most unsinkable sailboat

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Five tough boats that refuse to capsize

The unsinkable ships

The capsize test is a mandatory trial for lifeboats and search and rescue ships. The roll-over is also a very spectacular maneuver.

Lifeboat technology has come a long way. With modern engineering and high-buoyancy materials it's possible to make life-saving ships that won't go down even if the waves roll the boat.

Here are a few modern vessels that refuse to capsize:

RNLI Shannon-class

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution Shannon class lifeboat passes the capsize test with flying colors.

Safehaven Interceptor 48

The Safehaven Marine built Interceptor 48 was put to the test with her crew inside.

RNLI Tamar-class

Another Royal National Lifeboat righting itself.

Damen SAR 1906 for Turkish Coast Guard

The Dutch yard Damen has taken the test to another level. It rolled-over the Search and Rescue Vessel 1906 with the engines running. The tests were performed in Antalya, Turkey in cooperation with the Turkish Coast Guard in addition to engine manufacturer MTU.

Damen KNRM NH 1816

Rescue boat NH 1816 built by Damen for Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution during the capsize test.

Are Sailboats Unsinkable? (What’s The Truth?)

Anytime I see a boat that has sunk, I feel a bit of sadness inside. That boat was once filled with joy and now it sits at the bottom of the ocean. Just think at one point that boat was new and in perfect condition and now it is trashed. It’s a very sad sight indeed. When it comes to sailboats, there is a lot of concern about safety and sinking. If your sailboat was taking on water what would you do?

As a general rule consider all sailboats sinkable for safety reasons. There have been a few sailboats designed by Etap that are unsinkable but the majority of all sailboats can sink. Check with your boat’s manufacturer for more information on the build of your vessel.

When it comes to safety always be prepared when your boat is taking on water. Even if you think your boat can’t sink, be prepared if it does. Remember the Titanic?

This article will talk about sailboats and what to do if your boat starts to sink. I will also talk about my personal experience when my Catalina 22 took on a lot of water and almost sank. Let’s talk about that first.

My Experience With A Sinking Sailboat – True Story

I bought my first sailboat back in Idaho, read about it here , about 8 years ago. It was 22 feet and amazing. I didn’t have much experience with sailing or sailboats but I did have a few lessons about sailing before I purchased it.

I spent the early months of the year getting it ready for its slip on the lake in Idaho. Around April, I decided to put it into the water and start my summer sailing. This was a great day, at least at the beginning it was.

I had a couple of friends joining me as well to help celebrate this joyous occasion.

When you put your sailboat in the water there are quite a few things you need to check and one of those things is checking for leaks. I did not do this because I was young and stupid. I did not do enough research about sailboats and how to manage them and this set me up for panic.

We put the boat in the water and motored over to the docks. Everything was going great. Once we got to the docks, we noticed the outboard motor was not spitting out water. Unable to get a good internet connection to research this, we asked other sailors on the dock for help.

People around the sailing marina were extremely friendly and happy to help.

After looking at the engine they decided it was probably a problem down in the prop area that pulls water up into the engine. They suggested driving over to another marina and seeing if they could take a look at it. While we were troubleshooting this engine and from the moment we put the boat in the water, there was a major leak happening that we still had not realized.

I continued to check out the engine because I felt like the problem was something else, something that the previous owner told me about but I forgot. After looking at the hole where the water comes out for some time, I noticed something. There was no hole for the water to come out of. It had a small rubber plug stopping the water. I believe the previous owner put it in when the boat was in storage to keep bugs out. After removing this plug the motor ran great!

But that is when everything started to go into panic mode. After fixing the engine situation, I finally went below deck to organize everything and found the leak. In my Catalina 22, there is a step into the cabin that has a removable wood panel. This is where the battery box sits in the hull of the boat. When I took off that panel the water was already at the top of the opening.

PANIC! The boat was sinking or at least about to sink. I yelled at my friends to drive over to the ramp and get the trailer in the water, I was going to make a run for it in the boat. Thankfully the engine started right up and had decent speed. It was only about 100 yards to the boat ramp but I felt like the boat would go under any second.

Thankfully we were able to get it on the trailer before it went under.

Turns out, the bilge pump had become detached from the hose that dumps over the keel. The force of the water when putting the boat in must have forced it off. It could have been a quick fix if I had just checked when we first got it in the water. Live and learn or just better prepare next time.

I did eventually get the boat leak corrected and back to its slip before the sun went down, but it was a very long day in the end.

What would I have done if it did sink?

How Do You Salvage A Sunken Boat?

There are two ways to salvage a sunken boat, hire a professional or do it yourself. A professional will charge you based on the location and size of your boat, which could cost up to $5000 and beyond. If you do it yourself, you will have to rent or buy the necessary equipment to do it.

Anytime I see a boat that has sunk, I feel a bit of sadness inside. That boat was once filled with a bunch of people having a great time and now it sits at the bottom of the ocean. Just think at one point that boat was new and in perfect condition and now it is trashed. It’s a very sad sight indeed.

If your boat has sunk, time is of the essence. The longer the boat is fully submerged in water the more damage it will take. You need to get it afloat and back to shore as soon as possible.

The first thing you should do is call your insurance company. If you plan on hiring a salvage yard to retrieve your boat, maybe your insurance will help with the cost and be able to recommend a company in the area.

If you want to do it yourself, there is risk involved. The risks involved are safety and more damage to your boat. Since you are not a professional and have probably never retrieved a sunken boat, there is a good chance you could hurt yourself or break the boat even worse. Don’t do this unless you are confident you know what you are doing.

Follow the steps in the next section to retrieve your sunken vessel.

5 Steps To Retreive A Sunken Boat

These steps are a recommendation only and have no guarantee of any kind. Your boat and safety are your responsibility.

You will need a rope or chain to attach the recovery vessel to the sunken vessel. Attach these lines to the strongest parts of the boat to help avoid damage.

Next, you will need some type of flotation device to attach to the sunken boat. Make sure you have multiple floatations to attach to your vessel. Once they are attached you will need to fill them with air. See about bringing an air compressor to fill these underwater. Once they are filled, the boat will rise some.

If at all possible, see if you can do any sort of repairs to the leak/ hole in the boat. This will help new water from entering once it is afloat.

Once the boat is high enough in the water, add pump-out lines to the vessel to start pumping out water. The pumps should be strong enough to pump out enough water (before more gets in) to make the boat reach the surface.

When the boat has reached the surface and seems to be buoyant again, safely and very carefully tow it to shore.

These steps are general and a good starting point if you plan to do it yourself, but please consult an expert if possible.

In Conclusion

This article discussed sailboats and if they are unsinkable. As a general rule, treat all boats as sinkable. Even if the manufacturer says it is not. This will help keep things and people safe when sailing. If your boat does sink, they are a couple of ways to retrieve it, hire a professional or do it yourself. If you plan to do it yourself, please be careful! Cheers!

Boatlifehq owner and author/editor of this article.

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Entertainment, miscellaneous, what boats are unsinkable.

Few things can fill a boater with more fear than seeing water pour into the hull, but witnessing water rush into the hull is one of those things. When traveling in an antiquated vessel, collision with floating objects or the ocean floor can be deadly; but, in an unsinkable boat , such a collision will merely be an annoyance. Which boats are completely safe from sinking? By law, the Coast Guard and Congress have mandated that any boat less than 20 feet in length that is designed for use on the ocean must be unsinkable. Unsinkable boats measuring up to 37 feet in length are being produced by several manufacturers, including Boston Whaler, Edgewater, and Everglades. What does it take to make a boat unsinkable? Why is it so difficult to locate a larger boat that is unsinkable? Who are some of the top manufacturers of great unsinkable boats ? Here are the answers to these questions and more.

