flotation

Posted By: Gene Halpern ex-Nimble 20
Date: 2/10/08 1:47p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Good idea -- I've been considering an inner tube :-) (nm) (link) (Paul Miller, Nimble 20, Deland, FL)

It's quite obvious where the flotation is in the front of the N20. If you take a peek into one of those round access holes under the v-berth cushions, you will see foam right up to the top of that whole cavity. I never did find any sign of foam at the rear of the boat however. Perhaps there is some between the hull and liner, but even if that were the case, I like to see foam up a bit higher: in a swamping, you want the boat to float rather than turn turtle. One look at the pintles and gudgeons told me that it would not be a good idea to spray foam into that stern cavity---sooner or later someone was going to have to get to those nuts. I never thought the bags of peanuts would hold the boat afloat forever, but long enough to take some action. Inner tubes probably offer better flotation, but I've seen those things dry rot over a relatively short time. While there may not be any perfect solution, the problem is best undertaken when the boat is in the design stages rather than as an afterthought. The "pointy part" of the most forward part of the rudder rides just under the stern. Certainly that point serves some vital steering function---but I always thought that it also served to hold the rudder right in place while it is getting beat to death by some unsuspected hard bottom. In such a battle, the light hardware is going to lose out long before the rather stout rudder. If the rudder were allowed to bounce out freely (perhaps retained by a safety lanyard...) it would save many a pintle and gudgeon. I bounced the rudder one time against the bottom (at anchor; with an assist by a big wake from an idiot bass boat coming off plane) which resulted in the rudder bouncing out of just ONE of its gudgeons---which, of course, puts quite the strain on the other. I caught it before any damage was done, but the experience made me extremely wary of putting the stern of the boat in any place that had even the potential of becoming shoal. I spent a lot of time rummaging through catalogs of marine equipment looking for some stock item that would fix the P&G problem---to no avail. I suspect the Nimble factory did the same. Not to say that I ever minded spending hours paging through marine catalogs... I figure everyone here is guilty of the same weakness!