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Forum nameCalfishing.com Main Board
Topic subjectRE: New Skiff
Topic URLhttp://www.calfishing.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=2&topic_id=414&mesg_id=421
421, RE: New Skiff
Posted by Wade, Thu Mar-01-01 07:15 PM
Looks GOOD!
Is it a commercially made boat made after the mid 80's and/or does it have the small metal Coast Guard certified tag usually attached to the transom. If it does, the part where it talks about weight tells you how much it will float without sinking completely even if filled with water. This is to satisfy the "positive flotation law" which basically says any mass produced commercially available American vessel made after 1984(I think that's the year) shall provide positive flotation for a specified(by the tag) "reccomended" load. This is usually calculated by either the Coast Guard or a third party lab. It's equal to the bouyancy of the empty new boat completely submerged minus 5 or 10%(I don't remember the actual %) to allow for loss of bouyancy over time(ie: your foam taking on water through tiny cracks and not being able to let it go). This is very comforting, but keep in mind many boats capsize if tested in this way. They flip because their center of bouyancy when filled with water is very low when upright while the center of gravity is usually a bit higher. When sunk, the boat will flip to get the center of bouyancy over the center of gravity.
Sorry about the physics/ boating law lesson. You probably already know some or most of this.
Anyways, Congrats on the boat.

Tight lines,
Wade