Unsinkable Boats Under 20 Feet Are Required By Law

Unsinkable construction is required by law for boats that are less than 20 feet in length. Because of the increased potential for these boats to capsize with little effort, the Coast Guard and Congress have mandated flotation standards for all vessels. Before these rules were put into place, if a boat had a hole punched through its bottom or if a pipe on board burst, it might sink in an extremely short period. In the 1970s, these regulations were established, and it is estimated that they have been responsible for saving the lives of many thousands of people.

Unsinkable Boats Over 20 Feet Are Popular

As time has progressed, there has been an increase in the number of boat enthusiasts who desire unsinkable boats. At the same time, technological development is continuing to make it simpler to construct boats that are immune to sinking. As a consequence of this, there is currently a substantial inventory of unsinkable motorboats from which you can select.

Unsinkable boats are an extremely important investment for novice sailors. The thought of getting into a speedboat for the first time might be nerve-wracking enough without adding the additional concern that it might capsize. The fact that a boat will continue to float even if it capsizes, gets a hole, or is submerged in water might set the mind of a newbie at ease and make them more willing to make a purchase.

Because individuals new to boating typically begin with more manageable vessels, the market has had a lot of reasons to compete to develop unsinkable power boats that are less than 30 feet in length. If a boat of this size is not unsinkable, there is a significantly smaller chance that beginning sailors will be interested in purchasing it.

Can a Boat Be Made Unsinkable?

The sinking of the RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner, is likely familiar to the majority of readers. You have, at the very least, been familiar with the movie Titanic, which was released in 1997. The ship Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14, 1912, when it was traveling in the North Atlantic Ocean. Philip Albright Franklin, vice president and chairman of International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM), is famous for assuring friends and family members who were concerned about the boat's safety that it could not sink. A few hours later, the Titanic sank, taking with it the lives of more than 1,500 passengers and crew members. Regardless, that was more than a century ago, and we now have the technology to construct a boat that is completely watertight and cannot capsize. "unsinkable" boats have been around for hundreds of years, even though people don't typically think of these boats as "boats" in the traditional sense.

Factors that can make a boat unsinkable

When it comes to the construction of an "unsinkable" marine vehicle, Boats.com identifies six criteria that must be taken into consideration:

• 1. The pace at which water can enter the area is also known as the "flooding rate."
• 2. The speed at which water is pumped out is also known as the "pumping rate."
• 3. Constructing watertight bulkheads or compartments that, despite the flooding of other bulkheads or compartments, will continue to maintain their buoyancy.
• 4. Construct foam flotations within the core of the boat or add them to regions of the boat that are considered to be dead space.
• 5. Put the float bags in compartments that can have CO2 gas pumped into them from a distant location.
• 6. The boat's margin lines are key places at which it will no longer float since it has reached its maximum capacity.

Unsinkable Boat Brands

The following is a list of some of the most unsinkable motorboats , along with information on how their very resistant hulls are constructed.

Another firm that has created a fantastically buoyant boat by utilizing today's latest breakthroughs in computer technology is this one. They make use of a pre-formed foam that forms a bond with the fiberglass in the hull.

After that, this framework is covered in fiberglass, and the majority of the space beneath the deck is crammed with foam. On boats that are longer than 20 feet, additional foam is provided so that the boat can remain stable even if it fills up with water. This is done to prevent capsizes.

The Everglades technique, which is patented, results in a hull that is almost entirely composed of a single piece.

The hull, the deck, and the transom are each given their pre-molded foam core that is made in their respective shapes. After that, the hull and deck are positioned on top of them, and the entire structure is vacuumed and sealed to produce a molded core that is exceptionally airtight. The manufacturers claim that by utilizing this method, they can exert a great deal of control over the quality of the foam core and achieve an exceptional level of durability. As a result, the boat will be able to withstand a significant amount of wear and tear. All boats in the Everglades up to 24 feet in length are eligible for this treatment.

Boston Whaler Boats

This is the firm that started the demand for unsinkable boats many years ago, and ever since then, they have been working to produce very buoyant boats of a variety of sizes and types. They sandwich foam between layers of fiberglass utilizing their proprietary process, which is known as UniBond. After the hull and deck have been joined together, liquid foam is injected, which triggers a chemical reaction that bonds the glass and foam together. This happens before the resin has even had a chance to cure.

What is the most unsinkable boat?

There is a good reason why the Boston Whaler is known as the most famous boat that cannot sink. This is the firm that started the demand for unsinkable boats many years ago, and ever since then, they have been working to produce very buoyant boats of a variety of sizes and types.

What center console boats are unsinkable?

Boston Whaler boats, sometimes known as "The Unsinkable Legend," are so durable that they can be sliced in half without sinking. Boston Whaler, which is a division of the Brunswick Group, is now manufacturing center console fishing boats with lengths ranging from 15 feet (the Montauk 150) to 420 feet (the Outrage), with the Outrage being their largest model.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. are all boats unsinkable.

Is it possible to make a boat that cannot sink? However, it does require some forethought and meticulous attention to the myriad of engineering aspects. Boats that take in too much water eventually capsize and sink. And even if there is only the tiniest crack, water will rush in and completely swamp a boat in an astonishingly short amount of time.

2. What is the safest boat in the world?

The Kraken 50, which has been marketed as the "safest blue sea yacht built today," has now been put into production. The K50, in contrast to all of her contemporaries, features the one-of-a-kind "Zero Keel" construction: A hull and keel that are molded into one piece, complete with scantlings to match.

3. Are there any unsinkable boats in the world

The following is a list of some of the most unsinkable motorboats, along with information on how their very resistant hulls are constructed. There is a good reason why the Boston Whaler is known as the most famous boat that cannot sink. This is the firm that started the demand for unsinkable boats many years ago, and ever since then, they have been working to produce very buoyant boats of a variety of sizes and types.

4. What to do if your boat is unsinkable?

Even though there were just a few through-hulls to inspect, and each of them appeared to be whole, the water level on the inside of the boat continued to increase for some unknown reason. As the boat's crew was unable to locate the source of the flooding and put a stop to it, they radioed for assistance. Fortunately, a passing commercial vessel was able to respond with a large diesel salvage pump after hearing the boat's distress signal.

5. Is it possible for a boat to sink?

However, it does require some forethought and meticulous attention to the myriad of engineering aspects. Boats that take in too much water eventually capsize and sink. And even if there is only the tiniest crack, water will rush in and completely swamp a boat in an astonishingly short amount of time. Because water can quickly fill a boat and cause it to sink, the processes for dealing with flooding need to be both swift and straightforward.

Wrapping Up

Few things can strike a boater with dread, like seeing water pour through the hull. When traveling in an antiquated vessel, collision with floating objects or the ocean floor can be deadly; but, in an unsinkable boat, such a collision will merely be an annoyance. S9 we hope you will get to know more about what boats are unsinkable .

Are you searching for a boat rental? If yes, then this article is best for you

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Trying to sink an unsinkable boat

• Chris Beeson
• July 2, 2015

It’s every sailor’s nightmare: holed and taking on water. For Chris Beeson, the unsinkable Etap turned this sinking feeling into an unusual spa session

The Etap 21i sailing with her normal freeboard, before we opened the seacocks and attempted to scuttle her Credit: Lester McCarthy/YM

I thought it would feel stranger than it did, wading knee-deep through a flooded boat. While we were being towed out to the Needles, where we’d planned to founder, I was half expecting some mental switch to trip as the water started gushing in, overwhelming me with primal panic. Corporal Jones from Dad’s Navy, I thought. In the event, it was no more alarming than wallowing in a strangely shaped bath with several other men. Scary enough, but some way short of a crisis.

