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:32 pm

Re: masthead bouyancy

Post by alant »

seahawk wrote:Hello,
has anyone had a capsize and the otter turning turtle real quick ?
this happened to me recently and the centre board which was raised going downwind
dropped into the slot ,could not pull up. the mast was stuck in mud so not the best situation!!

I was at my local sailing club,Durleigh so we pulled it over with the safety boat but if i was on my
own big problem.

I asked the question on the CVRDA site (which is very good ) about bouyancy for the mast,does
anyone know what size flotation would keep my mast on the surface,its an alloy bermudan rig .
i have looked at some of the floatation bags for sale, 9 litre or 40 litre seem most common sizes
for masts, does anyone use these ? i want to sort this problem if possible.
many thanks,
Dave. :)
Anything 'heavy' up high, will increase the tendancy to capsize.
If your concerned, why not try an empty polythene milk carton tied to the top of the forestay.

ben
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri May 15, 2009 8:31 am

Re: masthead bouyancy

Post by ben »

A friend of mine at Coniston Sailing Club came up with a neat solution to this which worked a treat on his son's Topper. Two kids swimming armbands slipped over the top of the mast and inflated. His sone could walk on the mast without it turning turtle.

Post Reply