i550class.org

Interesting! Thanks for the heads-up, Tim.

I guess I'm going to start collecting beach balls...

Yep. That and I will close up the companionway and hatch in sporty conditions.

Is there a difference in buoyancy between woodys and glasses, or is it all about the air tanks. I suspect it is a minor difference...

Leon's Phatass had a knock down in South Africa. His keel wasn't locked down and the boat turned turtle, then flooded through the cabin. It ended up 'floating' on end just held up by an air bubble in the bow. It was reported on Leon's FB page.

All the glass, fairing compound, hardware and rig probably easily outweigh the buoyancy of plywood for an i550. Thus the buoyancy requirement in the class rules, which everyone (or nearly everyone) ignores. My own bot is unlikely to have airbags, but barring collisions it will be sailed with sealed under deck areas.

My "sealed" air tanks have become water ballast tanks, at least on the starboard side. Gotta get to the bottom of that, no pun intended.

As an option, the 48 liter Opti air bags have ~105 lbs of buoyancy. Last spring someone was selling these for 3 for $75.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=optimist+air ... _sb_noss_1

Holt (formerly Holt Allen) in the UK have a broad range of buoyancy bags: see https://holt.eu/documents/holt-hull-and ... alogue.pdf

Who might stock them in theUS is another matter. West marine used to, but doesn't anymore it seems. White water canoing bags are also an option, See the Mountain Equipment Coop web site, for example. I would think that coated nylon bags would be preferable to vinyl. There must be a lot of exposed machine screw ends under any i550 deck, just itching to poke a hole in a buoyancy bag.

I used Pilates balls from Walmart about $8 a piece ,very strong they come with pump stuff them all over the place and inflate part way .

Nice option Thomas. The big ones have about 50 lbs of buoyancy, and at less than 10 bucks a ball it's likely to be waaay cheaper than pukka flotation bags. The thick-walled balls are likely to be more abrasion resistant too.

Thanks Thomas, great idea!