The bunk locker lids were barely awash when the water ingress stopped

The drama was limited first by the fact that we weren’t allowed to whack gaping holes below the waterline. The new owners of this boat, Grahame and Janine Mason, were understandably reticent about that. They did, however, kindly allow us to open the seacocks in an attempt to send their pride and joy to the bottom. And they did, sensibly, specify that we did so before they took delivery. The UK West Country broker of this yacht, Yachts of Dartmouth, set the wheels in motion.

We were towed out to the Needles by the SeaStart RIB. SeaStart was there to act as a photo-boat but aboard the Etap, I felt a good deal more comfortable knowing that there was something powerful, inflatable and fast nearby should anything go wrong. Once in position – and with nobody having said: ‘Actually, this is a daft idea. Let’s go back, eh?’ – we opened the seacocks.

We expected the seacocks to gush, but they merely dribbled

I was expecting something akin to ‘Old Faithful’ to erupt from the valve, bringing chaos with it. I had imagined the engine room scene from Noel Coward and David Lean’s wartime classic In Which We Serve . The reality was, frankly, disappointing, more like someone spilling a glass of water. This was the second drama limitation. When boats are holed and sinking, the hole is much larger, usually hidden behind joinery, and the ingress much faster.

It took a good 15-20 minutes for the flares canister to start bobbing about

Having established that we needed to slow to a stop to get any decent ingress, the flooding began. The boat took a while to fill up, even with both the sink and the larger heads seacocks open. It was a good 15-20 minutes before the flare canister started bobbing around. Within half an hour the lids of the bunk lockers began to open and shut with water pressure as the boat rolled in a gentle swell. After 45 minutes, the seacocks were no longer letting water in. We were as low as we could go.

The boat took a long time to fill up – even with all three seacocks open

We had a quick bash at sailing but the lack of wind prevented us finding out how her performance was affected by the extra load. Gert, the Etap representative onboard, has done this a few times, most notably in a 24ft Etap, crossing the Channel twice in a day with the boat flooded. He estimated that flooding slows the boat down by 1 knot, not bad considering he reefs to reduce strain on the rig.

Even flooded to the waterline, there was still plenty of freeboard thanks to the closed-cell foam that fills many of her cavities

Once we had all the photos we needed and the novelty of sinking had worn off, the seacocks were closed and the bailing began. We used a 14-litre bucket, scooping on average 8-10 litres each time. The last 30 buckets, filled using a bailer, were brim-full. We emptied 260 buckets in 40 minutes then mopped up the remainder with a sponge. A quick, approximate calculation suggests there were over 2,000 litres of water inside.

A rough calculation of the number of buckets we bailed suggested we took on 2,000 litres of water

Other than the fact that Etap does indeed make unsinkable boats, I’m not sure what we learned. I was hoping to vaccinate myself to the shock of a boat flooding so that, should the nightmare ever strike, I’ll be clearer headed. As it turned out, the height of the drama was a slightly damp mobile phone.

Tech Specs -Etap 21 i (Hull no. 549)

LOA: 6.56m (21ft 6in)

LWL: 6.10m (20ft)

Beam: 2.49m (8ft 2in)

Draught: tandem keel: 0.7m (2ft 4in); fin keel: 1.3m (4ft 3in)

Displacement: tandem keel: 1,230kg (2,712lb); fin keel: 1,180kg (2,601lb)

Ballast: tandem keel: 350kg (771lb); fin keel: 300kg (661lb)

Sail area: 23.9m 2 (258sq ft)

RCD Category: B/C

Price: £30,000 (new, in 2007)

Website: www.etapyachting.com

BUILDING THE UNSINKABLE

Spaces between inner and outer skins of hull and deck are packed with closed-cell polyurethane foam

Etap is the only builder of unsinkable yachts and is currently (2007) seeking a Lloyds certificate to that effect. Sadler Yachts used to have a claim to this title before it ceased production but, according to the only standard of unsinkability (that of the French Merchant Marine), unsinkability means that freeboard is reduced by less than 3% of LOA when flooded. Sadlers, though they wouldn’t actually sink, would flood close to deck level.

‘Unsinkable’ means freeboard is reduced by less than 3 per cent of LOA when flooded

The secret lies in the construction. The whole Etap range, from 21-46ft, uses double-skinned hulls and decks. The spaces between the two skins, and several other pockets throughout the hull and deck, are packed with closed-cell polyurethane foam.

This Etap 38i struck a reef and stuck fast while sailing in the Red Sea

Even if the hull is breached, only the foam damaged by the impact will absorb water. The rest of it, even when exposed to water rather than protected by GRP, has a maximum moisture absorption of 2% after 24 hours.

She was hauled off the reef and remained afloat, though flooded, as she was towed to safety

The result is an unsinkable boat, but there are other benefits. The boat is much stiffer as a result. Also, the foam acts as excellent insulation. It’s warmer below in winter and cooler below in summer. You can leave bedding on an Etap all winter and it will be condensation-free when you return in spring.

Of course, the extra design, materials and labour that go into building an Etap make this a fairly expensive 21-footer but, it you want to, you can buy peace of mind.

DISASTER-PROOFING

Watertight bulkheads

All new ocean racing yachts are fitted with watertight bulkheads. These are sealed, internal bulkheads with a lockable, watertight hatch and as few cable ducts as possible placed as high as possible. To be effective, at least two are required, dividing the boat into roughly equal volumes so that, should one area flood, there is sufficient volume left unflooded to maintain buoyancy. It’s rare for cruising owners to request watertight bulkheads but the more expensive boatbuilders can fit them during build.

Flotation bags

This is a well-established, relatively inexpensive and very effective method of creating buoyancy. These durable bags are easy to store when deflated and can be inflated with carbon dioxide from a SCUBA tank and secured either to anchor points inside the hull or to slings beneath the hull using webbing strops attached to the bags. As GRP supports 25% of its own weight in seawater, you need enough bags to support at least 75% of the boat’s displacement.

PUMPING POWER

A good engine-driven bilge pump will shift about 40 gallons per minute under ideal conditions. The average hand-operated one will only pump half that quantity.

Bilge pump ratings in the manufacturers’ claims are usually for 60 pumps per minute against no resistance, and with no need to lift the water (to a particular height above sea level) before discharging it. A head of 7ft will halve the output.

Any length of piping will rapidly reduce the efficiency of the pump, as length of pipe plays an important role in generating the resistance against which the pump is working.

Just to depress you further, you cannot pump faster than the time it takes the pump to fill and empty. Otherwise the pump loses efficiency. The classic ‘frightened man with a two-gallon bucket’ will shift about 20 gallons a minute. That involves lifting and throwing 20lbs of water every six seconds.

GOING DOWN: FACTS AND FIGURES

The flow of water through a hole is directly proportional to the fourth power of the radius of the hole. A two-inch hole will let in four times as much water as a one-inch hole.

If the hole letting in the water is bigger than the smallest part of the bilge pump pipework, you will surely sink unless you can make the hole smaller.

At a depth of three feet, a hole just one inch in diameter is estimated to pass 34 gallons a minute. Over an hour, that amounts to 2,040 gallons.

Best Sailboats For Lakes

Lake sailing is a popular recreational activity, and it's easy to get started. But which sailboats are best for freshwater lakes?

The best sailboats for lakes are the Optimist dinghy, the Sunfish racing sailboat, the Herreshoff 12 1/2, the West Wight Potter 15, the West Wight Potter 19, and the Cal 20 sloop.

In this article, we'll review six of the best small sailboats for cruising on lakes. Additionally, we'll go over the qualities to look for when choosing a lake sailboat, along with how to choose the right boat size for your sailing destination.

