mast floatation

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mast floatation

Postby Roger » Tue May 20, 2003 11:56 pm

I purchased some spray type rigid foam insulation, which I hope to inject into the mast top tomorrow. I plan to drill out the rivits at the masthead and remove the casting temporarily. Has anyone done this and how far down the mast should I start spraying. I hope to find a polyethalene tube to attach to the spray container to inject it deeper, say about six feet, hoping this be adequate. I don't plan to sink the rail and capsize, but I guess no one does, so I'd like to hedge my bets. Any advice would be welcome.
Roger
 
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Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 6:36 pm
Location: Ninette Manitoba

Postby Guest » Wed May 21, 2003 3:52 pm

Sounds like a good idea, my computation comes to about one pound of flotation per foot of mast. Maybe 20 # for the whole mast, I think mast weighs more than that, mine is off boat and will weigh it this weekend, but little or not it may help. If you can get enough foam to block and seal top and bottom, thats all you need, but if jib halyard runs thru, like mine, you would have to seal above and below that. Maybe just also inject some in there and dig out enough to run the halyard back through again.??? Have a go and let us know!

DS 129 (ghampe-at-rcn.com)
Guest
 

Postby Guest » Wed May 21, 2003 4:47 pm

Roger, I think that when you remove the mast head casting you will find very little room to inject foam. O'Day stuffed a long piece of foam into the mast to provide some flotation already. I doubt it would come close to preventing the boat from turning turtle anyway, there isn't enough room in the mast to house enough foam to do that. O'Day used to have an optional safety device to prevent turtling, it was a balloon that was mounted at the masthead with a CO2 cartridge to inflate it. Problem was, it only worked once, and did not deflate after use!

Rod Johnson, SUNBIRD (rjohnson24-at-juno.com)
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Postby Roger » Wed May 21, 2003 9:04 pm

Well, you are both right. I drilled out the rivets this evening, only to find the mast already full of foam near the top, so I drilled out the rivets for the spinnaker halyard block and since the foam did not go as low as that, I injected some foam into there as well. I sailed a Petrel 12' several years ago, and it had a foam filled mast. When it went over, the mast would not sink, so I was hoping for the same luck should I experience a capsize with the DS. The Petrel only weighed in at 225# so that may have made a bit of difference as well.

Thanks for the input people.
Roger
 
Posts: 853
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 6:36 pm
Location: Ninette Manitoba


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