Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

I'll bet that Alpha would sink just fine...

most production cats are going to sink if flooded. Many of them have some water tight compartments, might need a couple of limber holes to do the job quickly. Two recent sinkings of "unsinkable" Lagoons are examples. Let's say the Alpha is running about 20,000 lbs loaded for cruising (I would bet somewhat more). You need 312 cu ft of flotation to keep it just above the bottom. I guarantee it doesn't have that unless there are several unbreached and permanently watertight compartments. 20,000 lbs is about what a lot of 42' monohulls weigh, and they don't float when flooded. There is no where near that amount of flotation in a cored hull.

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