We sourced the information in this article from boat design and identification guides along with our experience sailing American lakes.

Table of contents

‍ What Makes a Sailboat Good for Lakes?

There are a few things that most lake sailboats have in common. For one, they're trailerable—and thus enable the owner to pull them out of the water and store them in a reasonably small space. They must be light enough to fit on a trailer and also have a centerboard or swing keel and collapsible mast.

Additionally, they must be light and nimble on the water and handle well. Lakes don't have consistent wind like oceans do, so lake sailboats must be able to utilize small amounts of wind but also contend with the occasional gust. In a way, lake sailboats have to be more carefully designed than larger ocean-going boats.

The largest lake sailboats have a small cabin with a berth and a place for a stove and possibly a sink. These small cabin cruisers are ideal for camping, and they're the best type of lake sailboat for large lakes and extended cruising.

Smaller recreational boats have open tops and are easy to sail. Their small size makes them relatively safe and also easy for beginners to handle. Many of them are filled with positive flotation foam, which makes them virtually unsinkable. These are the best kinds of open-top boats for lakes.

There's a difference between a practical lake sailboat and a fine lake sailboat. Classic sailboats are considered fine lake sailboats in the sense that they're valuable and fun for experienced sailors. These vessels are less suitable for beginners and recreational sailors, as they require skill to operate and maintain.

The best kind of lake sailboat for most people is a medium-sized lightweight fiberglass sailboat. These boats have been produced by various manufacturers in many configurations, and tens of thousands still exist on lakes and rivers around the country.

Do Lake Sailboats Have to Be Small?

Not necessarily—it all depends on the size of the lake and the intentions of the sailor. Full-size ocean-going sailboats can be found on some of the nation's bigger lakes, such as Lake Michigan and even Lake Cumberland.

But in most cases, the size of lake sailboats is limited to about 22 to 25 feet. A boat in this size range can sail anywhere that ski boats and pontoon boats can operate.

Best Sailboats for Small Lakes

Small lakes have the least flexibility when it comes to sailboat selection, and for obvious reasons. Thankfully, there are tons of great small sailboats that work well on small lakes. Plus, these sailboats can be carried by a couple of people and stored in a garage. Here are two of the best sailboats when navigational space is limited.

1. Optimist "Opti" Dinghy Sailboat

The Optimist is one of the most popular youth and instruction sailboats ever built. It's small, lightweight, and (almost) impossible to capsize under normal circumstances. The boat itself is basically a fiberglass (or wooden) box with a slanted bow and a centerboard.

The Optimist dinghy measures 7 feet 9 inches long and 3 feet 8 inches wide. It weighs just 77 pounds dry and has a 7-foot aluminum mast. It utilizes a spirit rig, which is a simple two-spar system that reduces the height of the mast.

The centerboard, mast, and tiller come off with little effort, and the vessel is essentially unsinkable. This makes it perfect for kids and teenagers who don't know how to sail or for smaller adults who just want a cheap little sailboat to cruise around the lake.

Optimist dinghies are remarkably easy to sail and offer a great platform for learning the basics of tacking, windward sailing, and sailboat recovery. They're available widely on the used market, as over 150,000 have been produced over the years. Plus, it's a popular racing boat, and hundreds of them show up for regattas around the world.

2. Sunfish Sailboat

The Sunfish is the ideal upgrade from an Optimist, and it's much more suitable for adults. Sunfish sailboats are designed for racing, and they're significantly larger than sailing dinghies. They require more skill to operate, but they're a ton of fun on the water and easy to master.

The Sunfish is designed for a crew of one or two adults, though it can be easily operated by just one. The hull is 13 feet 9 inches long and 4 feet 1 inch wide, and it weighs 120 pounds dry. In other words, two adults can easily lift this boat in and out of the water, and it's small enough to navigate small lakes.

The Sunfish has a lateen sail, which is an ancient design that's easy to rig and reduces mast height. For its size, the Sunfish has a very large sail area. This makes it efficient in light winds but also quite squirrelly in gusts. However, careful attention can prevent capsizing—and capsizing the Sunfish isn't actually a big deal. Simply stand on the centerboard, grab the boat and lean back to right the vessel.

Sunfish are common on the used market, as thousands have been produced since 1943. You can still buy a new one from Laser Performance for under $5,000, and used Sunfish are available for much less.

Best Sailboats for Medium-Sized and Large Lakes

People who want to sail on large lakes have a ton of flexibility in the kind of boat they use. Some people sail small sailboats, like the Sunfish or the Optimist, near shore in large lakes. However, large lakes can also accommodate much bigger boats with better accommodations, up to and including full-size cabins. Here are the best sailboats for large lakes.

1. Herreshoff 12 1/2

{{boat-info="/boats/herreshoff-12-12"}}

The Herreshoff 12 1/2 is a beautiful classic boat with incredible handling capabilities and excellent efficiency. The Herreshoff 12 1/2 is essentially a pocket ship, as the hull is designed in the same way that classic full-size ocean-going sailboats were.

The Herreshoff 12 1/2 features a full-length displacement keel and a spacious cockpit, as there's no centerboard trunk in the way. It's also remarkably stable and suitable for use in dodgy weather. This vessel is open-cockpit and doesn't include a cabin, though some people use a boom tent to go camping aboard.

Despite being similar in length to the Sunfish, this vessel is not even in the same class. It's a full gaff rig and includes a headsail and traditional rigging. More experience is required to operate one of these sailboats, as it's a scaled-down version of a full-size cruising boat.

However, once you learn to operate the pulleys, you'll find that sailing a Herreschoff 12 1/2 is a joy in almost all wind conditions. It's small enough to use on medium-sized lakes and to tow on a trailer, and it's stable enough for comfortable and safe sailing for the entire family. Four adults can sit aboard, and it can be piloted by just one.

If you're looking for a beautiful and classic lake sailboat with ocean-going seaworthiness, it's tough to go wrong with a Herreschoff 12 1/2. These vessels are available on the used market starting around $5,000 to $10,000, and most of them can be found in New England.

2. West Wight Potter 15

{{boat-info="/boats/west-wight-potter-15"}}

The West Wight Potter 15 is a fiberglass trailerable sailboat that was designed to be safe, fun, and easy to transport. These vessels are designed for stability, and they're unsinkable thanks to positive floatation foam. Additionally, the West Wight Potter 15 is one of the smallest sailboats you can buy with a cabin.

This 15-foot boat uses a Bermuda rig, similar to what you'll find on the vast majority of large recreational sailboats. The mast and standing rigging was designed to be extremely easy to deploy and stow, making it a great weekender for low-stress operation.

Additionally, the West Wight Potter 15 has a very shallow draft and a centerboard, making it suitable for beaching at the lake. West Wight Potter sailboats have very few unnecessary metal parts, and thus they're extremely light. Most standard full-size cars and trucks can tow this vessel without trouble.

The West Wight Potter 15 was produced until recently, and there are hundreds on the used market that you can purchase. Prices fluctuate widely, but a West Wight Potter 15 in usable condition can be found for $3,500 to $15,000.

3. West Wight Potter 19

{{boat-info="/boats/west-wight-potter-19"}}

If you're looking for a larger centerboard cruiser with better accommodations, then the West Wight Potter 19 is an excellent choice. This vessel follows the basic design principles of the West Wight Potter 15, but the cabin is much more spacious. Additionally, the rigging sets up and disassembles just as easily.

The West Wight Potter 19 is an extremely comfortable and safe boat, and it's a wonderful little pocket cruiser for extended lake trips. Additionally, the cabin is spacious enough for two adults to sleep comfortably, and there's room for a stove, a sink, and a portable head.

