About bouancy

Discussion forum for the Otter class of sailing dinghy

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Titch
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Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:12 pm

About bouancy

Post by Titch »

In assessing the condition of Otter 543 I poked and prodded her a good bit, looking for bulkheads under the deck. I found none. Also there is no drain and bung for the foredeck chamber.

Does that mean that the the two side seats and the foredeck are actually not separated and form one big volume? Is that a problem?

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aptanet
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Re: About bouancy

Post by aptanet »

That sounds very much like the older of our two, with just a couple of small bungs at the after end of the side seats. I suspect the newer one may be different as it is one of the double skinned ones that I think has what I've seen referred to as integrated buoyancy tanks. This might end up being a pain as I need to get inside to do some hull repairs.

I'm no expert, but I doubt it is an issue under normal dinghy sailing. With cruising and being more heavily laden and sailing further afield (possibly, I know our club have a dinghy cruises round Hayling and to Priory Bay), perhaps it may be worth looking into filling the chambers with foam buoyancy. Something completely open gives you the option to fit buoyancy bags, which would be separate.
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Titch
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:12 pm

Re: About bouancy

Post by Titch »

Well, I can see that a bouancy test is high on the agenda for when I finally get the boat wet, sometime this month. And maybe a live capsize test too.

I once had a very unpleasant experience in a borrowed Wanderer with three passengers aboard. One of the pintles fell off the boat, resulting in a capsize. The aft bouancy tank was there but completely lacking in any seal. What should have been an easy self rescue turned into a near sinking. We all survived but I am now very careful to understand the bouyancy arrangements of any boat I sail, before I trust my life to it!

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