It always pays to read the whole thread before you chime in with your suggestion, in case someone has allready said it and you end up looking like an idiot

Tie a marker buoy to it, drop a wreath in respect and go for a sail on your cat. This will clear your mind and help you remember why you bought the cat.

And for the third time ... I might add.

Hey, I don't think we have exhausted this ping-pong-ball thing. I want to know where you get enough ping-pong balls ro raise a sunken boat -- and how you figure out how many balls you need. Sorry I missed that Mythbusters program. Must have been hilarious.

contact the mythbusters and see if they want to try again with raquetballs!

A ping pong ball is 1.5" in diameter which equals about .0010 (and change) cubic feet which equals about .0076 gallons. Since I needed to displace 280 gallons to raise a 2400 lb boat, this would equate to 36,601 ping pong balls. Mind you, this is a calculation with tiny numbers and a good bit of error. It also does not take into consideration the additional displacement required to overcome the weight of the ping pong balls. But 40,000 should get you in the ball park....if you can FIT 40,000 in the hull.

I seem to remember that one of the issues the "Mythbusters" had with ping-pong balls, was all the dead space between the balls. They found the balls to be quite inefficient 'lifting devices', hence the massive amounts of balls they used.

When they tested the myth about beeing dragged down with a sinking ship, they did not use ping-pong balls to raise the "Mythanic" between tests. (The "Mythanic" was a large and heavy metal boat, vs. the small sailboat prepped and raised with ping-pong balls)

I've never seen "Mythbusters". What was the conclusion on people getting sucked under by a large sinking ship?

David Ho
TheMightyHobie18 1067

"Improbable" was the conclusion if I remember correctly.

They did two tests on the "sucked down with a sinking ship", one small scale tank test and one real life with a 30ish feet steel boat.

The tank test was a lot of fun. Adam sat on top of a small weighted container, and followed the container to the bottom when they released it. Seemed to reinforce the myth..

Then they bought the "Mythanic", sat Adam on top of it and opened the bottom valves. Adam got scared in their first attempt, and jumped off to early, but could not feel any pull from the boat when i sank.
They raised the boat with a large harbour crane, and sat Adam on top of it again with open bottom valves. This time Adam sat on it until it sank, but he could still not feel any suction or pull as the boat sank under him.

Their conclusion was that the myth was busted. They explained the tank test with using wrong scales on the surface area and weight of the container Adam sat on.

I think they would have gotten a different result if "Mythanic" sank faster instead of the slow pace they could manage. I still think it's a good idea to get away from a large ship sinking.

Adam and Jamie are the hosts of the show, both special effects guys. Mythbusters is a great show in my opinion.

You are probably right Jake, I dont remember wether it was "busted" or "improbable". But I think Adam sinking on top of the container is part of the intro for the show

My '73 Hunter 25' weighs a total of 4000 lbs. It has a 1500 lb keel. Not much of a racer, just a party boat.

You're going to need 61,001 ping pong balls.

Marc

Where is the boat?

The preferred method (cheapest method) for the live aboards at Watergate was to use floats (old liferafts etc) to bring the deck level with the water and then use a BIG pump. Since they borrowed the marinas pump, it was essentially free.

This is not an easy method. It involves a lot of jumping in the water and moving floats, but it is cheap.

I think the really remarkable thing about that whole episode is that the Mythbusters boys DID NOT devise the method for getting the balls into the boat. A Disney comic artist proposed it in one of the Donald Duck adventure novels something like 50 years ago! The method was described in the comic novel in remarkable detail including the funnel, hose and pump. But no one had ever tried to find out if it would actually work before.

Jimbo

They called it "Plausible". I have been stuck at home for a few days now watching lots of re-runs and just watched it again

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...ew=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Jimbo

I believe the biggest danger in being close to a sinking boat is that you might get caught in a line that might be floating until the boat sinks.

Still the best advise is always to stay with a boat until it disappears under the water. Many boats will still float when completely submerged. Many people have died leaving boats in liferafts and yet the boat never sank.

Mike Hill
www.stlouiscats.com

Well since I do not have access to a bazillion ping pong balls or equipment to use them, the plan is to bring my air compressor, 3 empty kegs( 2 aft 1 bow) a bunch of rope, a very long reinforced beam and a come along, some more rope and a pool pump, and some tarps and my diving gear to the slip, attach the come-along to the beam hung over the boat if possible and the boat, put as many leaf blowers as my friends will lend me and the compressor into the boat to blow in air, and some marks and garbage bags for inside to fill up then start the whole mess and hope the boat does not cause any damage to the dock as it pops out of the water. (it weighs 4200# - 525 gallons - 35 empty kegs - bazillion Balls). (compressor blows 6 CFM or 384#/minute so 11+/- minutes) Tarp is to seal the upper part of the hull and help prevent the windows from blowing out.

Still not sure what happens when the hull begins to surface and all the lift is lost hopefully it will become a boat again at some point.

So if I understand all the posts air in water out and I should be fine. (or ask a TV show for a stupid idea to test).

Don't forget the camera!!!!! We want lots and lots of pictures!
Greg

Here is my thought on your plan. Let me preface this with the fact that I don't know what I'm talking about.

I would think that getting the rear of the boat to float to the surface is going to be a challenge. If you fill the bow with a bunch of stuff that floats it's going to bring the bow up but leave the stearn submerged. This wouldn't give you a chance to pump the water out.

I would also thing that trashbags would be hard to fill and keep filled underwater but I'm not sure.

I would think the best thing to use would be an air compressor and a bunch of old truck intertubes. You can cut the truck intertubes in half and seal both sides for a long, straight float. I would also think that a bunch of good line to tie the intertubes to the boat in the right places is going to come in handy.

I'm thinking with dive equipment, freinds, line, and inflatables you will be successfull. It sounds like fun.

Or you could get a surplus shipment of beachballs at Big Lots and have fun putting them in the hull.

Mike Hill
www.stlouiscats.com