The West Wight Potter 19 is trailerable and lightweight. It has a centerboard, which allows the owner to reduce its draft from several feet down to just a few inches. A vessel like this can last for years in freshwater, and they're popular for saltwater cruising as well.

The West Wight Potter 19 is also quite affordable. Due to its popularity, you can find one in excellent condition for between $5,000 and $12,000 in many areas. These boats are also remarkably seaworthy, as one individual sailed his from San Francisco to Hawaii—over 2,000 nautical miles of open ocean. In other words, you'll be safe and comfortable on the lake.

{{boat-info="/boats/cal-20"}}

The Cal 20 is a classic sailboat that has been around for decades, and it's one of the most popular 'big' boats on America's freshwater lakes. It's a cruising sloop that measures about 20 feet in length and features a cabin with a unique flush deck.

The Cal 20 is much more typical of large coastal and ocean-going sailboats, and it's operated in exactly the same way. It has a tall Bermuda rig with traditional controls, so it's a great platform to practice sailing full-sized boats.

The Cal 20 features a small cabin with basic amenities, such as a sink, a place for a camp stove, a portable toilet, and a V-berth. Additionally, it's exceptionally water-tight for a boat of its kind, so it can be left in the berth year-round without serious problems.

Cal 20 sailboats are extremely robust. There's no flimsy material anywhere aboard, as they're designed for saltwater cruising and racing. They have a large sail plan which makes it easy to sail in light winds, and they're stable enough to make handling easy in the occasional gust.

The Cal 20 can be found in abundance on the used market, with prices as low as $2,000 for a functional and leak-free boat. The best places to look for Cal 20 sailboats are on the West Coast, but they can be found inland as well.

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I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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Sailing yachts like Mike Lynch's are 'unsinkable bodies', CEO of boat manufacturing firm says

Bayesian superyacht which sank off Italy is an "unsinkable" vessel, Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, said.

By Ashna Hurynag, news correspondent and Eleonora Chiarella, producer

Sunday 25 August 2024 08:48, UK

Vessels like Mike Lynch's stricken superyacht are "unsinkable", according to the chief executive of the firm which makes and sells them.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, told Sky News there are no flaws with the design and construction of the Bayesian superyacht which capsized in a storm off the coast of Porticello, Sicily, on Monday.

Five bodies were found by divers on Wednesday - taking the number of confirmed dead to six.

The Italian Sea Group also owns the firm that built British tech tycoon Mr Lynch's Bayesian, and Mr Costantino said the vessels "are the safest in the most absolute sense".

"Being the manufacturer of Perini [boats], I know very well how the boats have always been designed and built," he said.

"And as Perini is a sailing ship... sailing ships are renowned to be the safest ever."

He said their structure and keel made them "unsinkable bodies".

Read more on this story: Why search of superyacht wreck has been so difficult Hero mum 'slept with baby on deck when storm sank yacht'

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Mr Costantino said news of the sinking "put me in a state of sadness on one side and of disbelief on the other".

"This incident sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact," he said.

It is understood Italian prosecutors investigating the incident are continuing to hold interviews with the survivors.

On Tuesday they questioned the captain for more than two hours to help reconstruct what happened and provide useful technical details.

Four British inspectors are also in Porticello and have begun a preliminary assessment of events.

It is understood they will look at all relevant aspects of the incident, including the design, stability, and operation of the vessel. They will also examine the effects of the weather conditions experienced.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Twenty-two people were on board the vessel, 15 of whom were rescued - including Briton Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter Sofia.

Divers will resume efforts on Thursday morning to bring ashore a body they found earlier. One more person remains missing.

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• Superyacht sinking

Inside the shocking Sicily yacht tragedy that left 7 people dead

There was a violent storm, but even then, luxury yachts are built to weather such events. so why did this boat sink off the coast of sicily, leaving seven people dead, by natalie finn | e news • published august 24, 2024 • updated on august 24, 2024 at 10:34 am.

Originally appeared on E! Online

Nobody was trying to reach the lowest depths of the ocean or otherwise test the boundaries of human endurance .

But what was supposed to be a routine pleasure cruise aboard a superyacht turned deadly all the same on the morning of Aug. 19 when the 184-foot Bayesian got caught in a storm and sank off the coast of Sicily .

24/7 New York news stream: Watch NBC 4 free wherever you are

"I can't remember the last time I read about a vessel going down quickly like that," Stephen Richter of SAR Marine Consulting told NBC News . "You know, completely capsizing and going down that quickly, a vessel of that nature, a yacht of that size."

Of the 22 people onboard, including crew, seven people died. The last of the bodies was recovered Aug. 23, an expectedly sad coda to what had already been a tragic week as the search for answers as to how this happened got underway.

And to be sure, every minute of the Bayesian's ill-fated outing is being fiercely scrutinized, starting with the general seaworthiness of the vessel itself.

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Because, frankly, this was a freak occurrence.

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"Boats of this size, they’re taking passengers on an excursion or a holiday," Richter explained. "They are not going to put them in situations where it may be dangerous or it may be uncomfortable, so this storm that popped up was obviously an anomaly. These vessels that carry passengers, they’re typically very well-maintained, very well-appointed."

But in this case, a $40 million yacht sank, seven people are dead—including a billionaire tech mogul and his 18-year-old daughter—and morbid fascination doesn't need a second wind.

Here is how the story of the Sicily yacht tragedy has unfolded so far:

What happened to the yacht that sank off the coast of Sicily?

The Bayesian had set off from the Sicilian port of Milazzo on Aug. 14 at capacity with 12 guests and 10 crewmembers aboard.

The aluminum-hulled vessel was built in 2008 by Italian shipbuilder Perini Navi and registered in the U.K. Cruise sites listed it as available for charter at $215,000 per week, per the Associated Press.

On the morning of Aug. 19, the superyacht was anchored off the coast of Porticello, a small fishing village in the Sicilian province of Palermo (also the name of Sicily's capital city), when a violent storm hit.

The vessel "suddenly sank" at around 5 a.m. local time, seemingly due to "the terrible weather conditions," the City Council of Bagheria announced shortly afterward, per NBC News .

At the time, only one person was confirmed dead—the ship's chef—but six others were said to be missing. The 15 survivors—who managed to make it onto an inflatable life boat, according to emergency officials—were rescued that morning by the crew of another yacht that had been nearby when the storm hit.

"Fifteen people inside," Karsten Borner, the Dutch captain of the ship that was able to help (the Sir Robert Baden Powell), told reporters afterward, per Reuters. "Four people were injured, three heavily injured, and we brought them to our ship. Then we communicated with the coast guard, and after some time, the coast guard came and later picked up injured people."

When the storm hit, his boat ran into "a strong hurricane gust," Borner said, "and we had to start the engine to keep the ship in an angled position."

They "managed to keep the ship in position," he continued, but once the storm died down, they realized the other boat that had been behind them—the Bayesian—was gone.

The wreck ended up settling 165 feet below the surface, according to Italy's national fire department.

Fire officials said that divers, a motorboat and a helicopter were deployed to search for the missing.

Meanwhile, footage was captured of the ship capsizing on closed-circuit TV about a half-mile away from where it was anchored.

In the video obtained by NBC News, the illuminated 250-foot aluminum mast of the ship appears to list severely to one side before disappearing completely. Survivors recalled having just a few minutes to literally abandon ship.

Who were the seven people who died when the yacht Bayesian sank?

The tragedy initially became headline news because billionaire tech mogul Mike Lynch—"Britain's Bill Gates," some U.K. media called him—was among the missing. His body was ultimately recovered Aug. 22 .

"They told me that suddenly they found themselves catapulted into the water without even understanding how they had got there," Dr. Fabio Genco, head of the Palermo Emergency Medical Services, told NBC News Aug. 22. "And that the whole thing seems to have lasted from 3 to 5 minutes."

Genco said he got to Porticello about an hour after the Bayesian capsized.

Survivors "told me that it was all dark, that the yacht hoisted itself up and then went down," he said. "All the objects were falling on them. That’s why I immediately made sure, by asking them questions, if they had any internal injuries."

Why did the yacht sink?

Italian prosecutors are investigating to determine what transpired before the boat went down, according to NBC News.

Meanwhile, the CEO of shipbuilder Perini's parent company The Italian Sea Group defended the vessel itself as "unsinkable."

Perini boats "are the safest in the most absolute sense," Giovanni Costantino told Sky News Aug. 22 . What happened to the Bayesian "put me in a state of sadness on one side and of disbelief on the other," he continued. "This incident sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact."

Costantino said it had to have been human error that led to the boat sinking, declaring, "Mistakes were made."

"Everything that was done reveals a very long summation of errors," he told newspaper Corriere della Sera Aug. 21, in an interview translated from Italian. "The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor."

The weather was "all predictable," he continued, adding that the storm "was fully legible in all the weather charts. It couldn't have been ignored."

The yacht's captain, identified as James Cutfield of New Zealand, was taken to Termini Imerese hospital for treatment. From there, he told La Repubblica, per Sky News , that he didn't see the storm coming.

Borner, the captain of the ship that rescued the 15 Bayesian survivors, told NBC News that he noticed the storm come in at 4 a.m. local time, and saw what looked to him like a waterspout, a type of tornado that forms above water.

The International Centre for Waterspout Research posted on X Aug. 19 that it had "confirmed 18 waterspouts today off the coasts of Italy. Some were powerful waterspouts, one of which may have been responsible for the sinking of a large yacht off of Sicily."

Borner said he didn't know why the Bayesian sank so quickly, guessing "it may have something to do with the mast, which was incredibly long." (A tall mast, even with its sails down, means there's more surface area exposed to wind, which can result in tipping.)

Confirming that one person was dead and six unaccounted for immediately following the wreck on Aug. 19, Salvo Cocina of Sicily's civil protection agency told reporters that a waterspout had struck the area overnight.

"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

The 59-year-old founder of software firm Autonomy had been on the trip with his wife Angela Bacares and their 18-year-old, Oxford-bound daughter Hannah to celebrate his recent acquittal in the U.S. on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the $11.7 billion purchase of his company by Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

In a bizarre turn of events, Lynch's co-defendant at trial, Stephen Chamberlain, the former vice president of finance at Autonomy, died after being taken off life support following a road accident on Aug. 17. Chamberlain's attorney told Reuters Aug. 20 that his friend and client had been out for a run when he was "fatally struck" by a car.

Meanwhile, multiple people who contributed to Lynch's defense were on the cruise with him and his family.

The bodies of Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer—who testified on Lynch's behalf—and his wife Judy Bloomer, as well as lawyer Chris Morvillo, a partner at the U.S. firm Clifford Chance, and his wife Neda Morvillo, a jewelry designer, were recovered on Aug. 21 .

In a LinkedIn post thanking the team that successfully defended Lynch, Morvillo wrote, per Sky News , "And, finally, a huge thank you to my patient and incredible wife, Neda Morvillo, and my two strong, brilliant, and beautiful daughters, Sabrina Morvillo and Sophia Morvillo. None of this would have been possible without your love and support. I am so glad to be home. And they all lived happily ever after…"

The first casualty confirmed Aug. 19 was the ship's Canadian-Antiguan chef, later identified as Recaldo Thomas.

"He was a one-of-a-kind special human being," a friend of Thomas told The Independent . "Incredibly talented, contagious smile and laugh, an incredible voice with a deep love of the ocean and the moon. I spoke to him nearly every day. He loved his life his friends and his job."

Hannah's body was the last of the missing six to be found , with divers bringing her remains ashore on Aug. 23.

Lynch and Bacares, who was rescued, also shared a 21-year-old daughter, according to The Times.

While awaiting trial, Lynch—who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings—had spent 13 months under house arrest in San Francisco. Back home in London afterward, he admitted to The Times in July that he'd been afraid of dying in prison if he'd been found guilty. (He faced a possible 25-year sentence.)

"It's bizarre, but now you have a second life," he reflected. "The question is, what do you want to do with it?"

(E!, NBC News and Sky News are all members of the Comcast family.)

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Mike Lynch’s yacht was ‘unsinkable’, says boss of company who built boat

Boats like Mike Lynch’s superyacht are “unsinkable”, according to the chief executive of the company that builds and sells the vessels.

Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, said there are no flaws with the design and construction of the Bayesian and it is “one of the safest boats in the world”.

The Bayesian, a 184-ft superyacht carrying 22 passengers and crew, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it disappeared beneath the waves in a matter of minutes after a freak tornado struck.

The Italian Sea Group owns Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini that built the vessel owned by British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who was confirmed dead on Thursday after his body had been recovered from the wreck of the boat.

Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still unaccounted for. The bodies of the other four people who vanished when the boat went down were recovered from the yacht on Wednesday.

“The ship sank because it took on water, from where investigators will have to say,” Mr Costantino told television news programme TG1 late on Wednesday.

Citing data from the yacht’s automatic tracking system and based on available footage, Mr Costantino said it took 16 minutes from when the wind began buffeting the yacht, and it began taking on water, for it to sink.

Mr Costantino said the Milan-listed group had suffered “enormous damage” to its reputation, with shares falling 2.5 per cent since the disaster.

The disaster has baffled naval marine experts who said such a high end vessel should have top-class fittings and safety features and should have been able to withstand such weather.

Besides Mr Lynch and his daughter, the other people who failed to escape from the boat were Judy and Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch’s wife, managed to get to safety, while the body of the onboard chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was found near the wreck hours after the disaster.

Specialist rescuers have been searching inside the hull of the sunken yacht for the past three days, but operations have been challenging due to the depth and the narrowness of the places that the divers are scouring, the fire brigade said.

Additional reporting by agencies

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Unsinkables

• Thread starter Panic Free
• Start date Jul 4, 2009
• Forums for All Owners
• Ask All Sailors

After watching the tv program on Discovery I.D. called, Escaped ( Hurricane at Sea ) about Tami Ashcraft Oldham and Richard Sharp who attempted to sail from Tahaiti to San Diego in 1983 and got caught up in Hurrican Raymond a cat 4. My existing passion for sailboats exploded after seeing the program and reading her book ( Red sky in Mourning ). I wanna buy a sailboat in the future ( 2 years ) and am committed to an unsinkable. 1. Who makes unsinkables? 2. Must be between 25 and 35 ft. 3. Room and comfort are more important then performance. Thanks  

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/category/type/Etap http://www.tollesbury-marina.co.uk/etapfeatures/etap_features.htm --Tom.  

Wow, 100k for a 30 footer unsinkable, is unreal in modern day evolution, my opinion. Tami and Richard were sailing a 44 ft. Trident ( Hazana) built in late 70's or early 80's and was a million dollar vessel. I was expecting to pay 6, or 8 for an unsinkable. Apperciate the links!  

My father in law has an Etap 39 that he loves. I am not a big fan. Charter boat layout, very small cockpit with a low boom. Not a good coastal cruiser which is what he uses it for. Although it is supposed to be a fast boat he could not come close to keeping up with my Ericson 35. I blame that on the fact that he is an armchair sailor. He thinks he knows it all becuase he has read it. He has very little sailing experience. For a boat to be conisdered unsinkable(I think this is a CE standard), it has to be holed and then sailed at a certain speed. Just be aware that unsinkable does not mean fireproof. I read somewhere that more boat burn than sink.  

Water tight bulkheads and good damage control planning and methods will keep most boats afloat. Sailing with all of the hatches open, no damage control plan, and a thin single skin boat is a receipe for a quick sinking in the event of a storm or an impact that holes the hull. Boats can be make less likely to sink but being run down by a ship makes sinking a moot question.  

sailingdog said: Etaps and a few other monohulls are "unsinkable". So are most multihulls. If room and comfort are a priority, get a catamaran. It'll have more room and comfort than any of the unsinkable monohulls, which end up with fairly tiny interiors due to the space taken up by the foam used for flotation. Click to expand

Panic Free said: ... Can a multi-hull structure handle 200+ mph wind and 100+ft. waves, flip end over end ( Cartwheel ) for hours and laugh about it, like the Trident ( Hazana ) did? If people think I'm going overboard with this, tell that to this person http://www.tamiashcraft.com/ Click to expand

I wanna buy a sailboat in the future ( 2 years ) and am committed to an unsinkable. 1. Who makes unsinkables? 2. Must be between 25 and 35 ft. 3. Room and comfort are more important then performance. Click to expand

Panic Free said: I plan to sail from Louisiana to Florida, hurricane alley if you will. I believe in overkill and always expect the unexpected. Sailing out of hurricane season is not good enough for me. Can a multi-hull structure handle 200+ mph wind and 100+ft. waves, flip end over end ( Cartwheel ) for hours and laugh about it, like the Trident ( Hazana ) did? If people think I'm going overboard with this, tell that to this person http://www.tamiashcraft.com/ Click to expand

In the questions and Answers section from her web site, Tami states that if it was any other boat it probably would not have made it, that's bull. I do think the boat had something to do with it but there are plenty of others that would have survived also. In one of the pictures it states that the Hull is full of water...Can't be or it would not be floating at the designed water line. I'm not discounting what she went through just that there is some stretching there. With conditions that bad, they should have Hove to or ran. But I aint nobody that should second guess their choice To say you want an unsinkable boat based on what happened to that boat is absurd, unless you intend to sail into a HURRACANE just for the fun of it. IF thats the case you should have a custom boat built just to meet your specs. Bee  

MrBee said: In the questions and Answers section from her web site, Tami states that if it was any other boat it probably would not have made it, that's bull. I do think the boat had something to do with it but there are plenty of others that would have survived also. In one of the pictures it states that the Hull is full of water...Can't be or it would not be floating at the designed water line. I'm not discounting what she went through just that there is some stretching there. With conditions that bad, they should have Hove to or ran. But I aint nobody that should second guess their choice To say you want an unsinkable boat based on what happened to that boat is absurd, unless you intend to sail into a HURRACANE just for the fun of it. IF thats the case you should have a custom boat built just to meet your specs. Bee Click to expand

Panic Free said: ... Being I can't get a roomy, comfortable, unsinkable, in the year 2009, perhaps I need to wait longer. Click to expand

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• The Salty Dogs

The most "Unsinkable" Boat Make/Model?

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Wanted to pick everyone's brain on what they would consider the most "Sea-Worthy" & "unsinkable" boat brand. Arima? Grady? Striper? Boston Whaler?! World Cat?  

EdWing of course. No bilge, sealed underdeck chambers, scuppers. And some models have a walk around deck.  

When I bought my boat from Clemens I pointed over to a row of boats and asked "What's up with those boats?" the salesman said "Oh those are Stabicraft's, they're for the guys who are afraid to sink" So I'm guessing they're pretty sea worthy lol  

I run a 21' Stabicraft as a work boat. It is one of the originals. I'm on the water 4-5 hours a day, 6 days a week. I have a 32 mile route and for the most part run during all weather conditions. Some days I get beat up but the old girl always makes it back to the slip. Been doing this 5 years and only called it once. The wind was gusting to 65-70 mph and I couldn't get out of the slip. The boat is not pretty and salty as hell, but the most seaworthy small boat I have ever known.  

Arima is advertised to be unsinkable but they will ride pretty low in the water if they're full. Ha ha... There are drawback to Arima's so it kinda depends on what you expect of them. With that in mind, there is no such thing as the perfect boat. Some adjustments to be made with all of them, depending.  

Boston Whaler used to advertise  

I have been in a lot of bad water ( NOrth Sea, realy bad weather) and Always felt safe. Did end up going through a large wave - Filled it up - with 4 of us and diving gear . No problem at all..  

another vote for Stabicraft My buddy is from NZ and he has one over there says it wont ever sink I know my NR Seahawwk would sink like a rock if it filled with water so I don't plan on letting that happen!  

"seaworthy" and "unsinkable" Those are 2 completely separate things, that don't always go together. Many boats have positive buoyancy and will not sink if filled with water. But they might be upside down.  

• Hitting a large object
• Caught in extreme ocean conditions, breaking water on a rough bar
• Equipment or boat failures.

A lot of those 80’s whalers needed handholds on the bottom.  

Very common boat in CA, but I never saw one upside down. Saw many, many airborn, but right side up.  

The 47' motor lifeboat made by Textron Marine is pretty unsinkable but it's pretty expensive and not set up well for fishing...  

My old whaler is the funnest boat I’ve ever had, especially with newer Yamaha 90. I’m not trying to fill it with water though…  

I have a Whaler Dauntless 16 ( same model as pic of Whaler cut in half above) It’s the biggest little boat I’ve ever been on. Deeper V than the classic Montauk and sport models. Been out in heavy seas and handles them like a champ. The amount of foam in the gunnels and hull truly make it as unsinkable as you can get. Scaled up versions in the 25 foot plus range give you an extraordinarily seaworthy and unsinkable craft in just about any conditions. You pay $$$$ for it though!  

Mark has it right. Seaworthy and unsinkable are two completely different things. I think seaworthy is the more important. Actually the most important thing is the skill and judgement of the captain. In second place is probably how well the vessel is maintained. Most boats are reasonably seaworthy. Seaworthiness is a tertiary issue. Whatever the boat, a good captain will know its limits and stay out of trouble. Unsinkablity is way down on the list. Hanging onto a swamped upside-down hull isn't a great survival strategy. In that situation, it's more important that the captain had the skills and equipment to relay a distress signal with a precise location, acivate the EPIRB, and provide buddy boat/raft/gumby suit/PFD. A skilled captain would have much less probability of ever putting you in that predicament in the first place. Imagine a captain that is drunk, or totally unskilled, arrogant or in over their heads. Imagine a high-quality boat with the finest gear that is run down and neglected, with electrical problems, compromised engines, weak batteries, broken equipment or chronic leaks. Or imagine a boat that is totally overloaded. Or a boat that runs out of fuel after getting lost in the fog. All of these are nightmare scenarios. I'd much rather have a less-capable boat with a competent captain who keeps the vessel in top condition. Titanic was unsinkable, until the captain made the mistake of running at speed in the fog. Safety boils down to the captain.  

Quiet Riot said: Quiet Riot said: Even a spacious bow casting platform... View attachment 986376 Click to expand...

What do you mean by unsinkable? The foam filled glass boats (Whalers, Arimas, etc...) use foam both to ensure the hull floats in case of something really bad happening (it is better to be sitting on the bottom of a big 20' long turtled hull waiting for the Coast Guard than drifting along holding onto a cooler lid). The foam also provides rigidity that makes the hull stronger. The downside is the foam (even closed cell) can get waterlogged over time. There are aluminum builders who do the same (Hewescraft). Same downsides w/ water in the foam, but IMO the upside (if you hit a log and rip open the hull offshore, you have a giant floaty to hold onto vs. nothing but a PFD or some debris). IMO, Stabicraft makes one of the more "unsinkable" aluminum hulls. Chambered aluminum pods running down either side of the boat that serve both as floatation and giant reverse chines (make the boat more stable on drift and a drier ride). Some other builders use this design. However, Stabis (and Arimas) are generally not self bailing (the biggest Arima 22 is). The biggest Hewes are, but most are not. Having some way to quickly evacuate water from inside the boat w/o needing to rely on pumps is a pretty big requirement for something to be "unsinkable." For our typical conditions here in the PNW, I think a big flared bow, or a chambered bow of some kind, that won't flood and hold water is also a must. If I were buying a large-ish tailorable boat for safe PNW offshore fishing right now and I wanted a high degree of safety in the design, I'd be most interested in a Stabicraft 2750 (or whatever size Stabi meets your needs. If I were buying a similar sized glass boat, I'd look into buying a quality used hull (Whaler Conquest 255 or some other variety) and repower. If I wanted something smaller to be a jack-of-all-trades to fish the river and the ocean, I'd buy what I have (Hewes Ocean Pro 220 or 240.) If I wanted a small, cheap to run and tow, and very sea-worthy for its size boat, I'd buy an Arima.  

Attachments

Man those Stabi's are pretty nice! Watching some youtube on them...My only question would be in regards to deck space. Seems a little cramped...I'd be tempted to trade my 20ft Raider for one.  

I fished on a 2750 walk around a couple times. The boat is sweet, the deck space and cabin space is small compared to other 27’ boats but you can walk 360 around it easily so you actually have more deck space if you figure that’s deck space. Imagine having kill bags taking up space by the cabin instead of the deck. The one thing I noticed most about it was how badly it smacked the water driving through chop and how loud it was. Besides the ride I liked everything about the boat. That boat had a large fish hold but most of the smaller models don’t have a floor fish box. Which is another negative.  

Threemuch, I want an 80's Montauk as well. What a classic. I'd want a 130 hp OMC blue smoke outboard, and the twin 12 gallon above deck tanks under the reversing helm seat. I spent soo much time drooling over the Boston Whaler catalog.  

One of my regular crew used to own an older Stabicraft 21'... the chambered pods did cut into the deck space, and it got a little cramped w/ 3 guys plus kill bags tuna fishing. The fishing deck was smaller than the typical 21' NR Seahawk/Hewes Sea Runner, etc... My 22' Ocean Pro's deck is much larger. As you go up in size, it obviously becomes less of an issue w/ the bigger Stabis. I love the 2750 Ultracab hull for the full, useful 360 degree walkaround... would be killer for jig stops on tuna, and for fishing halibut and bottom fish. It also opens up a lot more useful real estate in the boat. The Kiwis put a lot of engineering into those hulls... there are little diverter ridges and scupper holes in the floor of that walkaround to keep water from making it's way back to the deck.  

Stabicraft could take a bullet and keep floating. Unsinkable  

Lots of people on here touting the wonders of the stabicraft. ACB made similar craft, OOB in 2010, too bad. Both these boats seem to give up alot of room for the chambers down the sides, and have a pretty small dance floor for their size. Still very cool boats, but the compromise with these to me is space. Truth is, number of sinkings I am aware of due to an actual hull failure is very, very, very low. And the number of swampings/capsizings/sinkings where an unsinkable boat meant the difference between life and death? I haven't seen, heard, or read about one. I'm sure they happen, but it's not common. Even a really crappy hull will usually take alot more abuse than the contents and the stuff you have put in and on it. Fiberglass is strong. So is aluminum.  

With a self bailing deck, I fear fire much more than I fear sinking. And I'm twice as afraid of a X-rap with factory hooks coming aboard hooked to a fresh tuna.  

I have a Whaly and it is unsinkable and for the size (14.5’) it can do a lot without breaking the bank. But like Tinman said it really comes down to the captain and how he handles his boat in the conditions.  

McKee craft pretty nice, pressure foam filled. The father passed in 08 and they shut down, son just started making boats again, glad I got mine when I did, prices have skyrocketed.  

That there is one beautiful boat. I don't think I have ever seen one in person.  

And concern for ride quality or comfort?  

When mooring in the rain, the Boston whalers I believe 18’ and smaller your supposed To take the drain plug out if you don’t have a bilge pump. I’ve tried it and the water only fills in a couple inches the near the stern. No plug = still afloat  

Our Whaler is a '68 Sakonnet 17'. Definitely not dry when running, but that's what Mustang float suites are for. Floats like a cork. As many have said, it comes down to knowing your boat and it's capabilities and preparing for the worst. Two bilge pumps, three radios, AIS, 12+ Axiom plus hand held GPS, ALL safety equipment, ladder, etc. We've been 30 miles offshore in it numerous times ON THE RIGHT DAYS, but that's us. As to the 'drain plug' discussion, I like our bilge pump mod. Once up in Nootka, it rained for two days straight. Came out of the tent in the morning to find the boat filled and the stern just under water. Still floating though. I stood on the bow to get the boat level and the stern above water, turned on the pump, and we were back in business fishing that morning. We love our Whaler. It is one fishy boat.  

Grew up first craft was a wood kayak made in Minnesota we tipped the SOB a few times but it never sunk.  

My bad meant to say canoe.  

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Maker 3D prints giant 'Benchy' sailboat and takes it out on the water

How big is your Benchy?

If you've ever wanted a boat of your own, it turns out all you need is a 3D printer and, well, a boatload of patience. Today we've got an incredible creation to share from maker Emily of the YouTube channel Emily the Engineer. She's using one of our favorite tools—a 3D printer—to create a huge working boat. But it's not just any boat, she's 3D printed a giant working Benchy .

Benchy is the name of a tiny 3D printable boat that makers use to test their 3D printers. It has angles and vertical holes that are tricky to print which makes it a great benchmark file — hence the name. To develop one big enough to use in the water, Emily printed larger and larger Benchy boats, testing their buoyancy along the way to help develop a working life-size version.

The final big Benchy is comprised of many small pieces which allows Emily to print it over time using small printers. The pieces were designed digitally to snap together with alignment pegs. However, some of the pieces had gaps when fitting together which needed to be sealed watertight.

Many of the gaps were sealed using 3D Gloop, a type of adhesive made specifically for the types of materials you'll commonly find people printing with. In addition to the 3D Gloop, a soldering iron was used to melt some of the pieces together. The outer seams were sealed using epoxy.

The giant Benchy boat was a working success but it wasn't very stable, bobbing a bit in the water. This was alleviated using a pontoon system Emily built using PVC pipe. To avoid paddling the boat around, she threw in a motor, making it self-propelled. All the work culminated in a successful trip across the lake to go get some Wendy's.

If you want to get a closer look at this giant Benchy boat in action or just see how it went together, you can check out the full video over on YouTube . Be sure to follow Emily for more cool creations as well as any updates to this one.

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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.

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• bit_user It's not a sailboat if it doesn't have a sail. I'm not sure exactly what that style of boat is called, but it's clearly designed to be propeller-driven and can't accommodate a sail. Reply

bit_user said: I'm not sure exactly what that style of boat is called, but it's clearly designed to be propeller-driven and can't accommodate a sail.

• Geef I think this is supposed to be a 'kid' powered boat. You throw your kid into the water and say 'start kicking!' 🏊‍♂️ Reply

bit_user said: It's not a sailboat if it doesn't have a sail. I'm not sure exactly what that style of boat is called, but it's clearly designed to be propeller-driven and can't accommodate a sail.

bradhouser said: I think you call it a tug boat: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/56/88/1a5688479c890e80ec2195ea1dcde15d.jpg

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